Max Verstappen has clinically dispatched Lewis Hamilton to claim a dominant victory at the Styrian Grand Prix and steal a march in the championship standings.

Max Verstappen easily accounted for championship rival Lewis Hamilton with a straightforward victory at the Styrian Grand Prix to grow his points lead.

The Dutchman’s victory was effectively sealed with his perfect getaway from pole. He kept the Mercedes driver at bay into the first turn and built a 1.5s buffer in the first three laps, ensuring the Briton couldn’t use DRS to follow him away from the field.

The gap was gently stretched throughout the first stint until Hamilton made the first stop of the pair, on Lap 29, for a set of hard tires. Verstappen had no trouble covering the move, the undercut being far less effective around the short Red Bull Ring.

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Max Verstappen took pole for the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix with a confident performance that had all the hallmarks of a title favourite.

Max Verstappen will aim for a third win in four races after claiming a comfortable pole at Austria’s Red Bull Ring for the Styrian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen blitzed qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix to put Red Bull Racing on pole at the Red Bull Ring. The Dutchman needed only his first flying lap in the top-10 shootout to set an unassailable time of 1m03.841s ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton attempted to improve with his second flyer, but congestion in the final sector of his warm-up lap left him ill prepared and the Briton could not improve.

Instead it was Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes who emerged as Verstappen’s challenger after a compromised first lap, but though the Finn set three personal best sectors, he was still 0.194s shy of the benchmark.

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