Mercedes suffer turbo-hybrid era low as Max Verstappen sizzles in Styria

Max Verstappen in actie op de Red Bull Ring. — Photo: © LAT Images

Styrian Grand Prix

Mercedes suffer turbo-hybrid era low as Verstappen sizzles in Styria

Mercedes has now failed to win last four races

Ian Parkes

Sunday 27 June 2021 16:28 Updated: 20:35

Max Verstappen stretched his F1 title advantage over Lewis Hamilton to 18 points following a comprehensive lights-to-flag Styrian Grand Prix victory.

Verstappen was never troubled at the Red Bull Ring, save for the odd occasional brake complaint, as he converted a fifth career pole position into a 14th victory, and fourth this season, taking the chequered flag by 35.7secs from Hamilton.

The margin of victory was due to Hamilton pitting on the penultimate lap to then set the fastest lap on the final lap to claim a small consolation.

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This latest triumph for Verstappen, though, means he has now won more races this year than in any of his past six campaigns, with three his previous best in 2019.

For Hamilton and Mercedes, it is now four races without a victory, the team's worst run since the introduction of the turbo-hybrid era at the start of 2014, leaving their seven years of domination under serious threat.

Valtteri Bottas claimed third, albeit coming under threat late on from Sergio Perez after the Mexican had switched to a new set of medium tyres with 15 laps remaining, with the gap between them after 71 laps just half a second.

The result ended a run of three races off the problem for Bottas.

Norris podium challenge fades

For the seventh time in eight races, Lando Norris finished in the top five as he was unable to convert third on the grid at the start into a podium.

Norris had fought wheel to wheel with Perez on the opening lap, losing third place at the start through turn three before battling back to reclaim the position at the end of the long straight into turn four.

On lap 10, however, after comfortably keeping Perez at bay, Norris left the door wide open for the Mexican to slot into third, but at that stage, he had fallen over eight seconds adrift of second-placed Hamilton.

Bottas, who had dropped from second in qualifying to fifth on the grid for the start of the race after being handed a three-place penalty for his pit lane spin during Friday practice, also soon made his way past Norris to claim fourth.

Perez hit with pit problem

At the first round of stops, Perez was the first of the leaders to take on new rubber after 25 laps, switching from the soft compound to the hard.

But the left-rear proved problematic, leading to a slow 4.8s stop and allowing Mercedes to perform the undercut with Bottas a lap later and move the Finn up into third.

Trailing Verstappen by five seconds, Hamilton took on his hard tyres after 28 laps, but there was no Perez repeat from Red Bull with Verstappen's stop as the Dutch driver comfortably retained his lead with a two-second turnaround.

From that moment on, it was a case of managing brake issues, exacerbated by Verstappen braking over the kerbs through turn nine.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished a fine sixth after starting 12th, courtesy of going long on his first stint, followed by team-mate Charles Leclerc, who had been forced to pit at the end of lap one following a collision with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.

Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin, Alpine's Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda in the second AlphaTauri completed the top 10.

Rain stays away from the Red Bull Ring

Without the predicted thunderstorms, leading to the correctly forecasted one-stop strategy for the majority of the field, the bulk of the action naturally occurred on the opening lap which proved to be a shocking one for Gasly as he was involved in three separate collisions.

Starting from sixth on the grid, the Frenchman twice played dodgems with Leclerc into and out of turn one, leading to a left-rear puncture for Gasly and right-front deflation for the Ferrari driver.

Going up the hill into turn three, and as the field flew past him, Gasly was then inadvertently tagged by first Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen and then Williams' Nicholas Latifi, the latter sustaining a puncture to his right-rear tyre.

With severe damage to his left-rear suspension, Gasly was forced to retire, while Leclerc and Latifi dropped to 18th and 19th respectively given the need for a tyre change.

In the absence of Gasly and with Leclerc dropping to the back, that elevated Williams' George Russell into eighth, and for a third of the race he was on course to finally break his points duck with the team.

But a pneumatic system issue ultimately led to the Briton being forced to retire after 38 laps.