Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Red Bull Ring, 2021

Verstappen cruises to fifth win as damage confines Hamilton to fourth

2021 Austrian Grand Prix summary

Posted on

| Written by

Max Verstappen extended his lead in the drivers championship by taking his fifth win of the season in the Austrian Grand Prix.

He bolstered his championship lead on a difficult day for rival Lewis Hamilton, who came in fourth after losing time with damage.

The pair were separated by Valtteri Bottas, who Hamilton allowed by into second place on lap 52, and Lando Norris, who claimed a podium finish after an eventful race which included a five-second time penalty.

Norris was sanctioned for an incident with Sergio Perez on the third lap of the race which sent the Red Bull driver into the gravel trap at turn four. Norris served his penalty at his pit stop, and finished the race with Bottas in his sights.

Perez later collected a pair of identical penalties for similar incidents involving Charles Leclerc. Although he took the chequered flag in fifth, his two five-second penalties dropped him behind Carlos Sainz Jnr, who Leclerc waved past earlier in the race.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Red Bull Ring, 2021
Gallery: 2021 Austrian Grand Prix in pictures
Daniel Ricciardo added to McLaren’s points haul in seventh ahead of Leclerc. Pierre Gasly pitted twice on his way to ninth, while Fernando Alonso denied George Russell a point by passing the Williams driver with three laps to go.

Yuki Tsunoda fell foul of the stewards twice on his way to 12th place, picking up a pair of penalties for cutting the pit lane entry line. Lance Stroll and Antonio Giovinazzi behind him also collected penalties for other infringements on a busy afternoon for the stewards.

The day’s only retirement was Esteban Ocon, who suffered front-right damage at turn three on the first lap, retiring on the spot.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2021 Austrian Grand Prix reaction

    Check back shortly for more race reaction

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

150 comments on “Verstappen cruises to fifth win as damage confines Hamilton to fourth”

  1. Out of the three incidents, I think only the second one was worthy of a penalty. Leclerc was ahead. In the other two incidents, the defending cars were ahead.

    1. The turn 6 penalty was an utter joke. The stewarding this weekend has been appalling. Between the quali mess yesterday being ignored and then penalizing drivers for defending against impossible moves today… ridiculous. I turned it off after the second Perez penalty.

    2. @carbon_fibre
      In other 2 incidents the defending cars weren’t fully ahead, they were slightly ahead with the attacking cars alongside and they can’t suddenly disappear. So not leaving a car’s width in both cases was an infringement.

    3. I totally agree. The second incident was the only one that deserved a penalty. Still a fantastic Grand Prix with the best racing we’ve seen all season. I love this track!

      1. @f1frog If you mean the second Leclerc incident, I disagree.

        1. @jerejj I mean the first Leclerc incident; the second of the three incidents.

    4. GtisBetter (@)
      4th July 2021, 16:17

      You can’t just go by “car x was ahead.” You have to look at the whole action. One car is trying an outside move. I’m not sure what they expect the inside car to do. Slow down everytime someone tries an outside overtake? Give him the place? For the inside car to make sure to give the place in a corner where he is forced to the outside, he already has to decide before the corner. That makes no sense. Not to mention the penalty is defined by the guy making the overtake, not the guy defending who gets the penalty. If the overtaker decides to back out, everything is fin. But if he decides to go for an overtake on the outside, the other guy gets a penalty. While he does exactly the same thing both times! Just absurd.

      1. My point exactly! The defending car has to decide before the turn. You cant change your steering angle easily on the apex of the corner.

        1. Greetings. Actually the defending drivers: they covered the inside. I have to re-watch Perez x Norris, but PER x LEC was two clear infractions.

          1. GtisBetter (@)
            4th July 2021, 17:07

            They were not clear at all. What is “clear” about it?

    5. Sam (@undercut677)
      4th July 2021, 17:33

      Perez was more ahead of Norris than Leclerc on Perez into turn 4. Check the onboards.

  2. Those turn 4 penalties were ridiculous. Feel sorry for the inside car, they will always wash to outside due to the nauture of the corner. I want to see hard racing and drivers take risks.

    1. @rob8k
      I agree the Perez-Norris one was 50-50 or so, but Perez was behind in the Leclerc one at turn 4 and forced him off and fully deserved a penalty there.

      1. @Neutralino Leclerc came from further behind, so I rate that incident worse than the Perez-Norris one.

        1. @jerejj
          Perez took too much kerb in T4 and that pushed him wide into Leclerc, initiating the initial contact when Leclerc was ahead at that point. Then Perez never stopped moving across and expected that Leclerc would disappear.
          The penalty was less about from where Leclerc outbraked Perez from on corner entry, more about mid corner and corner exit.

  3. Max and Redbull are dominating and in total control. Max very well could get the most wins in a season record to go with his first World Championship this year.
    Mercedes in real trouble. I don’t see them winning any more race this year on merit.

    1. If he wins silverstone, then yes!

      1. Thats what I’m thinking as well. Mercedes have shown at certain circuits this year that they are quicker than Red Bull, however that was before the upgrades package / second engine Red Bull now have. If Red Bull are quicker at Silverstone, which has always been a Mercedes track, then I’ll say its Max’s to lose this season. I have a sneaky feeling that Mercedes might surprise a few people at Silverstone.

        1. Agree with this.

        2. Coventry Climax
          5th July 2021, 2:57

          “which has always been a Mercedes track”.
          Huh?
          Silverstone was the first track ever, as far as I know, to host an F1 race, in 1950. It’s been not raced on for very brief periods, but it’s one of the very ‘original’ F1 tracks.
          Mercedes raced in F1 in 1954 and 1955, to then retire and only come back in 1994, as an engine supplier. Those engines were actually Ilmor. In 2005 the engines were rebranded Mercedes AMG. Only in 2010, Mercedes bought Brawn GP, which was effectively Honda. But OK, include 2010, that’s a total of 13 years of Mercedes in F1, over a 71 year F1 period. 100*(13/71) is a participation percentage of a little over 18, or an absence percentage of 82, whichever you prefer.
          There was quite a fight a couple of year ago, about Mercedes wanting a share of the ‘Historical Presence’ prize money. The concept is ridiculous ofcourse, but if you compare these percentages to Ferrari’s, there a completely different picture, with a presence percentage of well over 90.
          So, “which has always been a Mercedes track” is quite a laugh, actually.

          1. In context of the turbo hybrid era…..
            Anyone with half a brain could understand what was being conveyed here.

          2. Coventry Climax
            6th July 2021, 1:30

            I understood perfectly, just don’t agree. But thank you for your kind words, which say a lot about you, actually.

            Mercedes have dominated on just about any circuit for the past seven years, so you might as well claim just about any track is a mercedes track. Yet Silverstone was not particularly perfect for them, last times, with a Verstappen win and a very lucky escape from massive tyre problems. Yes, mercedes have won there a lot, these last years, just as they have done on many a circuit.

    2. @amg44 Yeah gonna be a boring season after all I’m afraid

      1. @jeffreyj I’m not bored at all. I’m a Max fan, and I’m welcoming the change, but at the same time I’m certainly not assuming Max is about to win all of the remaining races. I’ll wait and see what the different tracks bring, and to see what Mercedes might do with their car and the upgrades they’ll bring. I’ll be taking it one race at a time and I am completely stoked for how it is going so far. But as well I am poised for Mercedes to have a resurgence or at least be much closer and pull a strategy surprise or what have you. Sure, if Max can pull off as relatively easy a win in Silverstone as he has just had then yeah I’m going to be a lot more confident for the rest of the season, but there’s no way I’m assuming anything at this point.

        1. You sound a lot like like the Mercedes camp of yester years. Not that it is wrong to be cautious but it is amusing to recall how much vitriol their guarded stance used to attract when it was in fact the common sense approach.

          1. That was however based on years and years and years of domination. Then it is far more obvious common sense. We have now seen, like a handful of victories for RB. Hardly enough to claim its common sense they will wrap it up this year. Especially given the nature of the tracks the last couple of races. My recommendation to the Mercedes team and its fans is to stop being bitter (which is beyond believe by the way after 8 years of utter domination) and enjoy the season since it is not over yet by far and will be a thriller til the end. It is less enjoyable if you just root for one team, try to love the sport.

    3. Don’t forget there are new tyres coming soon. That could change everything (I’m guessing in Mercedes favour).

    4. We are witnessing the born of Greatest Legend, for past 2 seasons Max Verstappen has demonstrated champion quality, duly beating Bottas and getting few wins with an average car. He’s now out to surprise the world, defeating the once unstoppable Mercedes and Hamilton combination, whilst on track of getting the most wins and most laps leading of any single season.

  4. Umm.. RBR has created a monster, and he won’t stop winning!!

  5. Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
    4th July 2021, 15:41

    A really important race for the championship. Max took another dominant win and an important points gap against Lewis. Norris drove an awesome weekend and despite the penalty, he really threatened both Mercedes. Good to see a better performance by Bottas after a while.

    Perez came close to beating Maldonado’s penalty record but didn’t manage to do so :p . In all seriousness now, i fully agree with every decision stewards took today. I still can’t understand how Tsunoda did the same mistake twice, especially when he raced twice in here

    Shame for Russell,but eventually his bad start and the car’s pace didn’t help him in keeping Alonso behind.

    As for the Raikkonen-Vettel incident, i think it’s time for Kimi to hang his helmet up…. It’s the second awareness incident that Kimi is involved this season (Portimao the first) and this could have been much much worse…..

    1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      4th July 2021, 15:46

      Agree on all your points sir… and I would never hold it against a driver for being overtaken by Alonso… :-)

      1. Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
        4th July 2021, 16:42

        Yeah, George didn’t have an easy task by having to keep behind a driver of the caliber of Fernando

        1. He did a good job also, defended well for several laps, so damn close to a point.

    2. Good ole’ Perez is back. Selfish, impatient and unable to race people cleanly. His worst showing of the season so far, IMO.

      1. Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
        4th July 2021, 16:43

        Yep, he will want to forget this race weekend as soon as possible…

        1. Coventry Climax
          5th July 2021, 3:03

          Where in fact he should engrave it in his mind, and LEARN from it.

    3. I’m pretty sure Kimi will end it this season and Mick will get the seat.

  6. someone or something
    4th July 2021, 15:42

    Räikkönen needs to think about quitting. His pace may not yet be worsening that much, but his awareness of other cars on the track is becoming an embarrassment.
    First that unbelievable blunder on the pit straight at Portimão, where he just drove into Giovinazzi like he wasn’t there.
    Then that incident with Leclerc a week ago, where he turned into Leclerc and clipped his tyre with his front wing, again completely unforced.
    Then an incident with Russell today, where he again shows a lack of spatial awareness and almost cuts the Williams driver’s rear tyre.
    And then another unbelievable blunder, crashing Vettel out, who was casually driving past him, minding his own business, with lots of room to both sides.
    If he were a rookie, people would be demanding his head, and justifiedly so.

    1. Fair points, but Raikkonen’s mistakes in this race weren’t as bad as Tsunoda’s in this race. Cutting the white line twice on put entry in exactly the same way is total carelessness. I’m maybe one of those demanding his head!

      1. someone or something
        6th July 2021, 11:29

        You’re seriously comparing a driver who repeatedly inches over a painted line at the exit of a tight corner to a driver who crashes out another competitor by driving into him despite seeing him in bright daylight?
        Even worse, you’re not only comparing them, but saying the driver who drove over that painted line made the more egregious mistake?
        Even worse still, you’re crashing a comment about driver R, whose growing number of easily avoidable contacts with other cars throughout this season might indicate a growing unfitness for F1, by saying “yeah, but driver T drove over a painted line twice in that one race, and that’s even worse”.

        Give me a break.

    2. +1. It’s typical of greying people on their way out and not caring anymore. Coulthard was similar.

    3. glaucoma.. cataracts.. could be anything

      1. someone or something
        4th July 2021, 21:40

        I wouldn’t go so far as to diagnose an eye disease. But I do think there’s a trend. Last week’s collision with Leclerc, today’s collisions with Russell and Vettel – they all happened relatively late in the race. And they all seemed to indicate a lack of peripheral perception (particularly striking in Vettel’s case, with Räikkönen simply continuing to turn right despite having a face full of Aston Martin for a good moment).
        Dehydration?

  7. Verstappen is absolutely in another league. Mercedes’ domination has been planted in their car and engine, and without that their deficiencies are glaringly obvious.

    1. Why couldn’t this be the case for RBR?

      1. Because it was only Verstappen consistently leading and winning while the second Red Bull driver only get to podium occasionally. If you have the most dominant car, it would be 1-2 for most races (refer Mercedes’ 2019 season).

        1. Another way to say Lewis’ teammate were better than Max’s ones.
          My guess is that was omitted in the original comment because saying “Mercedes’ domination has been planted in their lineup (to grab WCC points), car and engine…” would prevent making the point that Lewis is bad and Max is rewriting the laws of Physics.

          1. Rodric Ewulf
            6th July 2021, 6:12

            Perez has been a bad qualifier but he does have generally good race pace, way better than Albon and Gasly when he was driving for Red Bull, so if he had a dominant car he would be able to cruise past the ones that out-qualified him and nearly always finish second, or qualify second more often even remaining a struggler for one-lap pace to begin with, as a car cannot be called dominant if it doesn’t allow the team’s leading driver to set a lap several tenths faster than rivals with different machinery in qualifying. Being dominant is not the same as being clearly the fastest as they can be ahead by a smaller edge than utter superiority.

  8. On a more serious note, if Mercedes Silverstone updates don’t bring them closer the season is done and dusted. Excellent race by Norris keeping up with both the mercs all race long. Sainz picked up a decent points haul again with a nicely executed clean strategy. Perez was just bad today. Can’t help but feel bad for Russell though, his bad start really compounding into this finish..

  9. Sir Lewis is falling to bits bless him, a comfortable second and damages his car, terrible season for him.

    And the poor soul has signed up for two more seasons of this, his 7 titles will be a distant memory by the time he’s retired.

    1. a comfortable second and damages his car

      This was Lewis’ fault, unfortunately. Can’t afford this, already being on the back foot.

    2. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      4th July 2021, 16:00

      I think that’s a bit premature. Not syaing you’re wrong, but Ham has been written off many times before and has reigned supreme eventaully. When he went to Mercedes many commentators said it would be a disaster and doomed to failure. How wrong they were.

      This is definitely more exciting than him running away with the title again… Kudos to RBR and Max… a great season so far!

      1. Isn’t this a bit like schumacher 2005 criticism? He was probably already in a slight decline phase, but as he showed that season shouldn’t be written off yet, same goes for hamilton I think.

    3. You have never met the guy and your mocking him why? Has he been rude to you personally? What utter rubbish that his 7 titles will be a distant memory. Well seeing as Max is now only winning due to the car we can also agree his title this year will also be forgotten, yes? I pity people like who only criticize others yet never acknowledge their own short comings. Long story short Mr, Lewis is a multi millionaire doing what he loves, his name will remain near or at the top of the all times greats while you continue slaving away in your 9 to 5 job earning peanuts just to pay your bills and put food on the table.

      1. You seem a bit upset son, calm yourself down.
        To novices like you Hamilton was the second coming just because he was sat in a rocketship with a very average teammate.

        Now the other teams have caught up Sir Lewis is looking like an also-ran.

        Max is starting to dominate like no other, he’s bossing other teams and doesn’t come close to being challenged by his very good teammate.

        For your sanity you better pray that this is not start of a long reign of dominace, it will pale Hamilton’s run I have no doubt.

        1. I stopped once I read you saying Perez is very good after classified Rosberg and Bottas as average. And you dared to call your interlocutor novice. Go figure.

          1. What, you actually think Bottas is one of the best on the grid, next joke please.

          2. He’s talking specifically about rosberg I presume, not bottas, I would at least.

          3. Rosberg was a very good qualifier but yet again a very average racer with so-so race pace.

      2. I could not have said it better myself! Bravo!

        1. My reply was to Ipba

          1. Another salty Hamilton fan, your boy is past it, get over it will you.

    4. I’ve always dislikes Hamilton, but you’re just embarrassing yourself with comments like these. I’m always amazed by the fans that can’t allow that there can be more than amazing driver at a time. BTW, let’s see how hungry Max is after 4-7 titles.

      1. disliked*

  10. Hey Seb, the track goes slightly to the right there. Maybe you should, like, turn the wheel or something?

    1. It’s ok to admit your hero is in the wrong.

    2. someone or something
      4th July 2021, 15:52

      Remind me again, you were a parody account, right?

      Right?

    3. Adam (@rocketpanda)
      4th July 2021, 15:53

      There was no way that was Vettel’s fault, that was 100% on Raikkonen.

      1. someone or something
        4th July 2021, 15:58

        And that’s only for a lack of a higher possible percentage than 100 …

      2. @rocketpanda Absolutely not. Vettel had the line on the inside but he didn’t turn in and caused the accident. He had more space on the inside. Very similar to Vettel-Leclerc incident at Interlagos in 2019.

        1. someone or something
          4th July 2021, 17:31

          @huhhii
          From Vettel’s perspective
          From Räikkönen’s perspective
          From Russell’s perspective

          It somehow keeps getting worse with every additional angle …

    4. I don’t Think he is the one to blame here
      He was defending his position here

    5. Seriously blaming Seb?

      1. All of this showing how clearly Seb was to fault. Stay on your line.

        1. Sam (@undercut677)
          4th July 2021, 17:41

          That is literally what Seb did, no way this is his fault

        2. someone or something
          4th July 2021, 18:00

          Before I make fun of your reply, I should probably walk a mile in your shoes.

          1. someone or something 😂 I agree with you 100+% and @rocketpanda too. You can see SV not just holding his steering wheel a bit to the right at all times, but also his car converging on the inside line of the turn. Why KR did what he did is beyond me. All SV was doing was opening up more track for Kimi on his left. 100+% on Kimi that was, for cranking his wheel to the right and right into Seb.

        3. Better check your prescription if you think SV was to blame.

          Can’t fix stupid tho…

        4. (Btw, ‘SO CLEARLY’ Seb was at fault that Kimi was handed a 20 second penalty for his troubles).

          1. Coventry Climax
            5th July 2021, 3:13

            Even if you are right that it was Raïkkönen’s fault, the fact he was handed a penalty is no proof of that, given the amount of erratic penalties given so frequently.

        5. I’m assuming the same eye defect as Raikkonen. Please seek medical help, I’m worried

    6. I don’t think Vettel was at fault, he was simply defending his position.
      Kimmi had all the space on the left, and Vettel was following the line at the corner.
      So i don’t see where Vettel was at fault.
      Some drivers have closed the door a lot more agressivly than him today

    7. @huhhii

      Still living in your dream world where Kimi makes no mistakes and is the fastest and most talented driver on the grid? How’s his points tally this season not giving you a wake up call?

      1. Rodric Ewulf
        6th July 2021, 6:27

        Maybe he is happy with Kimi’s current stalemate 1-1 with Giovinazzi. You can say anything about Kimi fans but you can’t deny they have a big sense of humor.

      2. @todfod I live in a reality where Kimi is one hundred times better than a silly pay-driver who got his Ferrari seat thanks to Santander money. But luckily the faster of the two got the Ferrari WDC.

        1. Rodric Ewulf
          7th July 2021, 3:01

          I live in a reality where Kimi is one hundred times better than a silly pay-driver who got his Ferrari seat thanks to Santander money. But luckily the faster of the two got the Ferrari WDC.

          Like this one, the jokes have begun!

  11. I think Carlos Sainz did a fantastic race today. Worked the strategy, kept the nose clean and picked up good points.

    1. Sainz is getting there, and it’s good to see. Many people brushed him off as a B-driver signing, but he’s already put in a few races where he’s just doing a better job than Leclerc. Nothing super exciting yet, but very composed and just getting the results that Ferrari can. Seeing the difficulties Ricciardo and to a lesser extent Alonso and Vettel have had adapting to their new teams Sainz can be pretty pleased with most of his races.

    2. @pinakghosh It was the strategy, not the driver

      1. Rodric Ewulf
        6th July 2021, 6:31

        But the drivers help choosing the strategy, don’t they? At least they should.

    3. I have been a critic because he did not convince me in the past. I’ll be happy to admit he’s doing the right things right now

  12. Max fans, welcome to the World of ‘Its the car, not the driver’ ;-)

    1. Max and Lewis are better than their respective teammates, but they can’t prove much else this season either way.

      Give those #2 seats to Russel and Lando, Gasly to McLaren and let’s have Merc, Ferrari, Mclaren, and RBR be on the same level next year. That should be fun!

    2. and seeing your man twice. Once at the beginning of the race, once at the end. :)

    3. Davethechicken
      4th July 2021, 20:07

      Max’s pole lap says it all. Two significant errors but still easily faster than the Mercs.

    4. The Red Bull is the better car in the hands of Verstappen, but other drivers, I don’t know. Perez has shown once again it’s not an easy 1-2 car like Mercedes had the last 7 years (most of the time). Red Bull dominates in the hands of Verstappen, but Perez still struggles to get it on the podium.

      Perhaps it’s the curse of driving in the same team as Verstappen. Gasly, Albon and Perez all seem to overdrive the car to try to keep up with Max. The bar is so high, they all made/make mistakes.

      While I believe at least half the grid could have been WDC in a Merc the last 7 years, I don’t think many other drivers in the RB16B would be able to defeat the Mercs race after race like Max is doing.

      The car is stupid fast, but only in the right hands.

  13. This is championship over. I can’t see Hamilton closing 32 points on Verstappen. He might have done that to Vettel, Bottas and Rosberg but that was against his generation. Plus Red Bull is clearly a better and faster car. Red Bull and Mercedes are quicker than everyone else which means that Verstappen will not finish lower than 4th. Norris got a podium but he is not expected to fight Red Bull and Mercedes for the whole season. Let alone this race Hamilton had floor damage.

    1. Season is still long and there are many variables including a Mercedes upgrade in the pipeline.

      1. I agree @pinakghosh Lewis can drive and Mercedes do not want to look like losers.

        I wouldn’t bet too much money yet ;)

    2. Verstappen will not finish lower than 4th

      Lewis needs Verstappen to crash. As history has shown us quite a few times, that is reasonably likely to happen if Max is pushed hard enough. Unfortunately, however, Mercedes isn’t putting the effort into Lewis’s car this year, to make it a fair fight, and so Max can cruises to the title.

      1. Strange memories you cherish.
        Under pressure ver hardly makes any mistakes
        It was when there was no pressure he was prone to be to optimistic. But that’s years ago.
        The mistakes under pressure are now a Hamilton thing.
        Crashing, damaging his car (again) and off track excursions.

      2. @jeffreyj As LH/Mercedes fans have been reminding us all along, of course it is a fair fight. It is up to everyone else to compete so we’re told. That’s no different for Mercedes now.

        1. Indeed, they kept saying that, I remember, and furthermore, even IF red bull were a significant better car than merc all season, it’s not the amount of dominance merc had for several years.

      3. Davethechicken
        4th July 2021, 20:08

        “Lewis needs Verstappen to crash.”
        True, he Lewis needs mistakes or reliability issues.
        I don’t see either being an issue.

    3. Can you please wait for silverstone? 4 of the last few races were expected to favour red bull [street tracks + austria(s)], let’s see at a track where both mercedes and hamilton are used to perform well.

    4. @krichelle

      If you combine those 32 points with another race win for Max in Baku, that was lost through no fault of his own… then you’d probably have Max around 44 points ahead. Which is a massive margin considering we haven’t even gotten to the halfway point of the season yet.

      I think Lewis did a great job in Bahrain, Portimao and Spain, was good in France, Styria and Imola and was pretty rubbish in Monaco, Baku and Austria. Unfortunately for Lewis, you just can’t afford to have any rubbish races against a competitor like Max. I don’t think Max has had one poor weekend so far. He didn’t maximise opportunities in Bahrain and Portimao.. but those were still very strong performances.

      I still think Mercedes will get their act together and give Lewis a stronger machine for the second half of the season, but Lewis will need to step up his performance to the level he has shown in Bahrain, Portimao and Spain to beat Max. I wouldn’t count Mercedes and Lewis out yet… but they’re definitely against the ropes right now.

  14. Hamilton couldn’t even handle a gifted 2nd place. If he continues to have such races like this one, Italy, Monaco, Baku – he will lose the title chance quickly.

    1. How was his 2nd place “gifted”?

      1. He did overtake Norris, but Perez dropped down after being pushed off the track.

        1. Again how is that “gifted”?

          By this logic Verstappen win was also just gifted.

          1. I guess “gifted” may not be the right word, but it certainly wasn’t “meritorious”, was it?

            And I get you’re trying to make a point with Verstappen comparison, but I don’t see it. He started ahead of everyone and was never behind at any point.

      2. It is really simple: The only competition for 2nd place, aside from his teammate behind him, was off the track by lap 1 or got a penalty for being involved.

        1. Interesting, so a driver who was free to race him (and briefly overtook him at first lap) & Norris (a driver who finished 2 seconds behind Bottas with 5sec time penalty) were not the competition to him??

      3. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        4th July 2021, 16:24

        His 2nd place in Imola was indeed gifted. He likely will have finished behind Bottas (who was awful) had Russell not taken him out. As Hamilton will have been well over a lap down after he pitted if not for the crash bunching everyone up again. To be more realistic, Hamilton would be over 40 points behind Verstappen.

      4. Bottas passed him in the start but had to give the place back.
        Ham was third or rather fourth then.
        Norris did all that was possible but had to let Lewis go.

  15. Rarely do I agree with the stewards, but I think today’s penalties were justified. We all want to see hard racing, but that has to be fair as well. Pushing drivers off track should never be acceptable and isn’t racing. Is there much that can be considered more dangerous than that?

    It also seems to be more of an F1 problem than anything, probably owing to the way these cars can only be driven in very specific ways. All three F3 races this weekend were brilliant and had overtakes on the inside and outside of Turns 3 and 4 and occasionally even at the exit of T6. The few times drivers were pushed off, they were rightfully penalised as well.

    1. @baleux Very much agreed, running wide to the outside and just forcing others off is not what one expects from the supposed pinnacle of motorsport. There’s no chance that these guys – Norris and Pérez in particular – didn’t know they were battling for position. They did this on purpose, and it’s great to see the stewards finally drawing a line and penalizing those shenanigans.

    2. @baleux Totally agree. I hope this marks the end of the pushing-off-is-fine era.

  16. I can’t accept the fact that people protect Norris after what he did today. The guy was side by side with another racer and pushed him wide. It doesn’t matter what the nature of the track is. You push the other racer off the track and you get a penalty.

    Russell and Alonso were professionals today. Norris and Perez were not.

    As for the championship, it’s officially over. Hamilton will never gain back 30+ points. Lost chances in Baku (+25 points) and in France (+7 points), and Hamilton would be the leader with about 7 points more than Verstappen. Which would give a chance to bring updates, understand the car better, etc.

    Considering that Jean Todt not so long ago said that they need to stop Mercedes from winning, well… now you get Red Bull domination. How is that different? Mercedes were faster and deserved their success, and the FIA with their new rules, which suit Red Bull and not Mercedes, took away the integrity of F1.

    1. @Sviat I agree with you.

    2. That’s F1. RB and others have been arguing for years about the Merc dominance, and the F1 decided to act. As a Ham/Merc fan I have no issues with that. And the Max fans will soon get fed up having the watch the timing tower on the left to see how their boy is doing during the race.
      As long as Ham or someone else is around to keep Max honest its all good.

    3. France = 14pts. If Lewis won he would be +7 and Max -7.

    4. This is F1, they will start creating some new regulation trying to normalize the competition if any driver/team dominates for 2-3 years, this is nothing new. They had successfully brought down monsters such as Ferrari’s early 2000s, Red Bull’s early 2010s, and now Mercedes’s domination.

      1. But before along budget caps? And the ‘B’ on RBR16B suggests every upgrade coming from pipeline will work properly, which keeps Redbull in a very comfort zone.

    5. Hamilton will never gain back 30+ points.

      Even if Verstappen finishes second, Hamilton can claw back 8 points per race by winning. 30 points isn’t that big a deal with so many races still to go.

      1. Yeah but that would need 4 in a row by Hamilton. Or a DNF by Verstappen. Looking at how the season is going, I think Lewis is more prone to making mistakes this year.

      2. Sviat The Championship isn’t officially over until a Champion is mathematically cleared of being able to be beaten no matter what else happens. There is still a ton of math to be sorted yet.

    6. No, the integrity of F1 was lost when their regulations created the least competitive era in F1 history and did nothing for 7 years.

    7. Disagree with this: first of all there’s reliability, you can gain 26 points on your opponent if you’re hamilton or verstappen if your opponent retires considering bottas and perez aren’t that strong, in a single race, and also there’s track dependancy, next race is silverstone, you can’t say championship is over basing your opinion on the results of red bull favouring tracks.

  17. I was okay with the five-second for the earlier incident with Leclerc, given I was annoyed how Norris unnecessarily took all space away from Perez, but the latter five-second was unnecessary. Leclerc should’ve backed off in that case.
    The last-lap one is 100% on Kimi.

    1. @jerejj I know it’s difficult to compare across seasons or even different race weekends, but I cannot see how any of the incidents that were penalised today were as bad as Hamilton’s much more cynical move on Albon at this track last year, which also got a 5s penalty.

      Apart from Kimi, that is. Throw the book at him.

  18. Russell is under investigation(moving under braking) along with Kimi. Both might be getting penalties for next race.

    1. @Chaitanya Only Russell for moving under braking specifically.

      1. yep, Kimi for the obvious accident with Vettel in the end.

  19. Actually a better race than way back last week with a lot of close fighting for positions, bar Max’s breeze to the flag.

  20. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    4th July 2021, 16:27

    “on a difficult day for rival Lewis Hamilton, who came in fourth after losing time with damage.”

    Sounds like an excuse, let me correct that sentence:
    “on a difficult day for rival Lewis Hamilton, who came in fourth after losing time with SELF INFLICTED damage.”

    1. Do you feel better now that you have shouted your issues to the world?

      1. I bet not, for he not having corrected the “Max cruises…” part yet.

    2. Yep, it’s as though self inflicted damage doesn’t count towards ones race outcome.

  21. Very unlike Hamilton to make so many mistakes. He has always been Mr. Consistent who has capitalised on others mistakes but he threw away a certain win in Baku (25), lost a potential win in Imola with a bad start and costly error (7) and now going off in Austria dropping him from 2nd to 4th (6).
    I mean it is Lewis Hamilton and he could very well come back from this and win an 8th title but he’s certainly going about the hard way. If Hamilton wins this it will probably be his hardest fought title maybe up there with 2008

    1. That is because when merc was 1s ahead of the rest, u only need to give in 90%. Imagine being in a basketball match against kids, u would not be forced to make mistakes right?

    2. He has always been Mr. Consistent who has capitalised on others mistakes

      Not quite, Hamilton has made plenty of mistakes when he was really pushing his cars. He just hasn’t had to do that for years. That’s normal, but it was something people forgot when Vettel was dragging the Ferrari into two title challenges while his very accomplished teammate could only manage a single win throughout both years combined. Now that Hamilton has to push his Mercedes, he’s making all sorts of mistakes (again).

  22. Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
    4th July 2021, 16:58

    A quite interesting stat.

    Verstappen lead FP1,FP3,Q1,Q2,Q3, took the fastest lap,lead every lap and won the race

    1. True, so damn close!

  23. so the mediocre driver damaged his car again

  24. complete snoorefest race in Austria, 2021 is turning out to be a joke so far, at least in 2018 VET and HAM was fighting each other for the title.

    merc need to up their game so HAM can challenge VER to at the very least make the rest of the season somewhat interesting to watch

    Some observations:

    merc need to step up their game, clearly RB have an advantage with car development so far especially with their trademark high rake and low/mid speed traction but its unacceptable seeing poor strategies and reliability problems this year compared to last from merc.

    Time penalty system needs revamping to stop abuse. PER made a mockery of the penalty system when 2×5 sec penalty’s added onto the race time for ramming cars off track was not enough punishment if he can keep position by simply driving away to create a gap to render the time penalty effectively pointless. There should be penalty zones on track similar to the fanboost activation zone in Formula E and penalty zones in Gran Turismo sport.

    Kimi needs to consider retiring, what does he bring to the team? I understand if he was Russell quality out driving a crap car but he doesn’t do that any more and unlike the number of talentless nepotism/pay driver clowns on the grid today he does not bring €100 millions to the team plus sponsors like PDVSA crashtor maldonado did or a ccp backed mainland chinese driver would either (Guanyu Zhou is going to do that when he replaces Alonso).

    1. Agree on raikkonen and penalties, but I wouldn’t count merc out yet, recently there were 4 tracks expected to favour red bull, but in spain, portugal, france and the likes merc was faster, and silverstone is usually a merc strong track, even when hamilton lost the win in 2018 due to being spun by raikkonen on lap 1 he recovered till 2nd, which was impressive, so let’s see how they go there before saying it isn’t a title battle.

  25. I must say I find the pro/anti Hamilton rhetoric very amusing – for most of the past decade Hamilton fans have constantly suggested and stated that Mercedes dominance is due to Hamilton’s brilliance while the anti Hamilton fans have argued that the car is / was supreme.
    Now Hamilton is not dominant and the very same Hamilton fans are arguing that it is because of the car that Max is winning / Hamilton is not and the anti Hamilton Fans are more realistically talking about the RB package being a winner, (by the way, the Package includes the driver).
    So basically Hamilton fans are saying when Hamilton wins its due to his brilliance, but when he looses its because someone else has a better car. You guys want it both ways.
    The amusing part is that you guys and girls actually can’t see how ridiculous this is.
    1. F1 is a manufacturers championship. e.g As we saw yesterday when Bottas was told not to race, i.e. advantage to Hamilton, but then when Mercedes realised they were probably going to loose second place to Norris they told Bottas to race, i.e. Manufacturers championship ahead of Driver championship.
    2. Obviously a driver needs a car that is at very least close to the opposition, only then can the individual skills really impact the outcome.
    The Mercedes Hamilton package has been supreme, even Hamilton haters can’t disagree with that, but to say/suggest/imply that it is all because of Hamilton is a somewhat rich.

  26. The Race Director does not decide what or who is penalized. The Stewards of the Course – Race Day are the trio responsible for handing out the penalties according to the Sporting Regulations of F1 and Course Notes from the Race Director.

    That is why I am confused why Masi feel the need to open his gob on the matter. Masi (Race Director) is only responsible for referring incidents he and his FIA team may pick up, that they think the Attention of stewards is warranted. That is incident that the Stewards may not have already identified in their race feeds.

    Masi never makes penalty calls.

    Charlie Whiting his predecessor neither. It is not the Race Director’s role in the FIA.

    So, again… I wonder why anyone g.a.f. about Masi (Race Director) opinion on referred incident penalties.
    Interview the STEWARDS PANEL for relevant reference on decisions.

Comments are closed.