Ricciardo struggles again at Styrian F1 Grand Prix as ‘perfect’ Verstappen wins

Max Verstappen led from start to finish to win the Styrian Formula One Grand Prix in Austria and extend his lead over Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship to 18 points.

With the victory, the Dutch Red Bull driver made it four wins from eight races this season and two in a row after winning in France last weekend.

It was a largely uneventful race as Verstappen took it out from Mercedes stars Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, with Sergio Perez finishing fourth in the other Red Bull.

“That was just perfect,” team principal Christian Horner said over the team radio before offering more praise for the Dutchman after the race.

“It was an immaculate performance particularly by Max… the way he controlled the race, the way he built the gap that is the most dominant win we had all year against Mercedes.”

Verstappen was exceptionally happy with the result.

“Unbelievable, the car was on fire today, so nice to drive,” Verstappen added.

His victory never seemed in doubt.

But for Hamilton another Red Bull race win, the fourth in a row, after Perez won in Azerbaijan was definite cause for concern.

“The speed they [Red Bull] have, they have made some big improvements over the last couple of races,” the seven-time Drivers’ champion said.

“It feels like we lose a lot down the straight.

From pole position, Verstappen got away cleanly from Hamilton and the McLaren of Lando Norris as a small amount of chaos unfolded behind them.

Back in the field, the Williams of Nicholas Latifi spun but it was AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who suffered the worst as multiple contacts destroyed his left rear tyre and saw him retire from the race.

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Daniel Ricciardo left ‘disheartened’ after power failure

While it was all over early for Gasly, the race start seemed full of promise for Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo.

The Australian shot his McLaren off the line, making up four positions in the opening laps as he charged from 13th to eighth but those positions evaporated almost as soon as he took them when a power failure struck.

“I’ve got low power,” Ricciardo told the team over the radio.

It was an issue that then seemed to hit Norris a few laps later. The Brit was in third place before he was rapidly passed by Bottas and Perez, positions he would never recover.

And while it cost Norris some points the situation was worse for Ricciardo on a weekend where he again struggled to match his younger teammate.

Six-tenths of a second off Norris in qualifying, the race failed to pan out for Ricciardo, who could not hide his disappointment.

“We went from 13th to 8th, it was an awesome first lap and put us in such a strong position in front of a lot of our quicker rivals and on a medium [tyre],” Ricciardo said.

“Every position I gained I basically just waved them on through.

“Then you are back in traffic, and in a train, and honestly the race is over after that.

“It’s disheartening for sure.”

Ricciardo said had it not have been for the incident, which he thought may have been related to the car’s temperature, he felt he could have finished on the heels of Norris.

“I think we could have been sixth today,” he told Sky Sports UK.

“The weekend went from bad to worse and I look forward to getting out of here.”