The 2021 Formula One season is seeing a spectacular form out of Max Verstappen, the Belgian-Dutch driver for Red Bull Racing who has just marked his fourth win of this season by finishing first at the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.
Coming off of last Sunday’s triumph, Verstappen started the race at P1, one spot ahead of his rival and defending world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has now gone four races without a victory.
While the French GP saw a close battle between the Dutchman and the Briton, Verstappen was dominant from the get go and kept increasing his lead throughout the race, leaving Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas behind.
Verstappen goes 18 points ahead of Hamilton in the drivers’ standings
At the end of the lengthy 71-lap race, Verstappen crossed the finish line with a whopping 35.7 second lead over Hamilton, with Bottas fending off the winning driver’s teammate Sergio Perez to secure a third place finish.
“Straightaway I felt a good balance in the car and it was good to maintain the tyres throughout. We just kept on going and tried to hit our lap times, which worked really well,” said Verstappen after the win, who has now clocked 156 points with Hamilton trailing behind with 138.
Red Bull themselves have been stellar this season, with five wins so far (four from Verstappen, one from Perez) and are now at 252 points, 40 points ahead of Mercedes.
“We have to show it again next week and we will have to look at what we can do better., “It is looking really good [for Red Bull], we need to keep pushing really hard,” the 23-year-old added.
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