Securing his seventh win of the season, Max claimed maximum points with an additional point for the fastest lap after pitting for softs during the closing laps of race. Having started 15th on the grid, Checo used all his experience to navigate his way through the field with several impressive overtakes to finish third at the chequered flag.
When the lights went out, Max made a strong start from pole position and kept his lead ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as the grid flooded into Turn 1. Behind, the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz held onto third, but McLaren’s Lando Norris lost his fourth placed position as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton beat him off the line.
Further back, Checo held 15th heading into Turn 1 where AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda tangled with one of the Alpines and damaged his front wing. The incident moved Checo into P13, however with debris on the track the Safety Car was released and the race was neutralised.
The damage was soon cleared from the track and the racing resumed. In typical Max fashion, the Dutchman controlled the restart expertly ahead of Leclerc and Sainz, with Hamilton still fourth ahead of Norris and the Aston Martin of Alonso.
With the pace in abundance, Checo powered his Red Bull Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to take 12th and then quickly closed up on the back of George Russell. On lap 10, the Mexican launched an attack into Turn 3 which Russell defended hard.
However, Checo got an excellent run down the next straight and under DRS he passed the Mercedes into Turn 4. His next target was Williams’ Alex Albon. He made light work of getting past the Thai driver in Turn 3, and when Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg retired from the race, Checo rose once more into ninth position.
The retirement of the Haas driver led to the Virtual Safety Car being deployed and many of the teams pitted their drivers pitted for new tyres. Max and Checo, however, stayed out and when the track went green again Max led Leclerc by 17.7 seconds while Checo had jumped from ninth to third.
Max and Checo were now the only drivers in the top 10 with their starting tyres and they began to lose ground to those who had pitted. Coming into the pits on lap 25, the team elected for hard compound tyres following a 2.3 second pit stop. That allowed the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to occupy the lead and as Max exited the pit lane he was also passed by Sainz as Ferrari took a 1-2 in the order.
Max was soon all over the back of the Ferrari f Carlos Sainz and on lap 26, Max attacked. He managed his pace to take the DRS detection behind the Spaniard and though he was almost ahead on exit his wing opened and he was able to comfortably draw away on the run down to Turn 4.
Checo came into the pits for his first tyre change on lap 26 and after taking on another set of Medium tyres he rejoined in tenth place. He was soon on the move, however, and he quickly made his way past Albon and Russell again to rise into eighth place behind Pierre Gasly.
Max steadily took time out of Leclerc’s lead and on lap 35 he found his opportunity to power his way back into the lead of the race. Max dived down the inside of Leclerc heading into Turn 3. Once past the Monegasque driver, Max quickly began carving out a gap.
Checo too was relishing some overtakes at Turn 3. After overtaking AlphaTauri’s Gasly at Turn 3, the Mexican chased down the Aston Martin of Alonso and got past at the same corner taking fourth position from the Spaniard.
On lap 46 Sainz made his second stop for new tyres and to serve a five-second penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits, which allowed Checo to sweep past into third place. Leclerc stopped two laps later and Checo was boosted to second place, though the Mexican would need a final pit stop to make it to the end of the race.
Max made his second stop on lap 50. After fitting a set of medium tyres, he emerged still with his lead intact and six seconds ahead of his team-mate. Checo then pitted on the following lap, rejoining in fifth place after taking on a set of hard tyres. The gap between him and Norris was erased in just five laps and on lap 56 he powered past the McLaren on the run to Turn 4.
Sainz was now just a second ahead and Checo went on the attack. Over a sequence of furiously close laps the two had a spectacular battle, but with the power of his Red Bull and his experience, Checo got DRS out of Turn 3 and roared past the Ferrari to take third.
Max was in exceptional form and in the closing stages he extended his lead over Leclerc to a mammoth 24 seconds. On lap 70, Max dived into the pit entry to pursue the point for fastest lap.
The crew fitted a set of new softs in just 2.4 seconds and Max emerged just ahead of Leclerc. The Dutchman set a blistering final lap of 1:07.012 to take the win and the bonus point for the fastest lap.
Leclerc crossed the line five seconds adrift and 12 seconds later Checo took the flag to complete a stellar recovery and to seal a double podium for the team.
“It was a really good race” said Sergio Perez after the race. “I think we had the pace this weekend: we showed it in the Sprint and we showed it today. It was a nice comeback and I feel really comfortable with the car, it has been really special. I think we were all racing quite hard and it is always a pleasure to battle with drivers like Carlos.
“We have had a tricky few races, so it has been nice to get back and have that pace and form. I am still not one hundred per cent physically, however, so now I need to look ahead and recover ahead in time for Silverstone.
After claiming his seventh win of the season, Max 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.”
“It has been an incredible day for the Team today and a fantastic weekend,” reflected Christian Horner. “Max is obviously on exceptional form, taking qualifying, the Sprint race and now the Grand Prix is just sensational.
“Obviously we took a different strategy to that of our competitors, meaning he had to make the overtakes on track which led to some fantastic watching and a stunning weekend for him. We decided to go for the fastest lap on the last lap despite the risk involved in an additional pitstop, but Dietrich’s mantra was always ‘no risk, no fun’, and the mechanics have been in such incredible form that it felt relatively low risk.
“Checo too had such great pace today, particularly when he got clean air. When you start down at 15th, your ability to get close to victory is obviously compromised, so his recovery from 15th to a podium was outstanding and his battle with Carlos was box-office.”