First day
After the Styrian Grand Prix, the Formula 1 pilots and teams did not have to leave Spielberg anywhere.
A week later, the Red Bull Ring track again hosted the World Championship stage, this time under a more traditional name - the Austrian Grand Prix.
To ensure that the two stages were not entirely similar to each other, the tire suppliers this time provided the teams with softer kits, which could make some changes in tactics.
At the same time, on Friday's races, the pilots received rear tires of a new design to test them before a possible introduction on an ongoing basis.
But the new tires did not fundamentally affect the balance of power.
In the first Friday training session, the fastest seconds were shown by the Styrian Grand Prix winner and world championship leader Max Verstappen.
Behind him in the top three were Ferrari pilots, and Lewis Hamilton was only seventh, losing more than half a second to the Dutchman.
In the second free practice, the Briton was finally able to prove himself on the Austrian track and headed the protocol, but did not get a solid advantage.
His team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen were just 0.2 seconds behind.
Max Verstappen is untouchable in qualifying at the minute ⏱🚀
Here's how the flying Dutchman clinched his third straight pole 🍿 # AustrianGP 🇦🇹 @ pirellisportpic.twitter.com / 8tVq2bSe0J
- Formula 1 (@ F1) July 3, 2021
Second day
The very next day, the Red Bull pilot regained the status of the main favorite of the weekend.
Although Verstappen missed half of Saturday's training, he was again much faster than the Mercedes drivers, who lost at least half a second on one lap.
Only once Hamilton lost less, but the result of that lap was canceled due to violation of the boundaries of the track.
The German team did not manage to close the gap with the Dutch pilot, and the qualification had to finally confirm this.
The pole position was played by Verstappen in one breath. In each session he set the best time by all means. At the same time, he exceeded his own result shown in the final round of qualifying last week. The Dutch driver is the first to win three consecutive qualifications this season - Hamilton was the last to do so last season.
If there was essentially no struggle for the first place on the starting grid, then the distribution of the remaining positions turned out to be extremely exciting. Already in the first session, McLaren pilot Lando Norris unexpectedly announced his claims. He finished second after Verstappen. The third was Fernando Alonso from Alpine, but this success for the Spaniard was temporary - in the second segment, the Spaniard did not confirm his seconds because of Sebastian Vettel, who interfered with him on a fast lap. An Aston Martin spokesman for this incident was punished with the loss of three seats.
But Norris managed to maintain his high pace.
In the final, he lost just 0.048 seconds to Verstappen and finished second.
Norris became the first McLaren driver after Hamilton and Jenson Button in 2012 to hit the front row of the grid.
The third time was shown by Verstappen's partner Sergio Perez.
The Mercedes drivers were right behind the first three, which was the only one to leave from 1:04 on the lap.
Max Verstappen is untouchable in qualifying at the minute ⏱🚀
Here's how the flying Dutchman clinched his third straight pole 🍿 # AustrianGP 🇦🇹 @ pirellisportpic.twitter.com / 8tVq2bSe0J
- Formula 1 (@ F1) July 3, 2021
Race
As in the previous week, forecasters promised a little rain before Sunday's race, but their predictions did not come true again. But on the dry track, the pilots were in for trouble. Immediately after the start, Esteban Ocon from Alpine found himself sandwiched between two cars, broke the suspension because of this and flew to the side of the road. The incident caused a safety car to hit the road, giving Verstappen's pursuers a chance to try their luck again at the start.
But the Dutchman retained the lead for the second time.
The main struggle was already between Norris and Perez, as a result of which the Mexican left the track and rolled back to the end of the top ten.
Bottas in this turmoil managed to briefly get ahead of Hamilton, but he quickly regained his third position.
The reigning champion could not lose sight of Norris, who was threatened with a fine for squeezing Perez, and even more so to lose ground in relation to Verstappen.
A few laps later, when the Red Bull pilot had already secured a comfortable ground in eight seconds, the stewards reviewed the incident and punished Norris with a five-second fine.
At that very moment, he himself skipped ahead of Hamilton, and after a pit stop, he returned to her and behind Bottas.
Verstappen increased the gap to 12.7 seconds by quickly changing tires.
In the middle of the race, Hamilton received unexpected reports from the team that the car was damaged. The breakdown did not interfere with the continuation of the race, but the Mercedes pilot began not only to lag behind Verstappen, but also allowed Bottas to attack within a distance, and Norris was also driving not far from him. The German team did not allow the Finn to bypass his partner for a long time, but in the end he calmly drove on. Norris did not need any sanction for this, and he himself returned to the podium area. Hamilton had no choice but to enter the second pit stop and try to establish the fastest lap. But this trick, which worked at the Styrian Grand Prix, the Briton did not succeed - Verstappen was driving much faster on older tires.
The Red Bull driver won his fifth victory of the season and scored the maximum number of points.
Moreover, he won the first Grand Slam in his career - this is what Formula 1 calls a victory with a lead on each lap with a won qualification and the fastest lap.
Verstappen is already 32 points ahead of Hamilton in the overall standings, guaranteeing himself the lead after the next British Grand Prix.
The undisputed master of the Red Bull Ring 👌
Win number 14 for @ Max33Verstappen! #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 # F1pic.twitter.com / CwRmAOybsm
- Formula 1 (@ F1) July 4, 2021
Bottas finished second and showed his best result of the season. Norris climbed to the podium for the third time and reduced the gap to Perez to three points, with whom he is fighting for the third line in the overall standings. The Mexican finished fifth, but due to the fact that he himself twice squeezed Charles Leclair off the track, the Red Bull pilot received a ten-second penalty and missed another Ferrari representative Carlos Sainz ahead. Russian Nikita Mazepin routinely finished in last place, two laps behind Verstappen with his Haas team-mate Mick Schumacher.