Max Verstappen poured salt in the wounds of Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz after his Austrian GP victory, claiming he would’ve beaten then no matter what tactics they tried.
Verstappen’s dominance over F1 was on full display as he won his seventh race of the season – having only been denied winning the other two GPs by his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
Ferrari has demonstrated impressive straight-line speed, which led some to suggest that Leclerc or Sainz would push Verstappen for first place.
The duo lined up behind Verstappen in the second and third grid spots respectively.
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However, the Ferrari pair could not get past the Dutchman before the chequered flag, with the two-time world champion breezing to victory.
Leclerc ended the race in second, while Sainz missed out on a podium spot as he came in fourth.
The Ferrari duo had opted to pit when Kevin Magnussen was involved in an incident that caused him to retire and a virtual safety car to be introduced.
However, Verstappen chose to retain his leading track position.
The Dutchman was adamant that the Ferrari racers never had a chance, no matter what strategy they deployed against him.
He said: “The virtual safety car made it a bit different for strategies for quite a few cars. But we just stuck to our own one.
“I think that worked out well to be honest, at the end.
“I think the pace was good. It wouldn’t have mattered what kind of strategy Ferrari did, I think we always had the upper hand in the race.”
Verstappen’s confidence was shown when he pleaded with team engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, to let him pit for a fresh set of tyres for the final few laps.
The Dutchman did this as he wanted to claim an extra point for the fastest lap.
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After some resistance from his Red Bull team, Verstappen was given the green light because of his 24-second lead over Leclerc at the time.
Verstappen succeeded in claiming the extra point and couldn’t hide his glee at his team’s decision.
He said: “I think they could hear in my voice that I wanted to pit! Luckily they called me in, so I can sleep well tonight.”