Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (Red Bull), who rose from 15th to third place, completed the podium at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Verstappen, the current double world champion, has a gigantic advantage of 81 points over his teammate Pérez in the World Cup overall.
– Silverstone Target –
It was another perfect weekend for Red Bull, who have turned this season into a military walk: Verstappen took pole position on Friday, won the sprint race on Saturday and the GP on Sunday, taking the bonus point for best lap.
The Dutchman achieved his 42nd F1 win at the age of 25 and he is headed without a doubt towards his third consecutive world title.
“I don’t want to think about it, I concentrate on working with the team and We’ve done well all weekend, so I’m happy and I’m looking forward to being at Silverstone,” Verstappen said of the British Grand Prix next Sunday.
His triumph at the Red Bull Ring allows him to become the ‘recordman’ in Austria, with four wins, breaking the tie he had with the Frenchman Alain Prost.
In fact, the Dutchman has won four times on this circuit because in 2021 he won the Styrian Grand Prix, added to the calendar in the last moment due to cancellations due to the pandemic.
At the gates of the podium, the Spanish Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) was fourth and Lando Norris (McLaren) fifth.
With Leclerc’s second place, Ferrari signed the best result of its season, but it never came close to victory, which does not taste Monegasque and the Scuderia for a year and the 2022 edition of the Austrian test.
“For the World Cup, I think it will be difficult to come back and win it. But there are still things to work on. In the team, the motivation is great and the people work hard to quickly make improvements, that gives me the necessary confidence and motivation,” said Leclerc.
‘Checo’ Pérez is the only driver who has beaten Verstappen this season, in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, but for the last five races he has not found a way to bend his teammate’s arm.
At the Red Bull Ring Verstappen started from the first position -it was the 26th pole of his career- and gained momentum to resist in the first round to the attempts of Leclerc, who had escorted him on the grill.
– Fernando Alonso, sixth –
The Monegasque became the provisional leader, but only because Verstappen stopped at the stand on the 24th lap. It didn’t last long, after quickly passing Sainz, the Dutchman regained his deficit in ten laps and returned to the top position.
He even took the risk of stopping at the stand on the penultimate lap to go for the bonus point, which he also got.
“It’s a pleasure to return to the podium,” said Leclerc, out of the positions of honor since April 30 in Baku. “We optimized what we had in hand, it’s a good thing for the future, the team has done a great job to adopt the evolutions faster than anticipated,” she added.
Behind the great dominator and de Leclerc, Sainz and Pérez had a nice fight with several changes of positions that the Mexican ended up winning. After Norris, fifth, two legends like Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
