Max Verstappen wins Austrian Grand Prix in style: 'This feels very good'

Published on 01 July 2018 by Raymond Snip

With the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen has once again been able to write a beautiful victory to his name. After last year's disappointment, the tens of thousands of Dutch fans present witnesssed the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver race to the fourth victory of his career. Kimi Raikkonen (second) and Sebastian Vettel (third) kept it exciting in the final phase for a long time by continuing to close the gap to Max, but eventually came up short. Both Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were left with technical problems, leaving the German team with zero points this race weekend at the Red Bull Ring. Daniel Ricciardo did not make it to the finish line due to a problem with his gearbox.

"Great!” a happy Max Verstappen says after the race. "It was difficult to keep the tyres intact. I had to take good care of it because of the wear, but we made it to the end. It is amazing to win with a Red Bull car on the Red Bull Ring. Especially now that there are so many Dutch fans present, unbelievabl! It was a very good day and I hope we can continue like this."

Max takes us to lap one, it was quite hecticespecially in the front of the pack : "It was hard to choose position at the start, actually the entire first lap. The most important thing was of course to get through without damage, and that worked. I also won a position, so that worked out well."

After Valtteri Bottas' failure, the virtual safety car came on track. Is this when Lewis Hamilton lost the race? "At first I thought so, but even when he came back onto the track, after his first pit stop, he was not quick enough. He was obviously unlucky with the virtual safety car, because the team did not call him in, but the speed was not really there."

It was a big task for many drivers, including Max, to save the tyres. Max: "It was important to be able to drive for a long time. Some had some more problems, but fortunately we were able to keep on driving on that tyre until the end. In any case, I am very happy. It is a somewhat unexpected victory, but it feels very good."

Moments later, things go bad for Valtteri Bottas. After the exit of turn three, the Mercedes-driver's gearbox malfunctions, making him drop-out number two. Max moves up a spot. The silver arrow of the Fin is, unlike the Renault van Hülkenberg, in an unsafe spot, activating the virtual safety car.

Verstappen immediately dives into the pits and switches to the soft. Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo does the same. Ferrari follows the example by successively bringing in Raikkonen and Vettel. All four drivers now have the soft tyres on their car. The Mercedes team does not call in Lewis Hamilton. That pitstop happens five laps later. The Brit switches to a set of softs, with Max taking over the lead in the race.

Halfway through the race there is a train behind Daniel Ricciardo, whose tyres are suffering. Raikkonen and Hamilton are chasing the Australian, however it takes a while, so Max is able to expand the lead. It doesn’t take long before Raikkonen takes his chance and passes Ricciardo. Hamilton does not have the desired pace and is even overtaken by Sebastian Vettel. Daniel Ricciardo dives into the pits for a new set of supersofts.

As the number of turns increase, the tyre wear is clearly visible to the drivers. Especially the rear tyres are suffering, reason for Mercedes to bring in Lewis Hamilton in lap 53 for four new red walled tyres.

One lap later we hear Daniel Ricciardo on the radio calling that there is a problem with the synchronization of his gears. The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver suddenly slows down and parks his RB14 off-track. Brendon Hartley also has to give up due to a mechanical problem. The number of drop-outs is currently at four. He turns out not to be the last drop-out, as the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton surprisingly quits in round 64. It means that the team from Brackley returns home with zero points.

It looks like it’s going to be another exciting finish when both Ferraris slowly seem to close the gap to Max. The Dutchman, however, keeps his head cool and, when he sees checkered flag, has enough margin to celebrate the fourth victory of his career. Verstappen is also chosen "driver of the day". Romain Grosjean also has a reason to celebrate with a nice fourth place.

Results Grand Prix Austria: