By Alan Baldwin
July 1 (Reuters) – Double world champion Max Verstappen ran away with an Austrian Grand Prix sprint race in a Red Bull one-two on Saturday to increase his Formula One lead over Mexican team mate Sergio Perez to 70 points.
Verstappen took the chequered flag a hefty 21.048 seconds clear of Perez on a drying track at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ringwith Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finishing third in the 24 lap 100km standalone race.
The two Red Bulls had started on the front row, with pole-sitter Verstappen forced onto the slippery grass in wet conditions by his team mate out of turn one as the Mexican briefly took the lead.
“Good race. Just the exit of Turn One, that was not really nice. That could have been a big shunt. We need to have a chat about that. That’s not OK,” Verstappen said over the radio at the finish.
The pair were seen talking about the incident afterwards and appeared to have patched it up.
“I think Max was angry that I went into Turn Two. But I didn’t see him there. I had a bad Turn One, so I tried to protect,” said Perez, who needed a strong result after three poor races.
“Once I realised he was there, I opened the door and gave the place back into Turn Two. But it was all fine, we spoke about it.”
Verstappen will also start on pole position in Sunday’s main grand prix, with Perez lining up 15th after Friday’s qualifying, when the Dutch driver will be chasing his fifth win in a row and seventh in nine races.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finished fourth and fifth with Nico Hulkenberg sixth for Haas, Esteban Ocon seventh for Alpine and George Russell bagging the final point for Mercedes on slick tyres a mere 0.009 behind.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was the big loser, plunging from third on the grid to ninth and one place ahead of seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton, who started 18th for Mercedes.
Hulkenberg had held second place until lap 12, when his intermediate tyres went off and Perez muscled past, followed by Sainz.
The experienced German pitted for slicks, dropping to 10th but racing back to secure precious points for his U.S.-owned team.
The top eight score points in the sprint, with Verstappen taking the maximum eight and Perez seven.
Both Red Bulls and Sainz stayed on the intermediate tyres throughout the race while others pitted for slicks as conditions improved.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis)
Earlier – Verstappen sees off Leclerc for fourth pole in a row
By Alan Baldwin
June 30 (Reuters) – Formula One’s dominant leader Max Verstappen took his fourth pole position in a row atRed Bull’s home Austrian Grand Prix on Friday while team mate and closest title rival Sergio Perez qualified only 15th.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will line up alongside Verstappen on the front row on Sunday with team mate Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris, in a newly upgraded car, immediately behind.
The session proved a nightmare for Perez, already 69 points behind Verstappen after eight races all won by Red Bull, who had three laps deleted for exceeding track limits and failed to make the top 10 for the fourth race in succession.
The Mexican had been second fastest in phase two of qualifying, held on Friday because of the sprint weekend format, but repeatedly went over the white lines with all four wheels between turns nine and 10.
Drivers have a separate qualifying on Saturday for the same day’s standalone 100 km sprint that no longer determines Sunday’s grid under a new format introduced this season and first used in Azerbaijan in April.
Verstappen, winner of six races so far this season and chasing his fifth victory in a row, said it had been hard to stay within the lines at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring, which has the shortest lap on the calendar in terms of time.
“We don’t do it on purpose but with these speeds and the high-speed corners it’s so hard to judge the white line,” said the Dutch driver.
“It was about surviving … it takes out the joy a little bit.”
The pole appeared briefly in doubt after the double world champion was summoned to stewards post-qualifying for allegedly impeding Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, but they decided to take no further action.
FASTEST TIME
Verstappen’s fastest time was one minute 04.391 seconds, the double world champion going top with his first effort in the final phase and then lapping even faster to make absolutely sure of pole.
Leclerc, winner in Austria last year for Ferrari’s most recent victory, was a mere 0.048 slower in a big boost for the Italian team.
“It feels good to finally have a clean qualifying again and be back on the front row. The feeling has been a bit better in the last few races,” said the Monegasque.
“I managed to put everything that I wanted in that last lap of Q3, very close to Max. Not enough today but overall I don’t think we expected to be so close to the Red Bulls so it’s a good step forward.”
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth for Mercedes but team mate George Russell will start 11th after also having a lap deleted in the second phase.
Perez said he accepted the blame for the first two lap deletions but had been impeded in the third.
“I think the system is wrong,” he said.
Canadian Lance Stroll qualified ahead of double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso, for only the second time this season, with the Aston Martin pair sixth and seventh.
Nico Hulkenberg will line up eighth for Haas, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and Williams’ Alex Albon again impressively quick.
Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries added to his woes, with speculation about his future at Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri growing louder, after qualifying in last place.
The session was red-flagged in the first phase when Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas spun onto the grass but the Finn managed to get the car back on track and to the pits.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, Editing by Louise Heavens and Ken Ferris)
