Verstappen targets championship gains after 'incredible' Austria win

Max Verstappen's run of errors was put firmly to bed as he secured a stunning win at the Austrian Grand Prix. The Dutchman has set his sights on those ahead of him in the drivers' championship after taking Red Bull's first win at the track bearing their name.

Mercedes had been expected to dominate after Valtteri Bottas led Lewis Hamilton in a front-row lockout and Sebastian Vettel was demoted to sixth on the grid.

However, the Silver Arrows fell apart, costing Hamilton P1 with a strategy blunder and ending the race with zero points after a pair of retirements.

It opened the door for Verstappen, who had gained track position by outmuscling Kimi Raikkonen on the first lap.

Having endured a miserable start to the 2018 season that has left him way down in the championship, Verstappen is now just three points behind teammate Daniel Ricciardo in P5 and hopes to now get on a roll.

"It was amazing," Verstappen said. "It was very hard to manage the tyres. We had to look after them and managed to hang on until the end.

"It's amazing to win for Red Bull at the Red Bull Ring, in front of so many Dutch fans here. It's incredible.

"I needed to catch up in the points so today was a very good day for me and I hope we can keep up like this."

Raikkonen was catching Verstappen hard in the closing stages, but just ran out of time, having initially looked like a contender after muscling between Hamilton and a slow-starting Bottas off the line.

"I had to back off at turn one because the cars were squeezed together. After that, the car came good, but we just ran out of laps, and we took it easily too long. We had the right car, today, some points were a little bit difficult, but it was a good day for the team."