Party in Orange: Verstappen can no longer be stopped

In front of tens of thousands of Dutch people in the stands, Verstappen was miles ahead of the competition for long-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in the one-sided Austrian race on Sunday and is fully on course for the title with his championship lead having grown to 32 points. Just like a week before at the same place, the 23-year-old achieved an effortless start-to-finish victory. Hamilton only finished fourth with a lame Mercedes behind teammate Valtteri Bottas and young McLaren star Lando Norris.

For the Red Bull driver it was the fifth victory in the ninth race of the season. Title rival Hamilton, who had just signed a new two-year contract with the Silver Arrows, must now pin his hopes on a turnaround at the home game at Silverstone in two weeks.

Orange Bengalo smoke hung over the track in the tranquil Murtal all weekend. For the first time since the end of 2019, large crowds of spectators were allowed in the stands. Crowds of Dutch people turned the Red Bull Ring into a Verstappen Arena. The organizers counted 132.000 spectators over the three Grand Prix days in Styria.

Thousands of Dutch fans turned Spielberg into a cauldron. © APA / GEORG HOCHMUTH

And the World Cup leader's fan base had a lot to celebrate. Verstappen drove his extremely powerful company car to pole position for the third time in a row and maintained first place even after the start of the race. McLaren driver Norris, who somewhat surprisingly started from second place, initially kept Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez and the Mercedes duo behind him. Norris gets a penalty Shortly afterwards, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon had to park his car due to a collision. The safety car was briefly deployed. After the restart, Verstappen quickly pulled away. Norris had a tough duel with Perez before the Mexican got into the gravel and fell back. The race judges later sentenced the Brit to a controversial five-second penalty.

In the meantime, the Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc could also hope for a podium finish. With Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) they formed a fast chasing group for a long time, but did not manage to get to the front. At the end of the day, Sainz finished fifth, Leclerc finished eighth, just behind Ricciardo.

At the front, Verstappen dominated almost at will, while behind him Norris and Hamilton dueled. “More power,” Hamilton radioed his engineers in the pits to rev up the engine even more. After 21 laps, the series champion finally managed to get past Norris, when Verstappen was already ten seconds ahead.

Now the time for strategists and pit stops began. Verstappen's pursuers came first for fresh rubber rollers, then the front runner was able to roll to the garage in a relaxed manner. Even after that, the Dutchman's lead continued to grow. Mercedes waves Bottas over The reason for this was also damage to Hamilton's car. Teammate Bottas was allowed to overtake the Briton on lap 52 after a radio message, and Norris soon overtook him too. For the defending champion it was just a matter of limiting the damage with fresh tires.

On the other hand, thanks to his padding, Verstappen could even afford to come into the pits again and secure the fastest lap of the race with new tires. His fourth victory at the team's home game at the Red Bull Ring was a demonstration of his current superiority. The day ended up being a humiliation for Mercedes and Hamilton.

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Party in Orange: Verstappen can no longer be stopped

With his third Formula 1 victory in two weeks, Max Verstappen brought the Orange party in Spielberg to a boil. Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari drivers, on the other hand, all missed the podium.

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