Max Verstappen believes he now has momentum over Lewis Hamilton after crushing victory

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

Styrian Grand Prix

Verstappen believes he now has momentum over Hamilton after crushing victory

Red Bull driver took an easy victory in Styrian Grand Prix

Will Gray

Sunday 27 June 2021 16:44 Updated: 16:50

Max Verstappen is “confident” he has the momentum to stretch his legs in his world championship challenge against Lewis Hamilton after taking a dominant victory at his team’s Red Bull Ring home.

Verstappen led the Styrian Grand Prix from pole position and had little trouble keeping his Mercedes rival at bay, never coming under pressure and managing his race perfectly to the end.

Asked if the momentum for the title battle is now going Red Bull’s way, Verstappen said: “It’s looking really good, so we just have to keep on going, keep pushing really hard and then I am confident we can do a very good job again.

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“I mean, you never know how it is going to end up but straight away I felt a good balance on the car and it was good to manage the tyres basically from the start. I felt like also to the end I had tyres left.

“Of course, they pitted one lap earlier than us, we reacted to that, and then we just kept on going, trying to hit our lap times and that worked really well.”

Verstappen extends championship advantage

It was Verstappen’s 14th career win, extending his advantage over Hamilton by a further six points after his rival finished in second place, while also picking up a point on the final lap for the fastest lap.

The teams will do it all again next weekend at the same track as F1 completes its triple-header of races, and with the performance Verstappen showed on Sunday, he is the clear favourite for another win in seven days' time.

Asked if racing again in Austria next week gave him ‘comfort’ in the championship battle, he added: “That’s very positive, but of course we have to show it again next week.

“So we will definitely have a look at what we can do better and I’m looking forward to next week.”