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Lewis Hamilton dominates F1 Styrian GP in Austria as Ferrari’s crash out and Ricciardo ‘frustrated’ with 8th – ABC News
Lewis Hamilton is dominant in his 85th Formula 1 victory at Austria’s Red Bull Ring, but Daniel Ricciardo is left “frustrated” with eighth as Renault launches an appeal against Racing Point.
Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton has dominated the Styrian Grand Prix in a Mercedes one-two to celebrate his 85th Formula 1 win and move a step closer to Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 victories.
Styrian Grand Prix results:
- 1st: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- 2nd: Valterri Bottas, Mercedes +13.719
- 3rd: Max Verstappen, Red Bull +33.398
- 8th: Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, +1:02.591
Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas, winner of last weekend’s season-opener that was also held without spectators at Austria’s Red Bull Ring, finished 13.719 seconds behind with his championship lead cut to six points.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the podium, more than half a minute behind Hamilton, on a sunny afternoon at his team’s home track.
Sunday’s race was the first time a circuit has hosted two back-to-back rounds in the same championship year, with the original calendar ripped up and rewritten due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hamilton’s victory, something of a cruise past the empty grandstands, was his first since Abu Dhabi in November and extended his record run of successive points finishes to 35 races.
“What a weird year it is, but it’s great to be back up here, to be driving with this kind of performance,” said Hamilton, who received his trophy via a remote-controlled trophy plinth.
Hamilton led from start to finish after the Englishman recorded his 89th pole position with a sensational lap in a rain-drenched qualifying on Saturday, where he beat Verstappen into second by an incredible 1.2 seconds.
Battle off the track ‘a lifelong thing’ for Hamilton
To underline his importance off the field, Hamilton doubled-down on his commitment to highlight inequality by organising a second Black Lives Matter protest ahead of the race, with drivers wearing black lives matter T-shirts and some taking a knee, although viewers were only given a short glimpse of the drivers in position before the TV feed cut away.
Hamilton later celebrated his victory by raising a clenched right fist, reminiscent of when since American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos did the same 52 years ago at the Mexico Olympic Games.
“Some people were asking ‘how long do we have to continue to do this?’ Some felt like one was enough last week, and I just had to
