NEW DELHI: Double world champion Max Verstappen on Sunday crusied to a seventh win out of nine this season, clinching Red Bull’s home Austrian Grand Prix.
The victory for Verstappen was his fifth successive this season as he took another step towards a hat-trick of world title.
Verstappen, who also victorious in Saturday’s 100km sprint race at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring, stretched his lead over Mexican team mate Sergio Perez to 81 points with the win on Sunday.
Charles Leclerc finished second as Ferrari earned a milestone 800th podium finish while Perez went up from 15th to finish third in a race littered with time penalties.
“That is the full sweep, classy Max, very very classy,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner over the team radio.
“The car was on fire!” replied Verstappen after his 42nd career win.
Despite a third title being his to lose Verstappen said he preferred to take it one race at a time.
“I don’t like to think about that yet I’m just enjoying the moment driving this car, working with the team” he said.
“I think the whole weekend we have done a really good job, the sprint weekend is always very hectic and a lot of things can go wrong and luckily a lot of things went right for us this weekend.”.
(With inputs from AFP)