Verstappen beats Hamilton in dominant Styrian GP display

Max Verstappen extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to 18 points after comfortably beating the Mercedes driver to victory at the Styrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen started from pole position at his team's home circuit, the Red Bull Ring, and held the lead into Turn 1. He remained in control throughout, with Hamilton never getting close enough to challenge for the victory, finishing 35 seconds behind. 

The size of Hamilton's deficit was in part due to a late pit-stop for fresh tyres which enabled him to claim the extra point afforded to the driver who sets the fastest lap of the race. 

Verstappen's victory was Red Bull's fourth consecutive win, a run it will be hoping to extend to five next week when the circuit hosts a second F1 race, the Austrian Grand Prix. 

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

---

Red Bull's ominous pace will only strengthen the growing belief that the team has a clear edge on pace over Mercedes right now. 

The fight behind the title rivals was between Verstappen and Hamilton's teammates for the final spot on the podium. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas had qualified second but dropped to fifth on the grid due to a penalty for spinning in the pit-lane during Friday practice.

Sergio Perez was ahead of Bottas for the opening stint, although he had to fight to get past the fast-starting Lando Norris in the opening laps, but Mercedes was able to get Bottas in front at the first pit-stop window. Bottas' cause was helped by a slow stop for Perez. 

Perez briefly held the fastest lap of the race in the closing stint after pitting for fresh tyres with 16 laps left, but he did not quite have enough pace in hand to catch Bottas. Perez was just half a second behind Bottas when the pair crossed the finish line for the final time. 

Norris claimed another impressive fifth position for McLaren, finishing ahead of Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. 

Leclerc's finish was especially impressive given the fact he was relegated to the back of the field on the opening lap after losing his front wing in a collision with Pierre Gasly, which ultimately ended the AlphaTauri driver's race early. 

Leclerc's fightback saw him voted F1's Driver of the Day. 

Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten. 

George Russell had looked set for his long-awaited first points finish for Williams and ran in the top ten until his pit-stop. However, Williams encountered issues with his Mercedes engine and the pit-stop was slow. Russell was called in to the pits to retire the car shortly afterwards.