Styrian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen Wins To Extends Title Race Lead

Max Verstappen maintained a strong lead over Lewis Hamilton as the championship race gets even more serious between Red Bull and Mercedes after the former clinched Styrian Grand Prix victory to extend their dominance of the season. 

The victory was Verstappen's fourth in a row giving him an 18-point lead over the defending champion, Hamilton, with eight races remaining this season. It was a well-dominated race for the Red Bull driver who led his British rival finishing by a 2.904s margin. 

Valterri Bottas finished third for a podium position but that came off a rare pit stop delay for Sergio Perez costing him to drop the Mercedes driver. Perez was making a pit stop for new tyres. At its point, he was holding the fastest lap point. 

Hamilton yet has a sense of hope to clinch the title for a record-setting eighth time, despite the loss and having to trail behind Verstappen in the standings. He warned his rivals saying, "We will keep pushing, we are world champions and can definitely improve if we put our minds to it."

McLaren Lando Norris started the race in the third position but missed out on podium position to finish fifth when Bottas and Perez sped by him. 

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc delivered a fascinating performance and was considered the driver of the day having defiled all odds to finish seventh. The Monegasque had a collision with Pierre Gasly in Lap 1 and dropped to 18th from starting position of seventh place after pitting to change his front wing.