Six talking points from a gripping Austrian GP

Red Bull has no answer to Ferrari

Fastest in qualifying and a win in the sprint race. It looked as if Max Verstappen was going to be tough to stop in front of the usual rabid mass of travelling Dutch fans who make the Austrian GP his other home race of the season, on Red Bull’s own territory. As it turned out, the world champion and his team were second-best in the grand prix, with no pace to answer the speed of Ferrari.

Heavier tyre degradation was the reason given for Verstappen’s struggles as Leclerc passed him three times in one afternoon. The first occasion came on the 12^th lap as Leclerc made a decisive move up the inside, and Verstappen couldn’t really fight it. It triggered a change in strategy as Red Bull switched to a two-stop in a race where it had been predicted one would likely be enough. Notably after its recent strategic blunders, Ferrari chose not to respond immediately, and although Leclerc too changed to two stops his tyre changes were made at more conventional moments. Even though he lost the lead to Verstappen on both occasions, a superior tyre-life advantage and clear speed never left much room for doubt that he would close back up and pass, with remarkable serenity.

Sticking throttle pedal makes Leclerc sweat

Yet again, Ferrari’s vulnerability on making its cars go the distance almost proved its undoing. Over the final 10 laps Leclerc was alarmed to find his throttle pedal was sticking and not always springing back to zero. That in turn began to affect his downshifts and fears grew that a slam-dunk victory was about to be squandered (not for the first time in 2022). As it was, Leclerc managed the problem superbly and although Verstappen closed, he was never anywhere near enough to make a move. Leclerc’s fifth career F1 victory moves him to within 38 points of Verstappen. That’s still a big deficit, but there’s a long way to go in this season and the victory – and how emphatic it was – will have given him new hope that he can still shoot for the title. As he said, “I definitely needed that one.”

Sainz engine failure spoils a 1-2

Unreliability remains a serious concern for Ferrari. If the sticking throttle was an unnecessary aggravation, the engine failure that finished Carlos Sainz Jr’s afternoon was more representative of the team’s main Achilles’ heel. The British GP winner was all set to demote Verstappen to third when he slowed with a thin trail of tell-tale smoke, before the engine detonated spectacularly. Sainz took to an escape road at Turn 4 and did his best to leave his car in a position that wouldn’t trigger a safety car. But as the Ferrari’s rear end caught alight and began to burn, the car began to roll backwards with Sainz still in the process of extricating himself from the cockpit. Briefly it looked a scary moment before marshals stopped the car rolling and extinguished the flames. The F1-75 looked a sorry mess as Sainz sat on a grass verge contemplating his misfortune. The engine failure, Ferrari’s third in six races, probably ended Sainz’s own title hopes and took some of the shine from Leclerc’s win, allowing Verstappen to limit the damage to his points lead. On pace alone, Leclerc should probably still be the championship leader – but the jeopardy of something going amiss always seems to be hanging over the red cars from Maranello.

Another podium for Hamilton

Third place for Lewis Hamilton, his third in as many races, was backed up George Russell who finished fourth. That’s a decent return for Mercedes-AMG on a tough weekend for the silver cars that was littered by accidents for both drivers.

Hamilton only started eighth, but bided his time on the medium Pirelli tyres, running long on his first stint. That lifted him into what would have been fourth without Sainz’s misfortune, with only Esteban Ocon’s Alpine to be dealt with – and Hamilton had little problem passing the Frenchman, who was making his 100^th GP start.

Russell made an admirable comeback after his first-lap collision with Sergio Perez. The Red Bull attempted to hold the outside line at Turn 4, which as we’ve seen many times before doesn’t tend to end well. Sure enough, Russell’s left-front connected with the Red Bull and spun it round, Perez incurring damage that would eventually end his race. The Mercedes driver picked up a five-second penalty, which he judged harsh – but at least the decision pointed to some consistency from the stewards, on a weekend when Sebastian Vettel stormed out of the drivers’ briefing over a lack of it in recent weeks. Russell took his penalty at a pitstop, then got his head down to follow Hamilton home.

Haas pair star again

Ocon finished fifth, ahead of an excellent Mick Schumacher who, on the back of his first F1 points at Silverstone, scored again with a fine sixth in Austria. He outperformed Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen who made it another double score for the American-owned team in eighth. They sandwiched McLaren’s Lando Norris, who finished seventh from tenth on the grid as the Woking team continues its mediocre season. Daniel Ricciardo at least made it a double points haul for the orange cars in ninth, with Fernando Alonso nicking the final point in the closing stages from Valtteri Bottas in his Alfa Romeo. Another fine drive from the Spaniard, given that he started from the back.

Crowd abuse casts a shadow

One talking point we unfortunately cannot let pass is the reports of discriminatory abuse dished out within the crowd. Such behaviour at a motor race is disturbing and hard to fathom. F1, with vocal support from the teams and drivers, made it clear abuse of any kind will not be tolerated and promised to investigate. That this can happen at all in 2022 is depressing. A hard line to pinpoint the perpetrators and punish them severely is the only response that will really count for anything. It has to be stamped out.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.