F1: Max Verstappen Earns Fifth Win in Row at Austrian Grand Prix

He would possibly oversleep. He would possibly park his Red Bull racecar and neglect the place he left it. Or lose the keys. He would possibly run into the worst run of unhealthy luck in Formula 1 historical past.

Barring these prospects, nonetheless, Max Verstappen now appears a positive guess to win his third straight Formula 1 title someday later this yr. He inched ever nearer on Sunday together with his fifth straight victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The victory was his seventh in 9 races this yr — he was second in the opposite two — and was marred solely by the top of his gorgeous streak of laps led. Entering Sunday, he had led each race run in Formula 1 for the reason that May 7 race in Miami. But the streak ended at 249 laps when his first pit cease on Sunday noticed him exit in third place, behind the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

It hardly mattered: Verstappen handed Sainz after which Leclerc in brief order, and promptly began a brand new streak. It has been that form of yr. Max Verstappen wins. Everyone else, it appears, is now racing for second.

Show of Force

How assured was Verstappen? With two laps left and a 24-second lead, he persuaded his workforce to let him pit for recent tires so he might attempt to publish the day’s quickest lap, and declare the additional level that comes with it.

How good is he? It labored.

It was a dangerous play: A pit cease at Red Bull Ring prices a driver about 20 seconds, and the Ferraris had been looming, able to steal the win, if something went mistaken. But nothing goes mistaken for Verstappen, and Red Bull, nowadays.

What They’re Saying

“Great day. I enjoyed it a lot.” — Verstappen, each week.
“Lewis, the car is bad. Please drive it.” — Toto Wolff, Mercedes workforce principal, making an attempt to calm Lewis Hamilton’s complaints and focus him on the duty at hand.