F1 | Bodywork damage cost Hamilton over half a second per lap, say Mercedes

Sunday saw what is becoming an increasingly familiar sight of late – an F1 podium ceremony without Lewis Hamilton on the top step. The reigning champion could manage no better than fourth place in Austria after picking up damage on his Mercedes – damage that left him powerless to challenge the top three.

Hamilton – who yesterday confirmed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes – made up a place at the start to run third and eventually found his way past the racy McLaren of Lando Norris. However, as title rival Max Verstappen was pulling away up front, his race started to unravel after some heavy contact with the Red Bull Ring’s Turn 10 kerbs.

“It looks like the bodywork damage for Lewis was at the end of lap 29 just before we came in,” confirmed Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director. “The downforce loss was around six or seven-tenths but as it was all from the rear, the balance become difficult and we were damaging the rears with sliding.”  —read more— 

F1 | Verstappen waltzes to second win in a row at Red Bull Ring, as Bottas beats Norris to P2

For the second time is as many weeks, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen enjoyed a serene drive to victory at the Red Bull Ring, leading every lap of the Austrian Grand Prix from pole position – much to the delight of the thousands of orange clad fans who flocked to cheer him to a third victory in a row.

In contrast to the Styrian Grand Prix, Verstappen faced no real threat from behind, even having enough time to take an extra pit stop with 10 laps to go to ensure an extra point for fastest lap – and a first ever ‘grand slam weekend’, with pole, fastest lap and victory, having led every lap. Behind him, championship rival Lewis Hamilton worked his way up to second place from P4 on the grid before aerodynamic damage, picked up by running over exit kerbs, slowed his progress, allowing both Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas and McLaren’s Lando Norris to get past.  —read more— 

F1 | QUALIFYING: Verstappen edges out sensational Norris to take Austrian GP pole

Max Verstappen took pole position at the Red Bull Ring for the second weekend in a row as he fended off a shock threat from Lando Norris to take top spot on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Verstappen led the way throughout qualifying, topping the opening two segments to head into Q3 as favourite for P1 – and he set a competitive benchmark, 0.2s quicker than Norris.

The Dutchman failed to improve on his second run, setting up a tense finale as Norris behind him was going quicker. In the end, he missed out on a shock maiden pole by just 0.048s, giving Verstappen his third consecutive P1 start and bringing his tally to four for 2021.  —read more— 

F1 | Jamie Chadwick on why W Series will have a generational impact – plus our guide ahead of the season opener

W Series’ 2021 season kicks off this weekend as a support race for Formula 1’s Styrian Grand Prix, but why should you tune in, and why is this female-only motorsport series so important? Reigning champion Jamie Chadwick explains all – and we set out the series format, ones to watch, and more below. The global pandemic nixed its return in 2020 but now, finally, W Series is primed for its second season with 18 female drivers (five reserves standing by) facing off for the 2021 title over eight rounds, beginning with a double-header at the Red Bull Ring.

W Series was not universally welcomed when it was announced, but Chadwick – also a Williams F1 development driver and Extreme E offroad racer – says the series plays a crucial role in encouraging and supporting women in motorsport.

“Aside from the criticism, in my opinion, W Series has single-handedly done more than anyone else to help women in motorsport,” she says. “I think whether you agree or not that it’s the right approach, it’s definitely professionalised women’s motorsport overnight.”  —read more— 

F1 | Verstappen eases to Styrian Grand Prix victory over title rival Hamilton

Max Verstappen claimed a second win in seven days with victory at the Styrian Grand Prix, enjoying a dominant lights-to-flag performance at the Red Bull Ring over the Mercedes of title rival Lewis Hamilton, as Valtteri Bottas claimed third ahead of Sergio Perez.

Following on from his win in the French Grand Prix, Verstappen led away from pole position at a dry Red Bull Ring, leading every lap of the race to claim his 14th career win, and his third at his team’s Red Bull Ring home track.

The Dutchman duly stretched his lead over Hamilton to 18 points in the drivers’ standings, after the Mercedes driver was unable to offer any serious answer to Verstappen’s pace on race day, although he was at least able to limit the damage after taking the bonus point for fastest lap thanks to a late pit stop.  —read more— 

F1 | QUALIFYING: Verstappen fends off Mercedes duo to take Styrian GP pole on Red Bull home soil

Max Verstappen gave Red Bull the perfect start to the first of two races on home soil by delivering a scintillating lap to fend off Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton to snatch pole position for the Styrian Grand Prix – his second in a row.

The Red Bull Ring has been a happy hunting ground for Verstappen in years gone by, with the two-time winner looking to have his RB16B hooked up beautifully from the start of qualifying, making good progress as the one-hour session built to a crescendo.

Championship leader Verstappen set provisional pole with his first run and his second lap was also good enough to take top spot, as the Mercedes challenge fell short. Bottas popped ahead of Hamilton into second which a very tidy lap at the death, but he’ll drop back to fifth following a three-place penalty for ‘dangerous driving’ when he spun in the pit lane during practice.  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | Microsoft reaches a $2 trillion market cap

New York (CNN Business)Microsoft has officially entered the most elite of clubs: corporations with a market value exceeding $2 trillion.

The tech giant is only the second publicly traded American company, behind Apple (AAPL), to reach such a valuation. Oil company Saudi Aramco, which went public in 2019, has also previously passed that mark, though its market cap on Tuesday was $1.88 trillion.

Microsoft’s (MSFT) market capitalization topped $2 trillion during trading on Tuesday, and closed just $300 million shy of that mark. Its stock on Tuesday climbed 1.1% to $265.51.

The company reached the $2 trillion milestone just over two years after it first passed the $1 trillion market cap mark.  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | Windows 11 has leaked. It’s a bunch of BS

New York (CNN Business) – Windows 10 was supposed to be Microsoft’s ultimate PC operating system. The promise: Windows 10 would forever get updated twice a year, bringing tweaks, the occasional fresh coat of paint and new features to keep your computer up to date.

But now, six years later, Windows 11 is on its way. We can only assume Microsoft (MSFT) got bored, because what we’ve seen so far of Windows 11 doesn’t feel like anything revolutionary.

A complete internal version of Windows 11 has leaked online. You can download it from some sketchy websites, but we wouldn’t recommend it. Still, it’s there, and it appears legit.

Based on the leak, Windows 11 is full of mostly small visual changes.  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | A Boy Scout troop booked a home on Airbnb. See what they found instead

A Boy Scout leader shares his frustrations after realizing that his two home rentals, which were supposed to be near the beach, led him to an empty lot.   —watch—