Max Verstappen fights from fifth to second in Austrian Grand Prix
Max Verstappen finished second in the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday. It was a successful day for the four-time champion as he had begun the race in fifth place. The race on the Red Bull Ring circuit was won by Mercedes driver George Russell.
Verstappen had a disappointing end to qualifying on Sunday. Although he had already set a decent time, his final attempt at improving it went horribly wrong, resulting in a crash. This meant that he started in fifth. Russell, under controversial circumstances, took pole position.
It was a decent start to the race for Verstappen. He went past Lando Norris in the McLaren to climb to fourth place, but was also overtaken by Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, resulting in him dropping back to where he started.
This did not last long, though, as Verstappen went past Antonelli and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari to climb to third before chasing Lewis Hamilton, who had won the last race in Barcelona two weeks ago in his Ferrari.
Verstappen caught up to Hamilton on the 11th lap. He went past his former arch-rival before Hamilton re-took the position instantly. This led to a battle between the two with flashbacks to the 2021 title race.
Eventually, Hamilton gained some space from Verstappen, with the Dutch driver claiming that the Brit should be penalized for forcing him off the track.
Another battle between the two occurred in the 22nd lap, with the two drivers switching places, with Verstappen coming out on top on this occasion and climbing to third place.
An interesting moment occurred in the 44th lap when Red Bull performed a fake-out on Mercedes. The Red Bull mechanics stood outside as if they were waiting for Verstappen to come in for a pit stop. This led to race leader Russell being called in so as not to lose any time. But actually, Verstappen kept driving, taking top spot for the time being, with the Red Bull team making their way back inside.
Russell retook top spot in the 49th lap when Verstappen came in for his final pitstop. The Red Bull driver was hoping to mount an assault on Russell near the end of the race, but in the end, he had more of a battle on his hands to hold Antonelli off for second place.
The Italian came close, but Verstappen was just about able to hold on to complete one of the better races for Red Bull this year. Next week, the famed British Grand Prix is on the calendar.
