Austrian Grand Prix: Last five race highlights, winners and losers of Red Bull Ring

After a thrilling race in the Spanish Grand Prix, the Formula 1 Caravan will now move to Austria for the 11th race of the ongoing season. The Red Bull Ring paddock will be set for the Austrian Grand Prix 2024. With Red Bull and Max Verstappen dominating the ongoing championship team will be keen to continue their dominance at their home track. 

However, ahead of this weekend’s drama let’s delve into the last five races of this track and find out details. Notably, out of the last five races three have been won by Max Verstappen while Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas.

2019: Verstappen wins by ruthless driving 

The 2019 Austrian Grand Prix saw a dramatic race winner as Max Verstappen showcased beautiful moves to pass rave leader Charles Leclerc just three laps before the checkered flag. Leclerc who was dominating the race and was looking poised to win made some mistakes during the pit stop which gave Verstappen room to mark his presence. 

Verstappen started his pursuit at Turn 1 when Leclerc left the space beside him and the Red Bull driver pushed him wide. After taking the lead at Turn 3 Verstappen never looked back and continued his run. Speaking about it Verstappen had said, "It's hard racing, otherwise we have to stay home. If those things are not allowed, what is the point of being in F1?"

2020: Valtteri Bottas survives safety car threats 

In the Safety car-dominated race at Red Bull Ring Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas won the race dominantly. Starting from the first lap Bottas dominated the track and survived as many as three safety cars. His amazing performance outplayed reigning champion Lewis Hamilton who crossed the line second.

However, FIA Stewards penalized Hamilton for his accident at Turn 4 with Alex Albon which pushed him out of the podium at number 4. After the decision, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris finished 2nd and 3rd consecutively. 

2021: Verstappen intensifies title battle 

In one of the wildest Formula 1 seasons Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were fighting for the World Championship in 2021. In the Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring, Verstappen qualified with pole position while Hamilton finished fourth. 

In the race, Hamilton charged up and went up to 2nd but after picking some damages to his car he was forced to finish fourth. On the other hand, Verstappen won without contest as he led the race in all 71 laps. With this win Verstappen got 14 points lead over his title rival Hamilton. 

2022: Finally a win for Charles Leclerc 

Despite issues with his car in the final laps, Charles Leclerc registered his first-ever Grand Prix win in Austria. After failing to win in 2019 and 2020 Leclerc dominated the race in a straight fight with Max Verstappen. His amazing manoeuvres and skilful driving helped him to narrow the gap in the title race. 

After this win, Leclerc narrowed the gap to Verstappen by 38 points. On the other hand, his teammate Carlos Sainz had a poor day as he had to retire his car after 14 laps. This happened after his car caught fire in the engine. 

2023: Max Verstappen’s sheer dominance 

In the Austrian weekend of the season, Max Verstappen dominated every single session by huge margins. He won the race without any challenge as he beat Charles Leclerc by more than five seconds despite making unnecessary pit stops in the final minutes. 

This was his fifth consecutive Grand Prix win of the season which displayed his sheer dominance in the ongoing season. Notably, he topped every session this weekend -- Friday practice, qualifying, sprint qualifying, sprint race and the grand prix itself.