Red Bull’s Max Verstappen extended his title lead over Lewis Hamilton to 18 points with a dominant 2021 Styrian Grand Prix victory.
Verstappen led from lights out and comfortably dominated from the front ahead of Hamilton as the title contenders finished first and second, ahead of Valtteri Bottas who overcut Sergio Perez on lap 28 with the Mexican unsuccessfully trying a two-stopper.
Lando Norris finished fifth ahead of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with the Monegasque successfully recovering on a two-stop strategy after a first lap collision with Pierre Gasly.
Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten as Williams’ George Russell was denied a point by a hydraulic failure, which forced him to retire on lap 38.
Hamilton meanwhile snatched the point for the fastest lap on the final lap after pitting on lap 70 as he set a 1m 07.058, which could prove crucial come end of season as Mercedes now went four races without a win for the first time in the hybrid era.
Verstappen now leads Hamilton by 18 points in the driver standings as Perez sits 42 points behind the reigning champion in third, albeit only ten points ahead of Norris who is 12 points clear of fifth-placed Bottas.
Red Bull hold a 40 point lead over Mercedes in the constructor standings as Ferrari cut McLaren’s lead in their fight for third down to 12 points, as AlphaTauri remain fifth but now two points ahead of Aston Martin.
Verstappen got a clean start as the top five all held position whilst Gasly and Leclerc tangled at Turn One with the Monegasque clipping Gasly’s left rear tyre upon rejoining the track, which broke the AlphaTauri’s left-rear suspension and forced him to retire.
Up front, Verstappen comfortably built and held a three-second lead over Hamilton until the gap eventually grew to 5.6s by lap 29 when Hamilton made his first stop with Verstappen following suit a lap later.
Norris meanwhile decided to drive his own race once he had bridged a sizeable gap to his McLaren teammate – Daniel Ricciardo as well as both Ferrari drivers, thereby letting Perez and Bottas through on laps 10 and 11 respectively.
Perez went on to make what was expected to be an one-stopper on lap 27 only for a delay to his left-rear tyre change to cost him track position, with Bottas overcutting him by pitting a lap later to secure third which he held to the finish despite Perez making a second stop on lap 55 and catching him.
Leclerc meanwhile had recovered to eighth by the time of his second stop on lap 38 as he switched from hard to medium tyres, which enabled him to slowly but surely charge through the pack to finish seventh after passing Stroll on lap 60 with an inside move into Turn Three.
Elsewhere, Russell enjoyed a positive drive as he comfortably defended eighth from Tsunoda until a hydraulic issue forced him to retire and miss out on possibility of scoring points in Williams gear for the first time.
The Brit took to Twitter post-race to praise everyone at Williams for their efforts, tweeting:
This one hurt. Every single member of the team should hold their head high today. We were up there on merit. Racing can be brutal but we keep fighting.
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) June 27, 2021
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 71 | 1h 22m 18.925 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 71 | + 35.743 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 71 | + 46.907 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 71 | + 47.434 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 70 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 69 | + 2 Laps |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 68 | + 3 Laps |
| 18 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 68 | + 3 Laps |
| RET | George Russell | Williams | 37 | Power |
| RET | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1 | Suspension |
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