Max Vertsappen has won the Styrian Grand Prix in an absolute canter to extend his lead in the F1 drivers' championship to 18 points.
The Dutchman led from start to finish and crossed the finish line a mammoth 35 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Valtteri Bottas held off a fast-finishing Sergio Perez to finish third and snag a spot on the podium.
“Straight away I felt a good balance in the car. It was good to manage the tyres from the start. It felt to the end that I had tyres left,” Verstappen said after the race.
“We kept on trying to hit our lap times. That worked really well today.
“We have to show it again next week. We’ll look at what we can do better and I’m looking forward to next week.
“It’s looking really good, we just have to keep on going. I’m confident we can do another good job again.”
Meanwhile, it was nothing short of a disaster for Daniel Ricciardo who finished the race in 13th – exactly the same position on the grid where he started.
The Australia made a promising start to the race, overtaking four drivers in the first lap to jump up to P9.
But his joy was short-lived, dropping back down to P13 not long afterwards, due to an apparent loss of power in his McLaren.
The result means Red Bull now lead Mercedes by 40 points in the constructors’ championship and strong performances from Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc sees Ferrari close the gap to Ricciardo’s McLaren.
- News.com.au