By Robert Haile

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made it a clean sweep with a dominant victory in the Austrian Grand Prix.

The two times World Champion took another step on his way to his third World Title as Red Bull are yet to taste Grand Prix defeat with Verstappen racking up his seventh win in nine races.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took second as the team brought the fight to Red Bull with Sergio Perez coming from fifteenth to third to make it a double podium for Red Bull.

Double race winner Verstappen said: “It’s been a pretty incredible weekend; it couldn’t have been any better to be honest. We did everything well as a Team, from the strategy through to the pit stops.

“Heading into the race we all had question marks around the tyres but we were all happy with how they performed compared to our competitors.

“I felt really comfortable in the car all weekend and we were able to do everything that we had planned.

“The final pit stop was a risk of course, I think the Team could hear from my voice on the radio that I wanted to pit (laughs). From the outside it might have looked crazy but I knew we could do it, I saw there was a gap and I wanted to make the most of it.”

Carrying on from qualifying and the Sprint Race their were several drivers who fell foul of the track limits and received 5 second penalties.

Fourth placed Carlos Sainz was one of the drivers as the Ferrari could not hold on to third as Perez passed him late in the race.

Lando Norris took fifth as McLaren’s upgraded car helped him beat Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes Lewis Hamilton, who also had a penalty.

George Russell came eighth for Mercedes as Pierre Gasly, another with a 5 second penalty claimed ninth for Alpine and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished tenth to take the last of the points.

Penalised Williams driver Alex Albon missed out in eleventh with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in twelfth with a unsafe release penalty as Logan Sargeant’s Williams thirteenth continues the drivers wait for points.

AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries split Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas in fifteenth with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in seventeenth as de Vries teammate Yuki Tsunoda in eighteenth.

It was a Grand Prix to forget for Kevin Magnussen as his 150th ended with his Haas in nineteenth as teammate Nico Hulkenberg went from the high of second place in the Sprint Race to not finishing the Grand Prix.

Verstappen’s lead is increased to 81 points ahead of his teammate Perez in the Drivers Championship with Alonso 100 points further back in third as Lewis Hamilton joins the trio in the triple figures on 108 in fourth.

In the Constructors Championship Red Bull are 199 points clear of Mercedes in second with Aston Martin 6 points back in third and Ferrari 20 points off second in fourth.

It is an iconic Grand Prix next as Formula One lands at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix on 7-9 July.