SPIELBERG, Austria: Max Verstappen made the most of a rare Mercedes double retirement on Sunday by claiming his first win this year, and Red Bull’s first at “home,” in an incident-packed Austrian Grand Prix.
The Dutch tyro grabbed victory after both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas pulled up with power and gearbox failures respectively as their team’s run of four straight Austrian wins came to an abrupt end at the Red Bull Ring.
It was the first time Mercedes had suffered a double-retirement since Verstappen won on his Red Bull debut at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix after Hamilton collided with team-mate Nico Rosberg on the opening lap.
It was Verstappen’s fourth career victory as he came home ahead of the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, who regained the lead in the drivers championship ahead of Hamilton by a single point.
Romain Grosjean was fourth ahead of his Ferrari-powered Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Ocon and his Force India team-mate Sergio Perez.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso came home eighth for McLaren ahead of Monegasque rising star Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari-powered Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Australian Daniel Ricciardo was also forced to retire on his 29th birthday.
“It’s amazing to win in a Red Bull at the Red Bull Ring,” said Verstappen, who was supported by an “Orange army” of more than 20,000 fans.
Max Verstappen wins in Austria as Vettel grabs lead in standings
Max Verstappen wins in Austria as Vettel grabs lead in standings
Inconsistent Sabalenka advances to the fourth round at the Australian Open
- Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka is chasing her third Australian Open title in four years
- Daniil Medvedev rallies from two sets down to beat Fabian Marozsan of Hungary
MELBOURNE: Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka overcame several bouts of inconsistent play Friday to beat Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) and advance to the fourth round at the Australian Open.
Sabalenka, chasing her third Australian Open title in four years, led 6-5 and 40-0 in the opening set but Potapova saved all three set points to send it to a tiebreaker. Sabalenka led 3-0 in the tiebreaker before Potapova leveled at 3-3.
Sabalenka held two more set points and clinched the set when she laced a backhand down the line off Potapova’s second serve.
After trailing 4-0 in the second set, Potapova rallied to tie it 4-4 and again force a tiebreaker. Potapova had three set points to win the set in the tiebreaker, but Sabalenka rallied when the pressure was on.
“She played incredible tennis,” Sabalenka said of Potapova in her on-court TV interview. “I was always on the back foot. There are days where you just have to fight and … it was such a fight.”
Sabalenka won the Australian Open title in 2023 and 2024 and was the runner-up a year ago to Madison Keys. Sabalenka has also won the US Open twice.
In other women’s matches, No. 17 Victoria Mboko defeated 14th-seeded Clara Tauson 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3.
On the men’s side, No. 11 Daniil Medvedev rallied from two sets down to beat Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3. Medvedev is the 2021 US Open champion.
Also, No. 19 Tommy Paul of the United States beat Alejandro Davidovich when Davidovich retired after dropping the first two sets 6-1, 6-1.
And 25th-seeded Learner Tien of the United States defeated Nuno Borges 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2. Tien will play Medvedev in the fourth round.
In later matches on Friday, top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz played Corentin Moutet, and third-seeded Coco Gauff played fellow American Hailey Baptiste.
