Formula 1 - Austrian GP - Ferrari Dominance - Is The Fight Back On?

Another great race weekend is ahead of us! This time the Formula One is racing in Austria, the home race of Red Bull. It Is already clear to say that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is the clear favorite and has most fans backing him, but will he be able to deliver? Another question to ask is whether Mick Schumacher can continue his point streak that he started last weekend in Silverstone? And have Ferrari sorted out their differences from last race where they screwed over their number one driver Charles Leclrec. I am very excited for this weekend and can’t wait to see what will happen!

Qualifying – Nothing New Except Haas

The Qualifying in Austria was nothing special. The first 3 places were yet again distributed between the two fastest teams on the grid: Red Bull and Ferrari. With Max Verstappen getting pole followed by the two Ferrari drivers. The more interesting part happened a little bit down the field: Both Haas drivers managed to secure P7 and P8 which puts Mick Schumacher in a great spot to score points on this weekend yet again! This is very exciting as his previous performances clearly showed an upwards trend. Even Red Bull is starting to get interest in the young driver as he always struggled in the classes he was driving in and then literally exploded. This was the case in Formula 3 as well as in Formula 2.

Another disappointing qualifying was set by Mercedes. Both drivers managed to get into Q3 and were on track for some good starting position. With P4 and P9 it was not even the worst placing but what is concerning is that both drivers managed to crash their cars. Both crashes were not big ones but nevertheless it looks like both drivers are still struggling with this season’s car. This can also be said about Aston Martin and McLaren. Both teams did not get a place better than P15 and are struggling this season to find the pace. It is especially very disappointing for the four times World champion Sebastian Vettel who will have to start the Sprint race from last place.

Sprint Race – Pure Racing

The sprint race was like a light starter of the race meal that we are getting this weekend. It was perfect, hard racing, nice overtakes and some controversy. The beginning of the race already started very badly for Alonso and Zhou. Both drivers had issues with their cars and could not start from the grid. After this little disruption the race was on for 23 laps around the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Max Verstappen got the better start compared to the Ferraris which started to launch their attacks on the Dutchmen. They were not successful and started to battle each other for P2. In the end Leclerc had the better skills and managed to secure himself P2 and the second position to start on Sunday behind Max. Carlos had to settle with the third place.

Behind these drivers there was Mr. Consistency once again. He managed to secure his fourth place despite the crash on the precious day. Perez who started the race in P13 managed to climb up to P5 and has all chances on a podium now. The top 5 are followed by Ocon, Magnussen, Hamilton and Schumacher, who still managed to get himself the ninth position. This will make his life a little bit more difficult in order to secure some points but his fighting with Hamilton shows that he doesn’t have to hide from big names! I am very optimistic that he will be able to perform another great race.

What’s a little disappointing is that he was let down by his team a little bit. According to him he was faster than his teammate Kevin Magnussen but was not let through by his team. This ultimately lead to him losing time and giving up his P8 position to Lewis Hamilton. It will be a very interesting race on Sunday. The battle for P1 will continue and Charles will have his shot on Max Verstappen in order to get back into the championship. The battle for points in the back of the field will also be very interesting and many hope that Schumacher is finally getting the fighting genes from his father!

The Actual Race – Exceeding Track Limits & Sainz Drama

Going into the race, Verstappen had the best chances of getting the Red Bull home win as he started from P1. He was followed by both Ferraris and the start was what people were looking at. The front three stayed the way the started but further behind the battles were on! Perez’ race was over before it even began as he was turned by George Russel. After a few laps in last place Perez retired the car and Russel received a 5 second penalty. Further down the grid Schumacher and Hamilton continued their fight and it was very interesting to see the braveness of young Haas driver.

Coming into lap 10 we saw the first real attack by Charles Leclerc to take the leading position. The first attacks Verstappen was able to defend but had to give up in lap 12 where Leclerc was just quicker. Overall, during the whole race the Ferrari cars seemed to be much quicker than the Red Bulls which put Verstappen in a very compromising position. He certainly wanted to extend his championship lead but with the Ferrari force on this day even his great driving skills wouldn’t help him. After a lot back and forth and many pit stops Leclerc was able to take his first win in around 5 races. Despite his Throttle problems in the end he was able to safely secure this win and build up some pressure on Max Verstappen.

Unfortunately, this can not be said about Carlos Sainz. Until lap 57 the Spaniard had a really great race and was on the way to take the second place off from Verstappen. His run was disrupted by an engine blow up which could have ended badly! He drove of the track and wanted get out of his burning car, but because it was rolling away he had to stay in and make sure that the car wont roll onto the track. Fortunately enough, the marshals were able to put the fire out and secure the car.

This left an opening for the third podium placement which was taken by Lewis Hamilton on this afternoon once again. With George Russel in P4 Mercedes is shinning with very solid driving and very good reliability of their cars! Weekend after weekend they are able to secure themselves a good amount of points and at least cement their place in third. It will be interesting to see, once the new regulations are set in stone whether Merc will finally be able to drive for race wins again.

Last but not least, it was a very heated battle in midfield between Haas and McLaren. Schumacher was able to secure a very good sixth place, followed by Norris and his teammate Magnussen. It is once again a big step into the right direction for Mick Schumacher and I think that many people are expecting Mick to continue doing well in his F1 career.

Outlook

Let’s take a look at the current standings; Max Verstappen is still very far ahead but is now slowly getting pressured by Charles again. I must admit that the difference is still around 38 points but with this sort of Ferrari dominance, Max could be in trouble for the second half of the season. It will be also interesting to see whether Mercedes can finally make the step towards the top 2 again. Like mentioned before: the new regulations will certainly be in the favor of Merc and against Ferrari and Red Bull. It will be a very interesting second half going forward and a lot more to discuss along the way.

Published by ga38jem on
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On 10th July 2022