Lewis Hamilton penalised in miserable Austrian GP as Max Verstappen wins again

02 July 2023 , 14:28

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Lewis Hamilton endured a nightmare race at the Austrian Grand Prix (Image: AP)

Lewis Hamilton was given public a dressing down by team boss Toto Wolff in one of several low points for the Brit – while Max Verstappen cruised to victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The championship leader got a lightning start off the line and held off Charles Leclerc across the first few corners. His streak of almost 300 consecutive lap led ended as he pitted to concede the lead to the Ferrari, but he soon was back at the front and sped off into the sunset – his advantage so great that he stopped with two laps to go for fresh soft tyres, purely so that he could set the fastest lap.

Hamilton had enjoyed a good start himself to move into fourth behind the Ferraris. But that was as good as his afternoon got as he was given a penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits, as he struggled to control his Mercedes.

And those car problems were clearly infuriating the Brit, to the point that he was constantly on the radio raging about other drivers not being given penalties. He lost his cool to the extent that boss Wolff intervened twice to tell him to focus on driving – bluntly telling him to "drive the car" in the second, frosty message.

Both he and George Russell scored minor points on a weekend to forget for Mercedes. At the front, Verstappen was joined on the podium by Leclerc in second place, while team-mate Sergio Perez stopped the rot with an excellent drive from 15th on the grid to finish third.

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Verstappen got a great start off the line and immediately cut across the track to block Leclerc. But the Monegasque saw that move coming and switched to the other side of the track. That gave him two attempts to get the Red Bull around the outside into turns three and four, but he couldn't make either of those moves stick.

Hamilton took advantage of the squabbling Lando Norris and Lance Stroll to move past the both of them on the first lap. The Canadian came off worst of all despite getting a good launch, being squeezed in the first corner to the point he lost places to team-mate Fernando Alonso and the Haas driven by Nico Hulkenberg.

Lewis Hamilton penalised in miserable Austrian GP as Max Verstappen wins again

Another race, another win for Max Verstappen (AP)

Norris has an upgraded McLaren this weekend and his confidence is clearly through the roof because of it. Instead of worrying about defending fifth place from Alonso, he was targeting Hamilton in front of them and got a complaint on in the radio on lap seven, accusing his fellow Brit of consistently exceeding track limits.

Hamilton was soon shown a black-and-white flag, warning him that another infringement would result in a penalty. Told about that by race engineer Peter Bonnington, the seven-time world champion snapped back: "I can't keep it on the track – the car won't turn!"

Whatever problems he was having, though, were nothing compared to those suffered by Hulkenberg. The German had performed magnificently all weekend long, qualifying well in both sessions and taking points in the Sprint on Saturday, but suffered power loss just 15 laps into the main race which ended his afternoon prematurely.

Nico Hulkenberg suffered power loss in the early stages and was out of the race (Sky Sports)

Norris' complaints about Hamilton soon paid off for him, as the seven-time world champion was slapped with a penalty. He was not the only one, as Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon were also punished for similar infractions. And, to make matters worse, Norris was soon ahead of him and speeding off into the distance.

At the front, Verstappen pitted for fresh rubber and came out behind the two Ferraris, ending his streak of almost 300 consecutive laps led in F1. But it wasn't long before he was soon back on top and comfortably maintaining his gap to Leclerc behind him.

Further back, Perez had been making a decent amount of progress, up to seventh from 15th on the grid by the half-distance mark thanks in part to the ultra-powerful DRS system on that Red Bull. In contrast, Russell was finding it harder to make any moves and was still outside the points positions at the same time.

Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez joined Verstappen on the podium (Getty Images)

It took him 46 laps but, eventually, Russell managed to get past Stroll to move behind team-mate Hamilton, who was still struggling to make an impact. He had slipped behind Alonso and had endured a thoroughly miserable afternoon to that point.

Perez, meanwhile, continued his charge and was up to fourth, setting up a thrilling battle with Sainz. He eventually got the better of the Spaniard, who complained over the radio about being "intimidated" by the Red Bull driver – not that anything he did was over the line at all.

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The Mexican was showing good pace but was too far behind Leclerc to threaten taking second place from the Monegasque, who secured his best result of the season so far. Sainz had to settle for fourth, but it was still a good weekend overall for Ferrari who had both drivers ahead of their Aston Martin and Mercedes rivals.