F1: MICK SCHUMACHER TO DRIVE HIS DAD’S CAR
RED BULL’S Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix, and ended Formula One champions Mercedes’s streak of success, after beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in a wheel-banging battle of the 21-year-olds yesterday.
The Dutchman’s victory, confirmed by stewards some three hours after the race following an investigation, was his second successive triumph at Spielberg.
Verstappen seized the lead from Leclerc, who had led from pole position, two laps from the end with the duelling pair making contact into the tight uphill turn three as the crowd roared.
He crossed the line, acclaimed by thousands of orange-shirted Dutch fans at a circuit owned by Red Bull, 2.7 seconds ahead of the Monegasque but with stewards summoning both to an enquiry.
The decision, after a review of video evidence, was to take no further action and confirm the sport’s youngest ever toptwo finish. Valtteri Bottas was third for Mercedes, who were powerless to extend their streak of successive wins to 11 and add a ninth for the season.
Championship-leading teammate Lewis Hamilton, winner of the previous four races, finished fifth and behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Five-time world champion Hamilton remains well in front in the standings, 31 clear of Finland’s Bottas after nine of 21 races.
The victory was the first for a Honda-powered car since Britain’s Jenson Button won in Hungary in 2006 for the Japanese manufacturer’s own team, and a welcome antidote to last weekend’s dull French Grand Prix.
Verstappen, now with six career wins, was also the last driver to beat Mercedes – in the Mexican Grand Prix last October.
“For Honda to win again here is incredible,” said the youngster, who had to fight back from eighth at the end of the first lap after getting bogged down on the front row at the start.
The Red Bull came into a league of its own after the pitstops with Verstappen scything through the field one car at a time and then chasing down Leclerc.
“After that start, I thought the race was over,” said Verstappen. “It’s hard racing, otherwise we have to stay at home. If those things are not allowed in racing, then what’s the point of being in Formula One,” he added when asked about the summons.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said Verstappen had given Leclerc enough room.
“These are two guys of the future and if they take this victory away from Max that’s stealing from Formula One,” he said. “We need drivers going wheel-to-wheel and fighting with each other.”
Meanwhile, Mick Schumacher will drive his father Michael’s 2004 Ferrari Formula One car in a demonstration run at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim next month.
Mick will drive the car before qualifying on July 27 and again before the pre-race drivers’ parade the following day, Formula One’s commercial rights holders said in a media release.
“I think it’s mega driving this car in Hockenheim,” said Mick.