F1: Verstappen wins 42nd F1 race in Austrian GP (Update)

The race results shown below have been updated.

De Vries received a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off track.

Sargeant, Magnussen, Ocon (x2), De Vries and Tsunoda received five-second time penalties for exceeding track limits.

Tsunoda, Sainz, Hamilton, Gasly, Albon, Ocon (x2) and De Vries received 10-second time penalties for exceeding track limits.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The best driver in the world, perhaps ever, Max Verstappen, surpassed the late great Ayrton Senna with his 42nd F1 win in the Austrian GP at the young age of 25.

Cruising with a 25-second lead with 2 laps to go, Verstappen went against his team’s advice and pitted a third time for soft tires to go for the fastest lap and the 1 extra point.

And of course, he did it, motoring to his 5th win in a row and a complete sweep of the weekend – pole for both the Sprint and the race, victory in both and the fastest race lap.

Verstappen won by only 5.1-seconds, but it would have been closer to 30 had he not made the 3rd stop. It was his 7th win of the season, and we are not even halfway yet.

“I think the most important [thing] for me was Lap 1, to stay in front,” said race-winner Verstappen. “After that, we could do our own race.

“Of course we opted not to box during the Virtual Safety Car, and just follow our normal strategy, and I think that worked out really well. The tire [degradation] was not that high around here and our stints were perfect, so a great day – I enjoyed it a lot!”

Charles Leclerc came home 2nd for Ferrari, his best finish of the season.

Verstappen’s Red Bull Honda teammate Sergio Perez came back from a 15th place start to grab the final podium position in third. It was not the greatest start to the weekend when he missed out on Q3. But, he was back to his best today, storming through the field to finish on the podium. A very good performance, but he now trails his teammate in points, a massive 229 to 148 (81 points).

Carlos Sainz was 4th in the #55 Ferrari while Lando Norris rounded out the top-5 in the revised McLaren.  Norris lost a place at the start to Hamilton, but showed immense pace from then on, and fifth place is a well-earned result for him and McLaren. This will fill them with optimism for the rest of their season, especially when they full upgrade package comes in the next few races.

Fernando Alonso passed Lewis Hamilton and came home 6th, 8-seconds ahead of the Mercedes. Over the last few races, Aston Martin and Mercedes have shown themselves to be the teams that could challenge Red Bull. But not this weekend. It was Ferrari.

Lance Stroll was 10th after starting in front of his teammate. They will be looking to bounce back next weekend in Silverstone.

Mercedes looked a lot stronger in recent races, but took a step backward today. Hamilton struggled mightily with his brakes to finish seventh, while George Russell could only go from 11th to eighth. They mentioned that there were some upgrades on the way for Silverstone. They had better hope they work.

It’s another impressive Sunday from Williams, and while they did not score points today, they will be very satisfied by the performance of both drivers. Albon was overtaken for 10th by Stroll on fresher rubber in the closing stages, while Sargeant flirted with the top-10 today. There will most certainly be conversations about track limit penalities, but all in all, it’s a decent weekend.

Race Results – 71 Laps

Note – Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.