Max second on the Red Bull Ring: “Enjoyed an exciting race”

Published on 03 July 2016 by Mike Motilall

After a great race, Max Verstappen finished second in Red Bull Racing’s home Grand Prix. In Austria and in front of countless of his fellow countrymen as well, the Dutchman fought his way through the pack, from eighth all the way to the front. In the thrilling, closing stages of the race he skillfully kept Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari at bay. The Mercedes were flawless, but as a result of a collision between both team mates in the final lap, Lewis Hamilton took the victory home leaving Nico Rosberg stranded in fourth.

“What a great day”, says Max immediately after the race. “To start as eighth on the Red Bull Ring as a Red Bull-driver and finishing in second, is super. I really enjoyed it, it was an exciting race. I want to thank the team for the great car they have given me. The balance was good and the race went well.” Does this podium mean more will follow? “I hope that many more will follow”, Max concludes with a huge smile.

When the lights turn green, Max has a good get away from the line and is able to immediately overtake Bottas. He manages to keep both Bottas and Vettel behind of him in the first corners. When the Dutchman passes his Red Bull Racing-driver team mate one lap later, he is then running in sixth. Hamilton is by then leading the pack in front of Button and Raikkonen.

After a few laps, the ultra-softs have had their best time and Hulkenberg and Button slowly start falling back. Max makes little work of both of them, and after nine laps, the youngster is now in P4. Max’ race pace is good, even after his pit stop on lap sixteen when he switched from the super-softs to the soft compound tyre. Grosjean is easily overtaken and the 18-year-old driver continues on in fifth.

The drivers report about raindrops falling, but in the end this fails to become a major issue. At that moment, Rosberg, Verstappen and Ricciardo, respectively in P4, 5 and 6, are faster than the top three (Hamilton, Raikkonen and Vettel). This drops Hamilton behind of Rosberg after his pit stop and Raikkonen behind of Ricciardo. Unfortunately for Vettel, his pit stop comes too late: on lap 27, on the straight away, his right rear tyre blows, ending his race abruptly. The safety car then leads the pack around for the following four laps, enabling the marshalls to clean up all the debris.

This puts Max third during the restart, behind the Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton. Both drivers quickly create a gap to the others that only gets bigger in the following twenty laps. With sixteen laps to go, the Brit pits and continues his way on the soft compound, while Rosberg pits one lap later and switches to the super-softs. This puts Verstappen in control as leader of the pack.

While Hamilton starts knocking on Rosberg’s door, Raikkonen overtakes Ricciardo’s RB12 for the fourth position. After both Mercedes got the better of Max on lap 61 and 63, Raikkonen is fast approaching the Dutchman. With eight laps remaining, the gap is down to five seconds.

It’s not over till the fat lady sings as there is a battle unfolding for both the victory as well as the final podium place. The climax comes when Hamilton puts his Mercedes next to that of Rosberg’s in the final lap. The two team mates collide again and consequently damage their cars. Causing the German to fall back from P1 to P4 with a damaged front wing and enabling Hamilton to take home the victory.

Max is forced to tread very softly, due to him doing a total of no less than 56 laps on his set of softs. Raikkonen fails to overtake the youngster, even with his DRS open. Because of the incident between the Mercedes-drivers, both Verstappen and Raikkonen benefit, they finish in second and third during a spectacular race on the Red Bull Ring.

Austrian Grand Prix - Red Bull Ring - Sunday 3 July 

RACE RESULTS

01 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                   	71 1:27:38.107 
02 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer  	71 +5.719s 
03  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                    	71 +6.024s 
04  6 Nico Rosberg        Mercedes                   	71 +16.710s 
05  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer  	71 +30.981s 
06 22 Jenson Button       McLaren Honda              	71 +37.706s 
07  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari               	71 +44.668s 
08 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso Ferrari         	71 +47.400s 
09 77 Valtteri Bottas     Williams Mercedes          	70 +1 lap 
10 94 Pascal Wehrlein     MRT Mercedes               	70 +1 lap 
11 21 Esteban Gutierrez   Haas Ferrari               	70 +1 lap 
12 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                    	70 +1 lap 
13 12 Felipe Nasr         Sauber Ferrari             	70 +1 lap 
14 20 Kevin Magnussen     Renault                    	70 +1 lap 
15  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari             	70 +1 lap 
16 88 Rio Haryanto        MRT Mercedes               	70 +1 lap 
17 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes       	69 DNF 
18 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda              	64 DNF 
19 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Force India Mercedes       	64 DNF 
20 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes          	63 DNF 
NC  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                    	26 DNF 
NC 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso Ferrari         	2  DNF