It’s that Red Bull again! Verstappen wins the Austrian Grand Prix comfortably, but loses chance for another record

The reigning world champion Max Verstappen did not find a match at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and drove to another triumph. The remaining two positions on the podium were taken by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez, starting from fifteenth position. The main theme of the race was again the breaking of track limits, for which a large number of drivers received time penalties. However, as usual, the fans saw an interesting race full of action, even Verstappen took a moment to get ahead!

For its official tenth race of the season, Formula 1 headed to the romantic surroundings of the Styrian Alps for the Red Bull Ring near Spielberg.

The history of this grand prix on the calendar of the queen of motorsport dates back to 1964. Back then, the race was held at the run-down Zeltweg airport circuit just a few kilometres from the venue of today’s race.

The positive news just before the start of the grand prix was the announcement that the F1 and Red Bull Ring contract will be extended until 2030.

Opening moments

The dominant championship leader, Max Verstappen, charged into the opening corner from pole position. Despite a hard charging Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari, the 25-year-old Dutchman led the entire field at the end of the first lap. Immediately afterwards, the safety car took to the track due to fragments of Jüki Cunda’s Alpha Tauri falling off on the exit of turn one.

The slowing car lasted just two laps on the circuit. Verstappen comfortably saw out the restart, leading both the Ferrari cars of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Meanwhile, the second Red Bull monopoly of Sergio Pérez worked his way up from fifteenth place at the start to position number twelve, just behind the Mercedes of George Russell.

There was no doubting Verstappen’s convincing pace. The eyes of all concerned then shifted to the battle behind him. The Ferrari teammates were close behind, with Hülkenberg dropping to eighth place after his own mistake behind Stroll and Pérez humbling Russell in a nice, but brief, battle for eleventh.

On lap thirteen, the black and white flag waved for Hamilton for breaking track limits. However, the Briton blamed his off-track excursions on his own understeering car. Immediately afterwards, Hülkenberg stopped with technical problems at the exit of turn three, which activated the virtual safety car. A significant number of drivers used it for a pit stop for new tyres.

Nice battles in the middle of the field, track limits again at the forefront

During the virtual safety car, Ferrari called both of its drivers into the pits at the same time. While Leclerc didn’t lose a position, Sainz moved up to sixth, which set the Spanish driver off. Not even twenty laps of the 71 laps had been run and Hamilton and Cunoda received five-second penalties for track limits.

Verstappen raced away to the race leader’s position without any trouble. Sainz took on Norris, Hamilton and Pérez on the new tyres to settle back into third place. Red Bull sent Verstappen to the pits first on lap 25 and his teammate Pérez a lap later. The two-time world champion dropped to third, and for the first time since the Miami race found himself somewhere other than first place for more than a lap.

Ocon and Sainz complicated their own races when, like Hamilton and Cunod, race directors also slapped five-second penalties. Alongside this, black and white flags fell for other drivers one after the other.

But none of this bothered the reigning world champion. Verstappen passed both Ferrari cars within a few laps of each other and returned to where everyone expects him every grand prix. Deep in the field, Nyck de Vries ducked Kevin Magnussen on the exit of turn six, which didn’t please the Dane at all. Meanwhile, other drivers with five-second penalties included De Vries, Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon.

The overtaking manoeuvres in the middle of the field continued unabated. Namely, Russell passed Logan Sargeant of Williams, with Norris getting by Gasly, but moments later he relinquished fourth position to Sainz. With sixteen laps to go, Pérez made a pass on Norris. It didn’t take long for Sainz’s third place to go to the Mexican as well. However, in this case it was a spectacle that lasted several laps.

Verstappen on top again, a solid performance from McLaren

Cunoda didn’t let up and received an additional five seconds to his overall time from the stewards. Sargeant and Magnussen didn’t come out of the race without a penalty either. At the end of the grand prix, the differences between the drivers were too great for any notable late drama to still occur.

Verstappen had such a gap at the front that he went for the red set tyres and set the fastest lap on the last lap. In the end, the gap between him and second-placed Leclerc was just over five seconds. Red Bull celebrated a double podium finish as Pérez finished third from fifteenth on the grid.

It was the eighth triumph for Verstappen this year from ten attempts. Despite another victory, the Dutchman lost his chance to break the record for the longest run of first place on lap 26. Verstappen stopped at number 249, 56 laps short of Alberto Ascari’s 1952 absolute record.

A fine performance was put in by McLaren and Lando Norris, who took fifth place after a solid drive by the Briton, after deploying an improved car. On the other hand, there is room for reflection for Mercedes, who did not follow up their great result in Canada.

Austrian Formula One Grand Prix results (race 9/22, 71 laps = 306.452 km; top 10 only):

1. Max Verstappen (Niz., Red Bull) 1:25:33.607
2. Charles Leclerc (Mon., Ferrari) +5.155
3. Sergio Pérez (Mex., Red Bull) +17.188
4. Carlos Sainz (Span., Ferrari) +21.377
5. Lando Norris (Brit., McLaren) +26.327
6. Fernando Alonso (Spa., Aston Martin) +30.317
7. Lewis Hamilton (Brit., Mercedes) +39.196
8. George Russell (Brit., Mercedes) +48.403
9. Pierre Gasly (Fra., Alpine) +57.667
10. Lance Stroll (Can., Aston Martin) +59.043

2023 Formula One Drivers’ Standings (after 9/22; top 10 only):

1. Max Verstappen (Niz., Red Bull) 229 points
2. Sergio Pérez (Mex., Red Bull) 148
3. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Aston Martin) 129
4. Lewis Hamilton (Brit., Mercedes) 108
5. Carlos Sainz (Span., Ferrari) 86
6. Charles Leclerc (Mon., Ferrari) 72
7. George Russell (Brit., Mercedes) 70
8. Lance Stroll (Can., Aston Martin) 43
9. Esteban Ocon (Fra., Alpine) 31
10. Lando Norris (Brit., McLaren) 22

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