F1 Austrian GP: Max Verstappen overtakes Charles Leclerc for fifth straight win
The ꦑreigning world champion had to overtake Leclerc on track to seal his fifth win at the Red Bull Ring after his team opted for an alternative strategy to Ferrari, who pitted both their drivers under an early Virtual Safety Ca🎃r.
Verstappen chased down Leclerc before pulling off a late𓃲 lunge into Tuꦅrn 3 on Lap 35.
Such was Verstappen's dominance, the Dutchman had enough of a buffer to pit on the penultimate lap for softs and snatch the fastest lap for a maximum points haul to cap off his 🃏seꦦventh victory from nine races this season.
Leclerc, unable to replicate his triumph last year in Austria - which remains Ferrari's last win - had to settle with a distant ❀second place.
Sergio Perez💝 recovered from a nightmarish q🙈ualifying to beat Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari in a brilliant battle for the final spot on the podium.
Having impressively risen from 15th on the grid, Perez eventu✤ally got past a stubborn Sainz with 10 laps remaining, before pulling clear in his Red Bull.
Lando Norris took a strong fifth in his upgraded McLar♌en, ahead of Aston꧙ Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton was frustrated by a track limits penalty as he could only manage seventh ahead of teammate George Russell on a difficult ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚday for Mercedes. 𒉰
Pierre Gasly and La💯nce Stroll completed the points-s𒊎coring positions in ninth and 10th for Alpine and Aston Martin respectively.
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