Verstappen dominates Styrian GP

SPIELBERG, Austria (AP):

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has won half of the races this Formula One (F1) season.

And if that wasn’t worrying enough for his rivals, his car keeps getting faster and faster.

The championship leader dominated the Styrian Grand Prix (GP) to win back-to-back races for the first time in his career yesterday.

Leading from start to finish, it was “super nice to drive,” the Dutchman said. “I could keep my pace consistent to the end. The balance of the car was the best so far this season.”

Verstappen has won three of the last four races, and only a tyre issue when leading in Azerbaijan prevented him from making it four.

With a clean start from pole in the race yesterday, the Red Bull driver denied Lewis Hamilton an early attack and he remained ahead for the entire race, beating his Mercedes rival by more than 35 seconds.

Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, finished third ahead of Sergio Perez as Red Bull and Mercedes occupied the top four places for the second consecutive time.

“The car was on fire,” Verstappen said over the team radio after crossing the finish line.

Verstappen won a few tenths of a second from Hamilton in most of the laps and was already more than three seconds ahead of Hamilton after 10 laps.

“Straight away I felt good balance in the car,” he said. “It was good to manage the tires basically from the start. We just kept on going, trying to hit our lap times and that worked really well today.”

It was Verstappen’s 14th career win and fourth of the season, increasing his lead over the seven-time world champion in the drivers’ standings to 18 points after eight races. A race win is worth 25 points.

With Red Bull gaining more momentum over Mercedes in every race, Hamilton is gradually losing sight of his record eighth title this season.

That, however, was not on the Briton’s mind after eight of 23 races.

“I try not to concern myself with that. Naturally, they are faster, so there is not a lot I can do in that respect,” Hamilton said.

Styrian GP results

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 25

2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 19

3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 15

4. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) 12

5. Lando Norris (McLaren) 10

6. Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 8

7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 6

8. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 4

9. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) 2

10. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1

Driver Championship standings

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 156

2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 138

3. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) 96

4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 86

5. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 74

6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 58

7. Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 50

8. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) 37

9. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 34

10. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) 30

Constructor Championship standings

1. Red Bull 252

2. Mercedes 212

3. McLaren 120

4. Ferrari 108

5. AlphaTauri 46

6. Aston Martin 44

7. Alpine 31

8. Alfa Romeo 2

9. Williams 0

10. Haas 0