Max Verstappen dominates in Austria to win fifth consecutive Grand Prix
Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates on the podium after winning the race.
By Ben Church, CNN
(CNN) — Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sauntered to his fifth consecutive win after dominating at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Dutchman was largely untroubled as he extended his lead at the top of the driver’s championship to 81 points – with a third world title already seeming inevitable.
“I don’t like to think about that yet,” Verstappen told reporters after the race when asked about winning another championship.
“I’m just enjoying the moment driving this car, working with the team.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won an exciting battle to beat Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez into second.
Once again, Verstappen started on pole and cruised to his seventh win out of this season’s nine races.
It rounded off a near perfect weekend for the 25-year-old who also won Saturday’s sprint race.
“I think the whole weekend we have done a really good job. The sprint weekend is always very hectic and a lot of things can go wrong and luckily a lot of things went right for us this weekend,” Verstappen added.
However, Verstappen did see his run of leading 249 successive race laps end in Austria when he pitted on lap 26, allowing Lecleric to take a very temporary lead.
Before the start of the Grand Prix, a minute’s silence was held in tribute to the 18-year-old driver Dilano van’t Hoff who died during a junior race in Belgium on Saturday.
The Dutchman was killed as the result of a crash during the second Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) race at Spa-Francorchamps.
“Extremely sad to hear the news about Dilano today,” Verstappen tweeted on Saturday. “I want to send my condolences to Dilano’s family and loved ones. Rest in peace.”
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