Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Matt Atherton

Austrian GP: Five F1 details you might've missed - Red Bull fury, penalty fiasco, Max's lap

Max Verstappen extended his winning run to five races on Sunday afternoon, winning the Austrian Grand Prix by a clear five seconds.

The Red Bull driver has now won seven of the nine races this season, and is already an almost certainty to retain the F1 title this year.

But, while - on the face of it - it may have seemed like another routine weekend for Red Bull, there was a lot of drama to unpick at Spielberg.

There were 15 leaderboard changes after the race had finished, and a whole heap of individual stories too.

These are the key details from the weekend in Austria, and it would've likely kept fans on their heels for this week's trip to Silverstone...

All change in the leaderboard

Eight drivers received retrospective penalties following the race at the Red Bull Ring, the FIA confirmed.

The penalties were handed out for not obeying track limits in Austria, following an Aston Martin protest.

The track limits are the official boundary of the circuit, and if a driver's four wheels crosses that boundary, they were deemed to have breached the track limit.

The podium remained unchanged after the penalties, but the big winners were Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, George Russell, and Lance Stroll, who all moved up one place in the final leaderboard.

Carlos Sainz was the only driver who finished in the points to move down two places. He finished the race in fourth, but was later demoted to sixth.

Eight drivers were handed retrospective penalties for track boundary breaches (Alessio De Marco/LiveMedia/REX/Shutterstock)

Who was your Driver of the Day in Austria? Let us know in the comments below!

Red Bull losing fury with Checo

It's now been four races since Sergio Perez made it to Q3 in qualifying.

Checo had a very good start to the season, but is starting to fall away from Max Verstappen in the overall standings, and Red Bull's Chris Horner was clearly not happy with the Mexican on Saturday.

Perez's Q2 lap times were constantly being deleted for breaching track limits, which meant he ultimately started 15th on the grid.

After qualifying, Horner said: "He had the pace, he had a car that was easily capable of being on the first or second row, he was matching Max's times.

"'Stay in the white lines'. Strike one. Strike two: 'Checo, just stay in the white lines'. Strike three, and that was it."

Turning point for Norris?

Lando Norris has had a relatively quiet season so far this year, and was due a big performance.

After the first part of a major McLaren upgrade, the Brit put on his best performance of the season in Austria.

He finished fourth on the final leaderboard, claiming 12 points and moving him above Pierre Gasly in the drivers' championship table.

The result could prove to be the spark that kickstart's Norris's season - whereas teammate Oscar Piastri continues his learning curve after a particularly forgettable weekend.

Verstappen extended his winning run to five races in Spielberg (Getty Images)

Nil points for Sergeant and De Vries

There are only two drivers yet to register a single point so far this season; Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries.

Both drivers are in their rookie season, and still have a lot to learn, however.

Sunday handed Sargeant his best finish since Week 1 this season, after he ended up 13th in the leaderboard at Spielberg.

De Vries ended up 17th on the leaderboard on Sunday evening, however, and is still aiming to match his season-high finish of 12th in Monaco.

Verstappen's cherry on the cake

Max Verstappen managed to put a cherry on top of a rather delicious cake on Sunday in unusual circumstances.

The Dutchman was absolutely cruising to victory, but didn't have the fastest lap to his name.

So, he made a penultimate lap pitstop to change tyres, and ultimately went on to claim the extra point.

"That wasn't planned," Verstappen later explained in the post-race press conference.

"The team, I think they were a little bit more nervous. But I saw the gap and I was like, 'We have to pit'.

"I want to go for the fastest lap when you have the opportunity. And that's what we did at the end."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.