Max Verstappen hasn’t won the driver’s championship despite what the clickbait title says. However, the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix was won by Max Verstappen who drove dominantly. He has now secured five consecutive wins and a total of 7 wins for the season so far. His teammate, Sergio Perez, has also won two races. Nothing can match the Red Bull team which has developed an extremely dominant package that Verstappen is using to his advantage.

Throughout the early part of the 2023 season, Sergio Perez proved to be a close match to his teammate. However, in the last four races, Verstappen has raised his game to an even higher level. Despite Perez’s attempts to keep up, it has become evident that he has reached his personal limits.

In his pursuit to match his teammate’s speed, Perez has succumbed to making mistakes. Verstappen’s recent win in Austria has further solidified his lead in the driver’s championship, making his pursuit of a third championship title nothing more than a foregone conclusion.

Behind Verstappen, the competition is fierce, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Mercedes are locked in a closely fought battle dominated by performance updates. At Austria McLaren took a step forward with new updates and put pressure on Mercedes.

Lando Norris finished 4th, ahead of the Aston Martins the latter being the second-best team during the early part of the season. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third, updates have boosted the teams performance. Perez finished in third place, highlighting the significant difference in his performance compared to Verstappen’s.

Verstappen’s lead in the driver’s championship has grown to 81 points, which means he could skip the next three races and still hold the lead. It seems that the 2023 championship is already decided, with Verstappen as the champion-elect. From now on, his main motivation seems to be winning as many races as possible.

2023 Austrian Grand Prix: Race Results

1. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 2. Charles Leclerc Ferrari

3. Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing

4. Lando Norris McLaren

5. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin

6. Carlos Sainz Ferrari*

7. George Russell Mercedes

8. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes*

9. Lance Stroll Aston Martin

10. Pierre Gasly Alpine*

11. Alex Albon Williams*

12. Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo

13. Logan Sargeant Williams*

14. Esteban Ocon Alpine*

15. Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo

16. Oscar Piastri McLaren

17. Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri*

18. Kevin Magnussen Haas

19. Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri*

Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF