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BULL RED The gap widens at the front a er Red Bull’s best race of 2021 If Max Verstappen and Red Bull weren’t favourites for the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship before last weekend, they certainly are now. An unhindered Lewis Hamilton was 17.2 seconds behind at the Red Bull Ring before pitting to secure fastest lap. Yes, Red Bull has often been competitive at its ‘home’ circuit in Austria, but it has now been the best package for four consecutive races. And pretty much all the major protagonists agree that the gap between the RB16B and Mercedes W12 was bigger in the Styrian Grand Prix than ever (see our report on page 14). Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says the team will stick to its guns in terms of making sure the development focus is on the new 2022 rules and that it’ll just be about optimising the current car. In other words, they’ve got what they’ve got. It would be foolish to write off Hamilton – there will surely be better circuits for the Black Arrows and some wins to come – but Verstappen now looks well set to be the first non-Mercedes champion since Sebastian Vettel in 2013. The story of the 2021 World Rally Championship also seems to be establishing itself. As Tom Howard shows on p30, a late failure once again robbed Hyundai of victory, leaving Sebastien Ogier in command. The usual frontrunners didn’t have things all their own way in Brands Hatch’s British Touring Car encounters (p36), but Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram have also made themselves title favourites. Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com NEXT WEEK 8 JULY Austrian GP Report from the Red Bull Ring, plus Goodwood FoS preview COVER IMAGES Joerg Mitter/Red Bull PIT & PADDOCK 4 Silverstone to host full British GP crowd 6 Red Bull unhappy with new pit rules 8 Lynk & Co blasts WTCR over BoP 11 Austrian Grand Prix preview 12 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 13 Opinion: Nico Rosberg RACE CENTRE 14 Styrian GP report and analysis 30 Ogier joy and Neuville despair on Safari 36 Formbook torn up at BTCC Brands 42 World of Sport: W Series; WTCR; IMSA; NASCAR Cup; Porsche Supercup; MotoGP CLUB AUTOSPORT 57 Goossens back to Brands in NASCAR 61 JRM hands over its British GT racing arm 62 Jaguar Egal set for comeback 64 Santa Pod season gets under way 67 Action from the Yorkshire Festival 68 National reports: Silverstone; Brands Hatch; Kirkistown; Donington Park FINISHING STRAIGHT 78 What’s on this week 80 From the archive: 1962 Italian GP 82 What could have been: Glew in the BTCC SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 24 Special deals for Autosport VISIT AUTOSPORT.COM For other ways to read Britain’s best motorsport weekly HAVE YOUR SAY, GET IN TOUCH Autosport editorial Autosport Media UK Ltd 1 Eton Street Richmond TW9 1AG @ E-mail autosport@ autosport.com Visit our website autosport.com Twitter twitter.com/ autosport Facebook facebook.com/ autosport Instagram instagram.com/ autosport YouTube youtube.com/ AUTOSPORTdotcom 1 JULY 2021 AUTOSPORT.COM 3

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