Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen has further extended his lead in the overall standings with a win in the Spielberg sprint.
The Dutchman confidently steered his Red Bull to victory on a long wet track on Saturday (July 1st, 2023) in front of his team-mate Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari.
Criticism of the world champion at Perez
“It was a good race,” said Verstappen, but also criticized Perez for a hard maneuver at the beginning of the 100-kilometer run: “It wasn’t very nice, it’s not okay how he did it.”
Perez immediately explained his behavior: “Max was angry, but I didn’t see him. When I noticed that, I made room.” Sending the others out onto the grass in wet conditions is not entirely in the spirit of good teamwork, but this was emphasized by Red Bull’s motorsport boss Helmut Marko on “Sky”.
Hulkenberg strong sixth
Nico Hülkenberg, who was even second at times in his Haas racing car, finished in the points for the second time this year. He got three points for a strong sixth place.
“The wet track really suited us, but the drying track ate a lot of tires, more for us than for others,” said Hulkenberg on “Sky”: “When it was really wet, it was okay.” Overall, however, he was very satisfied and also summed up the correct tactics of his team: “I feel absolutely fine.”
Tough team duel at Red Bull
World Championship second Perez got off to the best start and pushed aggressively past pole setter Verstappen. The two Red Bulls raked each other unusually hard, Verstappen even had to swerve off the track briefly before he took the lead again. “He pushed me down. What the hell?” Cursed double champion Verstappen on the radio.
Hülkenberg made clever use of the team-internal duel and moved up from fourth on the grid to second. In the past few weeks, the veteran had fought for good positions in qualifying time and time again, but was regularly passed way down the field in the races. But the slippery course in Styria suited the Rhinelander in the early stages.
Although dominator Verstappen pulled away effortlessly and as expected, Hülkenberg initially cleverly stayed directly behind. Only in the twelfth of 24 laps did Perez pass on a slowly drying track – and then Sainz came along, who passed shortly afterwards. It became clear that the Haas could not keep up with the front runners in one race. At this point, Verstappen already had a lead of more than ten seconds and stayed out of the hustle and bustle.
With six laps to go, Hülkenberg came into the pits to change tires and was rewarded for this risk. He caught up place by place and fought his way up to sixth place. He has only scored points once this year in seventh place in Australia. In the end, Hülkenberg even turned the fastest race lap of all 20 drivers.
Verstappen also on pole in main races
At the top of the standings, Verstappen is now 70 points ahead of Perez. The main race in Spielberg takes place on Sunday (from 3 p.m. live in the ticker at sportschau.de).
Verstappen has the chance of his seventh Grand Prix victory in the ninth World Championship race in first place on the grid. Last year he finished second behind Vice World Champion Charles Leclerc, but he had previously celebrated a total of four Grand Prix victories at the Red Bull Ring.