Austria 2021: Verstappen extends dominance with another win

Max Verstappen confirmed his favoritism and secured his third consecutive victory in the 2021 Formula 1 season at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Starting well from pole position, Verstappen was untouchable throughout the race. His advantage was so great that Red Bull was able to call him in for a pit-stop with 10 laps to go to secure the bonus point for the fastest lap for the Dutchman.

While it was quiet for Verstappen at the front, things were a bit more chaotic behind him. Valtteri Bottas came in second after starting fifth, benefiting from the problems of Sergio Perez and his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris finished third, securing a podium spot after overtaking Hamilton halfway through the race.

There were no changes in the top five on the opening lap, but an incident further back damaged Esteban Ocon's right front wheel and caused the safety car to come on.

At the restart, Perez tried to pass Norris on the outside at turn 4, but was squeezed, went off the track, and dropped to 10th. The stewards' investigation earned Norris a five-second penalty, which he served in his pit-stop.

Hamilton moved up to third after passing Bottas, and set off on Norris to overtake him at turn 4. After the stops, Verstappen had a 20-second lead over Hamilton, Bottas, and Norris, but Hamilton's pace on the hard tire was not good.

With suspected damage, Hamilton was caught up by his teammate and McLaren. Mercedes instructed the drivers to swap positions and Bottas passed before Norris also left his compatriot behind at turn 6.

Hamilton stopped for the second time shortly after being overtaken by Norris, putting on another set of hard tires to go to the checkered flag, and had to settle for a discrete fourth place.

Perez recovered from his initial problems to finish fifth on track, but received two separate penalties for pushing Charles Leclerc out. The first incident was a repeat of what happened between him and Norris, this time with the Mexican in the opposite position. Leclerc tried from the outside at turn 6 soon after and was once again squeezed out, with Perez taking another penalty.

With the 10 seconds added to his time, Perez lost a place to Carlos Sainz. Starting on the hard tire, the Spaniard used a one pit-stop strategy and overtook Daniel Ricciardo on lap 70 to put himself inside the time window to gain Perez's position.

Leclerc finished eighth, furious over his two failed overtaking attempts on Perez, followed by Pierre Gasly in ninth. Fernando Alonso scored the final point, passing George Russell in the final laps.

Behind Williams, there was a freak accident on the last lap between Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen at turn 5. The collision will be investigated by the stewards.

Race standings: