Max Verstappen wins the Austrian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen became the winner of the Austrian Grand Prix, which allowed him to bring his winning streak to five races. The triumph at Spielberg was the 42nd in his career for the leader of Red Bull. Thus, the two-time world champion bypassed the legendary Ayrton Senna in the number of races won. Well, his gap from the closest pursuer in the current World Cup has already reached 81 points.

Max Verstappen had a lot of good, great and even outstanding races in his career. But even against their background, what he did at the Austrian Grand Prix is ​​not lost. In general, of course, one could confine oneself to stating that Verstappen, as expected, came to the finish line first. There is just nothing surprising in this. Of the seven previously held stages, the Red Bull leader won five, and he won the previous four races in a row (his teammate Sergio Perez won twice more). And there was no reason to believe that he would not bring his winning streak to five stages. Still, the combination of Verstappen’s racing talent and Adrian Newey’s brilliantly fast car gives an almost 100% guarantee of victory.

But still, it was in Spielberg, at the home circuit of the Red Bull Ring, that Verstappen brought his dominance to some very indecently high level. The Austrian race, we note, is one of the six stages, during which not only the main Sunday race is held, but also the Saturday sprint. Plus, each race has its own qualification. So Verstappen won both qualifications and both races. That is, whenever he went out on the track, the Dutch pilot left no chance for competitors. This is not an exaggeration.

Suffice it to recall how the Sunday race developed. Yes, after the start, Charles Leclerc tried to impose a fight on Verstappen, but he only lasted a couple of laps, after which the Dutchman went ahead and rolled in cruise control mode. And even after Verstappen returned to the track behind Leclerc after his pit stop, there was no doubt about his victory. He calmly dealt with the leader of the Ferrari and no less calmly left him again. This time for 24 seconds. And three laps before the finish line, when everything was already clear, Verstappen, as if bored, contrary to the recommendations of the team, drove in for a fresh set of tires. Just to take the fastest lap as well, which was done. Brilliant work, to say the least. A special chic to Verstappen’s victory is given by the fact that she allowed him to bypass Ayrton Senna himself. On account of the legendary Brazilian, who became world champion three times, 41 races won, Verstappen now has 42. Only four drivers have more victories: Alain Prost won 51 times, Sebastian Vettel – 53, Michael Schumacher – 91, Lewis Hamilton – 103. Until the end of the championship 14 more stages, so Verstappen can overtake Prost and Vettel already this season.

Of course, against the backdrop of the power of the Red Bull leader, all the other participants in the series are somehow lost, but still, one cannot fail to note the progress of Ferrari, in which, it seems, they coped with the tires that greatly annoyed the team. The result is second place for Leclerc and fourth for Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard could have been third, but the team slightly made a mistake in tactics, which gave a chance to the second number of Red Bull Sergio Perez to climb the podium. For the Mexican, this has become a way to redeem himself a little for the misfires that have been plaguing him lately. In Austria, he started from 15th place, failing to qualify for the third qualifying segment for the fourth time in a row, which is simply nonsense for a driver who has a championship-class car at his disposal. It got to the point that the Red Bull management began to publicly criticize their driver, which is a very bad sign (Perez has a contract until 2024, but the team management, if it sees fit, will fire him without hesitation). So far, however, Perez retains the second position in the championship, so formally he copes with the task. True, his backlog from Verstappen has already reached 81 points. At the same time, the gap between Perez and the third-placed Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) is far from being so impressive – 19 points.

Alexander Petrov