Max Verstappen "amazed" by "insane" Red Bull pace after crushing victory

Verstappen, Austria, Red Bull — Photo: © LAT Images

Austrian Grand Prix

Verstappen "amazed" by "insane" Red Bull pace after crushing victory

Verstappen finished 18 seconds ahead of Bottas

Ewan Gale

Sunday 4 July 2021 16:46 Updated: 16:50

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Max Verstappen confessed to being "amazed" by the "insane" pace of his Red Bull after cruising to victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman completed a clean sweep of F1's first triple-header of the season by heading home Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas by 18 seconds despite making an extra pit stop in the closing stages.

The result means Verstappen opens up a 32-point margin over championship rival Lewis Hamilton, who finished fourth.

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Asked how he felt in the immediate aftermath of his race win, Verstappen said: "Incredible to be honest.

"The car was on rails on every tyre set we put on. It was really enjoyable to drive. Insane, I am a bit amazed myself, how today went. I didn't expect it to be like this.

"Incredible job by everyone to deliver something like this. Of course, when you go into the weekend everyone sees you as the favourite but it is never easy to always deliver what we did today.

"Incredible effort by the whole team and also by Honda. The whole package, these two weeks especially have been incredible."

Verstappen restart key to dominance

Verstappen was unable to stretch his legs at the initial start after the safety car was deployed on lap one to remove the stricken Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

On the restart, Verstappen waited until the last moment to accelerate, stopping then-second place man Lando Norris from picking up a slipstream into turn one.

"I just had to be awake at the start and know I had a little bit of a gap," explained Verstappen.

"I knew that if I could go past lap one and the restart, I could do my own race but you always have to do that first and today has been incredible."