Max Verstappen Wins Penalty Ridden Austrian Grand Prix

Dutchman Max Verstappen continued his early season surge by winning his third Grand Prix in a row , completely dominating not only the race , the whole weekend picking up his first 'Grand Slam' in Formula 1.

The race started on exciting fashion , first lap collisions followed swiftly by a safety car caused by Esteban Ocon race ending contact with Raikonnen . The safety car restart allowed Perez to attack second place Lando Norris , attempting to overtake the young Brit around the outside of turn 4 , a corner which has been harsh on the second Red Bull car in last years race , when Alexander Albon lost his maiden podium in the gravel. This time Sergio Perez became the victim , running into the gravel losing several places as a result however Norris got handed a 5 second penalty for the incident.

The race inevitably stagnated from the entertaining start , with Seven time World Champion Lewis Hamilton stuck behind the ever improving McLaren of Lando Norris , failing to make inroads on the Championship leader Max Verstappen who seemed to be in a league of his own. Hamilton eventually passed Norris but then failed to bring down the gap to the race leader and picked up some damage on his Mercedes which sent him down the order eventually finishing in 4th place.

Charles Leclerc engaged in a fiery battle with Sergio Perez towards the latter end of the race , nearly colliding twice , with Perez causing an almost identical to his lap 2 tussle with Norris , that sent the Ferrari driver in to the gravel at turn 4 , the Red Bull driver was handed a 5 second time penalty for the incident. Leclerc didn't give up the fight there , coming back at the Mexican several laps later but once again was pushed on to the gravel , this time at turn 6 adding another 5 second penalty to Perez's race.

George Russell once again proved his potential is worth raving about finishing 11th in the underwhelming Williams car only losing out to Fernando Alonso for the last paying points position with just a handful laps of the race remaining. 

Yuki Tsunoda was handed two penalties for identical incidents , crossing the pit lane line on entry two times in a matter of laps , a very amateur mistake to make in the pinnacle of motorsport.

A last lap collision between two of the most experienced drivers on the grid with 5 World Championships between them , the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel and the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikonnen. Coming out of turn 4 Kimi seemed to stray in to the rear of Vettel collecting both drivers and taking them out of the race , Kimi was handed a 20 second time penalty by the race stewards , a somewhat pointless penalty.

Ahead of all the drama Max Verstappen cruised to his 15th career victory , even having enough of a gap to make a late pit stop to push for the fastest lap and gain the extra point on offer.

Heading in to the British Grand Prix Verstappen leads Hamilton by 32 points but Mercedes will be hoping to claw back in both the drivers and constructors
championships.