July 3 ------ Max Verstappen extended his win streak to 5 as he took the victory at the Red Bull Ring in the Austrian Grand Prix. This is Verstappen’s 42nd career win in Formula 1.
The two-time world champion maxed out the possible points for this round as he also won Saturday’s Sprint Race which gave him 8 points. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, settled for P2. He briefly led the race when Verstappen pitted on Lap 25 for hard tyres. It ended Verstappen’s record of 249 consecutive race laps led.
With teammate Carlos Sainz in tow, it was a potential 1-2 for Ferrari but it was short-lived as Verstappen caught up to Sainz quickly on Lap 26. He regained race leadership on Lap 35 as he overtook Leclerc. From this point on, the defending world champion enjoyed clean air as he further stretched the gap away from P2-sitter Ferrari driver. Leclerc’s successful defense of his position has gotten him his 26th Formula 1 career podium, as well as Scuderia Ferrari’s 800th podium since their Formula 1 debut in 1950. Leclerc won last year’s Austrian GP. It was both Leclerc’s and Ferrari’s last race win.
Sainz, on the other hand, got denied of the last ticket to the champagne party by Red Bull’s number 2 championship contender Sergio Perez. Sainz qualified P3 behind Verstappen on pole and Leclerc on P2. Perez qualified P15. Laps 59 through 61 saw Perez’s aggressive attempts to steal P3 from Sainz. Perez initially was forced to concede, but eventually overtook Sainz at turn 4 of Lap 62.
Verstappen was still leading by a wide margin towards the last laps but on Lap 70, as his last effort to assert total domination, he pitted for soft tyres to attempt for the fastest lap record which was then recorded by his teammate. He succeeded and claimed an additional point. He scored 26 points in this race.
Other drivers in the points were Leclerc, Perez, Sainz, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll.
This win boosted Verstappen’s campaign for his third world championship. He leads the 2023 driver standing so far with 229 points. Some 81 points behind is Perez in second place with 148. Alonso is third in the running with 129, followed by Hamilton with 108 and Sainz with 86. Last season’s second-best driver Leclerc currently ranks sixth with 72 points.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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