THE CHAMPIONSHIP saga continued as Formula 1 had its first of two races in Austria’s Red Bull Ring this year. Here are the F1 results for the Styrian Grand Prix.
Red Bull enjoyed its home court advantage, looking strong all weekend long. Current points leader Max Verstappen led two out of three practice sessions, and was able to convert Saturday’s pole to a Sunday win.
His teammate, Sergio Perez, was half a second behind from making it a back-to-back double podium for the bulls, but was edged out by Mercedes rival Valtteri Bottas.
“I am super happy to win here and doing it at home at the Red Bull Ring is always so special. I had a really enjoyable race, the car was working well and I always enjoy driving on this track… Overall, we’ve had a really positive weekend,” said Verstappen, as he proceeded to credit the team’s effort for their consecutive wins.
Mercedes had a pretty decent weekend as well, with the defending champion Lewis Hamilton finishing at second and bagging an additional point for fastest lap. Together with Bottas, they were able to bring home 34 points for the team.

Hamilton went on to say, “Absolutely gave everything, pushed to the maximum. Just unfortunately, we couldn’t answer any of the lap times that they were putting in.”
It was a pretty clean race for the leaders throughout the 71 laps, which Verstappen comfortably led. The 23-year-old racer went on to lap more than three-fourths of the field, going as far as Lando Norris’ P5.
However, it was a whole ‘nother story in the midfield pack.
Leclerc, Sainz tear through the middle
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly saw an early retirement after coming in contact with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc during the first lap. Both drivers were damaged in the collision, with Gasly taking a larger blow.
Because of this debacle, Leclerc had to immediately pit for a new front wing, sending him tumbling down the pecking order after initially qualifying in P7. However, he was able to climb his way through the pack to finish the race right where he started. This gave him the fans’ seal of approval as he ended up getting Driver of the Day.
Along with his teammate, Carlos Sainz, who finished in P6, it was a double points finish for the Scuderia that helped close the gap between them and their main constructor rival, McLaren.
The Woking-based team saw yet another heartbreaking result for Daniel Ricciardo as he continued to struggle in his adjustment phase. After initially making up 5 places at the start of the race, he went back to his qualifying spot of P13 as he momentarily experienced a loss of power.
On the other hand, his teammate Norris had another solid weekend after starting the race in P3. He initially qualified in 4th, but was bumped up thanks to the 3-place grid penalty of Bottas. The young Brit tried to hold on to a possible podium, but was ultimately passed by both Perez and Bottas as the team focused on conserving their tyres for the battle against Ferrari.
Speaking of heartbreaks, George Russell was so close to scoring his first points for Williams. The weekend was truly monumental for him as he was 0.008 seconds away from getting into Q3 on Saturday. It seemed like there was hope for him and his Grove-based team as they saw AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda handed a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Bottas in qualifying. This meant that Russell would now start the race on the 5th row in P10 ⏤ the team’s highest grid position in recent years.
He was able to go as high as P8, but luck was not on his side as he was forced to retire halfway through due to a power unit issue.
The dismal result was reminiscent of his bad luck at last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix while subbing for the COVID-19-afflicted Hamilton. He could not turn that chance into a win as he suffered a puncture and a pitstop failure.
“Gutted for the team to be honest, you know they’ve worked so hard to be in this position… I think P7 was probably possible. I was quicker than Alonso ⏤ four or six points in the constructors' would have been massive. Absolutely massive for us," said Russell in a post-race interview.
As the dust settled, here are the drivers who were able to score points:
There were no significant changes in both the driver and constructor standings, with Red Bull still dominating and leading the pack. Would they be able to keep this up? Find out next week as we enter the closing stage of this season’s first triple header, with another round at the Red Bull Ring.
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