Max Verstappen wins in Austria, 5th in a row

Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg in Stiamarken on Sunday. It was a fifth straight win for the reigning champion. Verstappen leads the standings this season by 81 points.

The race started with Verstappen on pole position, with the two Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz starting second and third respectively. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez started 15th. Nick de Vries started the race from a pit stop at AlphaTauri as punishment for working on his car without permission from the government body, the FIA.

Verstappen was the quickest to get away in the early stages of the race, but this time he had a much harder time pulling away from his closest challenger, Leclerc. Yuki Tsunoda and Kevin Magnussen’s machines suffered damage, and the safety car was dispatched after just two laps.

The 25-year-old from Hasselt didn’t make the same mistake at the safety car restart and easily escaped the lead-building Ferrari. Verstappen pitted after 26 laps and was behind Leclerc and Sainz, making it the first time in 249 laps that Verstappen did not lead an F1 race.

But it didn’t last long. Verstappen overtook Sainz on lap 28 and Leclerc 36 laps later to retake the lead. Nick de Vries spent most of the race in last place but managed to come from behind to finish 15th.

Despite winning the race, Verstappen pitted with one lap to go for a soft tire change and recorded the fastest lap of the race, earning extra points. he succeeded in it. By that point it was team-mate Perez who set the fastest lap, and Perez made a great comeback to finish third.