Max Verstappen came out on top of a dramatic Austrian GP as Red Bull missed out on a 1-2 finish at their home race after Sergio Perez failed to chase down Charles Leclerc for second.
In a race which swung back and forth across the grid and was dominated by a series of penalties for track limit violations, Verstappen managed his tyres to go for a one-stop strategy which allowed him to keep the chasing Ferrari drivers at bay.
The champion even managed to go for a late pitstop to go for the extra point for fastest lap despite having a narrow gap to Leclerc behind, clinching on the final lap of the race and crossing the line 5.155 seconds ahead of the Monegasque.
While Perez had to settle for third in his recovery from a poor qualifying in Spielberg, he was kept at bay for long enough in the final stint of the race in a battle with Carlos Sainz that he didn’t get the chance to fight with Leclerc for second.
Norris shows McLaren potential
A few early incidents in the race, including a Safety Car on the first lap after Yuki Tsunoda went off at Turn 3 and Virtual Safety Car a few laps later shook up the strategy across the pack, with a number of drivers including Sainz losing out.
Meanwhile Lando Norris, running a series of fresh upgrades on his McLaren for this weekend, was able to show the potential of the car as he battled wheel-to-wheel with Sainz, Perez and others at the front of the pack.
Norris was able to shake off challenges from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to take fifth overall, with the Mercedes pair ending a disappointing weekend behind the Aston Martin once again.
Pierre Gasly similarly held off Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll for ninth, as Alex Albon just missed out on another points finish for Williams in 11th.
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
With the F1 circus finished in Austria, we move on to the 2023 British Grand Prix which will be held at Silverstone in Northamptonshire, England over the weekend of July 7-9.
