Styrian Grand Prix Race Debrief | Is it now Verstappen's title to lose?

In the first of back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring, a thriller of a qualifying session perfectly set things up for the race in the Styrian hills, and the circuit that allows for plenty of overtaking delivered once again.

Whilst rain was predicted, the biggest equaliser in Formula 1 never arrived, and although a wet track would’ve added an extra element to the race, it wasn’t needed.

On the face of things, another Max Verstappen-Lewis Hamilton one-two may paint a fairly boring, and repetitive picture, the midfield battle was certainly of interest, even if the fight for the win wasn’t.

But what happened in the race?

After a clean getaway into turn 1, Pierre Gasly was the unfortunate man on the run up to turn 3 when Charles Leclerc re-entered the racing line after running wide and gave the AlphaTauri driver a puncture that ended his race before it had really started. Leclerc himself suffered front wing damage and dropped all the way down the field after pitting. 

The Ferrari driver then set about climbing back up the field, and after successfully driving up into P7, he was handed the ‘driver of the day’ award by the fans.

As for the rest of the field, George Russell was arguably the biggest talking point of the Grand Prix, and unfortunately it wasn’t for a good reason.

After being promoted to 10th on the starting grid thanks to Yuki Tsunoda’s grid penalty, Russell soon found himself running up in eighth and on complete merit. However, a power unit issue emerged, and he stopped for 18 seconds in the pits on lap 25, before pitting again one lap later to get his pneumatic system refilled with air. He came out down in 18th, and eventually retired on lap 36. It was a hard pill to swallow, and a points finish for Williams cruelly continues to evade him.

With Russell out of contention, it promoted Tsunoda into the points whilst the now all-too familiar trio of Verstappen, Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas graced the podium. After starting in third, Lando Norris sensibly let both Sergio Perez and Bottas past early on, and he ran a fairly lonely race, finishing fifth as he continues to impress.

But, the major talking point was Red Bull’s, or shall I say Verstappen’s, dominance over Mercedes.

Is the World Championship now Verstappen's to lose?

Before the lights went out on Sunday it was already advantage Red Bull after Bottas was handed a three place grid penalty for a pit lane spin in practice, and with the Finn starting down in fifth, the battle for the win was reduced to just Verstappen and Hamilton.

However, to call it a battle would be a disservice to the imperious Verstappen.

He led from start to finish and secured victory by the largest margin of the season. Of course this was helped by Hamilton’s late pit stop to take the fastest lap, but Verstappen was never challenged at all by his rival. We’ve seen an on-track battle between the pair in almost every race so far this season, but at the Red Bull Ring, that wasn’t the case. Hamilton couldn’t get close to the Dutchman and the result means Hamilton, and Mercedes, have failed to win in each of the past four races. That’s the Brit’s longest drought since failing to win for six races across 2017-2018; Mercedes need to resolve their issues, and fast, or Verstappen could start running away with it.

Of course, the Red Bull driver is only 18 points ahead of Hamilton, but in a title fight likely to be decided by the finest of margins, that gap could be crucial. And, with yet another race in Austria taking place this weekend, Verstappen could extend his lead even further at his most successful F1 track.

With Mercedes suffering a drop off by their usual standards, and Red Bull back to their 2013 levels, it looks as though this could be Verstappen’s world championship to lose. With 15 races still to go however, who knows where the journey of this title fight will take us.