Styrian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen Wins Second Pole In A Row

 

Red Bull maintained race dominance as Max Verstappen won the Styrian Grand Prix qualifier for a back-to-back pole position as Valterri Bottas bagged a three-place grid penalty whilst his teammate Lewis Hamilton finished second behind his rival for the second time in a row. 

As the battle for the championship title gets even more serious for Mercedes, expectations were that Hamilton will make a comeback for a pole at the qualifier judging by his performance at the practice session, but Verstappen yet pipped him to the cross-line by 0.032 seconds. 

"The car was very good to drive in qualifying," said Verstappen who has never won three poles in a season. "It was not easy to deal with the traffic, the fifth lap in Q3 was good enough in the end."

However, Bottas could have finished third behind Hamilton but was penalized for spinning in the pit lane, and that handed McLaren's Lando Norris the third place behind Mercedes seven-time titlist. 

Hamilton's efforts to catch up on Verstappen proved futile as the Red Bull driver raced on to dominate the race. The Dutchman leads the standings over Hamilton by 12 points. 

"They have been so fast this weekend," Hamilton said about his rivals. "Been giving it absolutely everything. It wasn't the greatest of sessions but still on the front row after the penalty."