“Four back-to-back wins and a tenth victory with Honda is a real achievement” – Red Bull’s Christian Horner

Max Verstappen took his third win from the last four races with a dominant performance at the Styrian Grand Prix, to extend his lead to eighteen points in the championship; Sergio Pérez finished fourth.

Verstappen was unbeatable at the Red Bull Ring to take a victory that will go down as one of Red Bull Racing’s strongest in recent years. The Dutchman was never troubled and hardly had to look back, as he stormed to the win at the team’s home grand prix.

Pérez was unfortunate not to make it a double podium for Red Bull, a slow pit-stop cost Pérez and forced the team to change his strategy to what they did with Verstappen in France. This time however it didn’t work out as the Mexican crossed the line only half a second behind Valtteri Bottas.

Nevertheless it was a victory that Team Principal Christian Horner believes demonstrates all the hard work being done by the team.

“It’s been a great day and to win at our home track, secure four back-to-back wins and a 10th victory with Honda is a real achievement. It was a clinical drive from Max who managed the race out front so well. I believe it has been our strongest race of the season so far and for the first time this year Max managed to open out a bit of a gap to Lewis and put some fresh air between them.

“It was a real shame for Checo as he deserved a podium today but losing a small amount of time in the pit stop unfortunately put him out just behind Bottas. We pulled the trigger on a two-stop and Checo did a great job to hunt Valtteri down in the closing stages but needed just one more lap to finish the job.

“The motivation is sky high in Milton Keynes and the Team is performing at an incredible level, particularly given the difficulties everyone has faced during the pandemic. We are now seeing the culmination of that hard work on the chassis and power unit side and the great harmony we have within the Team and our driver pairing.”

Credit: Peter Fox/ Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool