Max Verstappen shines in dominant Styrian Grand Prix victory

Max Verstappen has won his fourth Formula One victory of the season, claiming the Styrian Grand Prix in a dominant show of force against his lagging Mercedes competitors.

Max Verstappen celebrates his victory at the Styrian Grand Prix. (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)

The Dutchman got ahead of rival Lewis Hamilton off the start line and pulled away, claiming the strategic upper-hand which saw him run away with the 71-lap race.

Verstappen said "I am super happy to win here and doing it at home at the Red Bull Ring is always so special."

"I had a really enjoyable race, the car was working well and I always enjoy driving on this track."

I just focused on my own race, concentrating on hitting the apexes in the places I wanted to, looking after the tyres and it worked out well."

"You never know how competitive or how close it's going to be on a Sunday and to be honest I really wasn't expecting it to be like it was today as the long run pace between the two teams was very closely matched all weekend."

Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas on the podium at the Red Bull Ring. (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)

Hamilton was second, with a tight battle between Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Sergio Perez ultimately ending with Bottas on the final step of the podium.

Bottas had jumped Perez in the first round of pit stops, and was able to hold off a late charge from the Mexican driver.

"Today was a bit of a lonely race for me," said Hamilton.

"I was trying to keep up with the Red Bull but with the speed they have, they have obviously made some big improvements over the last couple of races and it was impossible to keep up."

I don’t know where we are losing all the time, I think their long runs seem to be a bit better, plus on the straight it feels like we lose a lot."

"It’s a serious challenge, we need to figure out what we can do to elevate the package and give us more performance but it was a really good result to get second and third."

"We got good points as a team today and we have just got to keep pushing."

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas after the Styrian Grand Prix. (LAT Images)

Bottas was more reflective about the performance of the team as a whole.

"Today we managed to beat one of them which was good but we need to improve the car moving forward to compete for the win."

"We need to accept that they are ahead at the moment and use it as motivation."

Max Verstappen leads into Turn 1 at the Styrian Grand Prix. (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)

Mercedes F1 Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff acknowledged that the race was "damage limitation."

"We can see that Red Bull are still developing strongly, while our focus is now primarily on 2022, but that doesn’t mean the championship is over – far from it."

"We will be fighting with every weapon we have, and the battle is still full on."

Verstappen now holds an 18-point lead over Hamilton in the 2021 drivers' championship, and Red Bull 40 points ahead of Mercedes.

Hamilton's second place finish was his 43rd, equalling Michael Schumacher’s record for most P2 finishes in history.