Max Verstappen took pole, led every lap and finished more than thirty-five seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton, stretching Red Bull's lead in both championships.
Max Verstappen won the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix for Red Bull Racing on 27 June 2021, starting from pole and leading every lap. Lewis Hamilton was second for Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas finished third, at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
The 2021 Styrian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 27 June 2021 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. It was the eighth round of the championship and the second and final Styrian race. Max Verstappen started from pole and led every lap for Red Bull Racing, with Hamilton second for Mercedes.
Why was a second Styrian race added?
The event was added to the calendar once the Canadian round fell away and the Turkish race was postponed, both because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The race formed the middle leg of three races on consecutive weekends, following the French Grand Prix at Le Castellet and preceding the Austrian Grand Prix, also held at Spielberg.
The run of back-to-back races drew criticism over the workload it placed on people who travel to the events, and concerns were raised about the effect on their mental health. Attendance was limited, but the large venue made it possible to split spectators into five separate groups, which allowed a crowd of around fifteen thousand. The 2021 W Series also held its first round of the season as a support race.
Verstappen took pole, led every lap and finished more than thirty-five seconds clear of Hamilton.
What was the Red Bull Ring like in 2021?
The circuit measures 4.318 km (2.683 mi) and has ten corners. It was the sixteenth world championship Grand Prix held on the modern layout, and the thirty-fourth Grand Prix in total at the venue. Of the locations on the 2021 calendar, Spielberg sits behind only Mexico City in altitude.
Since the previous year, the verge and barrier at the second and third corners had been altered, and so had the kerb at the sixth turn. The aim was to stop drivers gaining an advantage by cutting the course. Kerbs at this venue are notorious for loading up car suspension, which made the layout a physical test.
Which teams and drivers were involved?
Ten constructors and twenty drivers took part, with no changes to the season entry list. Robert Kubica drove for Alfa Romeo in the first practice session in place of Kimi Raikkonen. Verstappen arrived with a twelve-point advantage over Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship, while Red Bull led the Constructors' standings by thirty-seven points from Mercedes.
Pirelli, the sole tyre supplier, was expected to bring its middle three dry compounds, the C2, C3 and C4, which had originally been intended for the next round. Hamilton had swapped chassis with Valtteri Bottas at the previous round, but for Spielberg the pair went back to the chassis they had used in rounds three to six. Red Bull introduced a new floor and diffuser, which added downforce in slow corners and reduced drag elsewhere.
How did practice shape the weekend?
The first practice session passed without major incident, and Verstappen was fastest ahead of Pierre Gasly and Hamilton. Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr both spun during the session, and some very light rain on Friday did not change the running significantly.
In the second session Verstappen set the fastest official time, with Daniel Ricciardo second for McLaren and Esteban Ocon third for Alpine. Hamilton had a faster lap disallowed for a track limits violation. Valtteri Bottas spun in the pit lane after leaving in second gear, which earned him a three-place grid penalty and two penalty points on his Super Licence. Gasly missed the session while the AlphaTauri mechanics worked on an engine fault.
Hamilton was fastest in the final session, with Verstappen second and Bottas third. Verstappen felt Hamilton had impeded him on his quick runs, and Bottas and Gasly nearly collided while Gasly was leaving his garage in the pit lane.
How was pole position decided?
Verstappen took pole in the final segment of qualifying, held under clear skies with air temperatures of 25 to 27 C (77 to 81 F) and track temperatures of 53 to 55 C (127 to 131 F). It was his sixth pole in Formula One and his third of 2021. No other driver managed a time under sixty-four seconds in that segment.
Bottas had been second on the lap, but his practice penalty pushed him back to fifth. Hamilton was third and Lando Norris fourth. Mercedes had saved tyres during the earlier segments, which allowed Hamilton to start the final segment with three fresh sets. Soft tyres were thought to be worth around two-fifths of a second per lap over the medium compound.
Hamilton overtook several cars on his final outlap to protect his tyre temperature. However, the dirt he picked up from those cars slowed him down. McLaren also had an advantage over Ferrari because of the design of its drag reduction system, and Perez was able to make only one run on new soft tyres in the final segment.
Where did the rest of the grid line up?
Gasly qualified sixth for AlphaTauri, his strongest run of top-six starts in one season by any driver from the Minardi, Toro Rosso or AlphaTauri line. Charles Leclerc was seventh and Fernando Alonso ninth, with Lance Stroll tenth for Aston Martin. Sainz was twelfth after a slow final sector in an understeering Ferrari, and Ricciardo was thirteenth.
Vettel had his best lap deleted after leaving the track, which put him fourteenth. Giovinazzi was fifteenth, Latifi sixteenth, Ocon seventeenth and Raikkonen eighteenth. Haas were the slowest team, and Schumacher was ahead of Mazepin. Tsunoda had qualified eighth, but a three-place penalty for impeding Bottas dropped him down the order.
What happened on the opening lap?
Verstappen made a strong start, keeping Hamilton behind him into the first corner. Perez passed Norris at the third corner, but Norris got the place back at the fourth. On the opening lap, Leclerc collided with Gasly, which punctured Gasly's tyre and forced AlphaTauri to retire the car with damaged suspension.
Ferrari changed Leclerc's front wing at the end of the lap and fitted hard tyres. Giovinazzi spun after his car touched Gasly's damaged machine. Stroll overtook Alonso on the first lap, and Latifi pitted after a rear-right puncture. Ricciardo passed Tsunoda at the second-to-last corner, while Raikkonen gained four places during the lap.
How did Verstappen control the race?
Verstappen built a four-second lead over Hamilton and then eased off to the same pace as his pursuer. Ricciardo lost power on the seventh lap and was passed by four drivers, which dropped him from eighth.
Verstappen's lead grew when Hamilton nearly lost control after a tyre vibration on the twenty-fifth lap. Verstappen later reported brake problems that he may have traced to the kerbs at the ninth and tenth corners, but he kept the advantage. He led every lap of the race, and by the end he had lapped every car apart from Hamilton, Perez and Bottas.
How did the pit stops change the order?
Russell's stop at the end of the twenty-fifth lap lasted eighteen seconds, because the team had to recharge the pneumatic system on his car. Before Perez pitted, Hamilton could not stop without emerging behind the Red Bull driver. Verstappen's existing advantage and the short lap meant the fresh tyres could not carry Hamilton past him in the pit lane. Russell retired on the thirty-sixth lap with hydraulic problems, a blow for a Williams team that had not scored since the 2019 German Grand Prix.
Leclerc made a second stop on the thirty-seventh lap and left the pits in fourteenth. Sainz and Ricciardo pitted on the forty-first lap, while Perez made a second visit to the pits on the fifty-fourth lap. That stop let him close to within two seconds of Bottas by the finish. Hamilton reported his front-right tyre blistering around the fifty-fifth lap, but the team was wary of another stop in case rain arrived before the flag. Alonso complained that slowing for blue flags as Verstappen lapped him had let Sainz get ahead.
Who scored points in the race?
| Position | Driver | Team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | Pole, led every lap |
| Second | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Fastest lap point |
| Third | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Second in qualifying, started fifth |
| Fourth | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing | Second stop on the fifty-fourth lap |
| Fifth | Lando Norris | McLaren | Late stop, held his place to the end |
| Sixth | Carlos Sainz Jr | Ferrari | Twelfth on the grid, gained six places |
| Seventh | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | Recovered from the back after the opening-lap contact |
| Eighth | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | Tenth on the grid |
| Ninth | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | Ninth on the grid |
| Tenth | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | Eighth on the grid, penalised for impeding Bottas |
What did the result change in the championships?
Verstappen's win extended his Drivers' Championship lead over Hamilton to eighteen points. Red Bull's lead in the Constructors' Championship over Mercedes grew to forty points. It was Verstappen's second consecutive Grand Prix win, the first time in his career he had won two in a row.
The result also meant Mercedes failed to win a fourth consecutive race for the first time since 2013. Hamilton's second place was his forty-third finish in that position, which equalled the record held by Michael Schumacher. Hamilton also earned the bonus point for fastest lap, setting it on the final lap at an average of 231.811 km/h (144.041 mph).
How did Mercedes and Hamilton respond?
Hamilton said Red Bull had made big improvements over the last few races and that its pace was impossible to keep up with. He wanted Mercedes to develop upgrades, but the team had no plans to do so for this car. Mercedes suspected that its setup had favoured speed over a single lap at the expense of race-long pace.
Mercedes hoped to cut rear-tyre wear before the following race at this circuit. Christian Horner, speaking for Red Bull, called the win the most dominant result the team had achieved against Mercedes all year. Verstappen celebrated with burnouts after the finish and was warned by officials not to repeat them at future events.