By Ethan Jones – Sports Writer
After a surprisingly entertaining race last weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, the drivers headed to Austria for their second back-to-back of the season thus far. After a strong performance last time out, Aussie Daniel Ricciardo was looking to build on his 6th place finish at Le Castellet, but fortune would not be on his side on this occasion. Instead, it would be former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen who would once again steal the show.
Friday’s practice sessions gave unexpected results, as both Ricciardo and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon would move atop the time sheets, into 2nd and 3rd places respectfully. However, Saturday’s qualifying would better support the form of the cars this season. Mercedes and Red Bull were yet again dominant, as Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly continued to outshine their teammates. A penalty to Yuki Tsunoda saw him fall 3 places on the starting grid, which meant that ‘Mr. Saturday’ George Russell put his Williams in 10th to start the race. The two biggest surprises, rather disappointments of the session, were the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, and Ricciardo, who had seemingly lost all the positive momentum that he had created, as both were eliminated in Q2.
A 3-place grid penalty to Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas gave Red Bull an early advantage before the lights had even gone out in Austria. The opening of the Grand Prix was both eventful and impactful on race proceedings, as both Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc came into contact heading into the second corner, which also spun the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi. Both the Ferrari of Leclerc and Gasly’s Alpha Tauri were forced to make an unplanned pit stop, and unfortunately for Gasly, extensive damage meant that he would not return. Always one to take any opportunity he is given, Ricciardo was able to climb four places into 9th. At the front, the contenders stayed orderly for much of the early laps, Norris maintaining his podium position with Perez and Bottas on the hunt.
Seemingly in just a matter of laps, the McLaren duo of Norris and Ricciardo, who had been building nicely into their races, both had their strategies shifted in dramatically different circumstances. Ricciardo started falling rapidly back down the leader board as the cars around him passed him with little effort. Team radio revealed that a temporary power loss was the cause of Ricciardo’s issues, and although this would be fixed, it seemed to set the tone for the rest of his race. Norris on the other hand had no technical issues, but the powerhouses chasing him passed him by with little fight shown from the McLaren, which was interesting considering the aggressive nature of Lando’s driving style. This led both commentators and the F1 community to question whether this was apart of the McLaren strategy to strictly focus on the midfield battle.
Ahead of Norris, Hamilton and Verstappen created a gap ahead of the rest of the field. After the pit stops, Verstappen continued to keep this gap at around five to six seconds ahead of the Brit. It was once again heartbreak for George Russell, who had been showing again why he is tipped by many to claim the second Mercedes seat moving forward. After multiple pit stops caused by an issue to the Williams’ car, he was forced into retirement again, in a race that was promising the Constructor’s first points of the season.
After a strong opening stint on the hard tyres by Kimi Raikkonen and eventually Leclerc, drivers elected to fit this compound rather than the mediums. Following his horrific start, Leclerc had quietly climbed his way past the likes of Ocon, Ricciardo and Vettel, up into the top 10. Teammate Carlos Sainz had shown great pace in his first stint, and after pitting, the Spaniard found himself inside the top 6. The most competitive battle near the top was once again between Bottas and Perez, with the Red Bull driver electing for the two stop pit strategy to try and chase down his rival.
As the Grand Prix drew to a close, the Aussie Ricciardo had been unable to climb much further ahead of his starting position, after a puzzling strategy from McLaren attempted to overcut Raikkonen who had been seemingly impenetrable. Verstappen grew his lead over Hamilton in the closing laps, with Hamilton audibly confused on the radio about how he was unable to do anything to match the Red Bull. Perez with fresh soft tyres had been relentlessly hunting down Bottas, but the Finnish driver was able to maintain third position as he crossed the line, giving audiences the familiar podium consisting of Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas. Further down below Perez, Norris had maintained fifth ahead of both Ferrari’s, as Stroll, Alonso and Tsunoda rounded out the points.
The drivers will remain in Austria for their third race in as many weekends, and the ‘Red Bull Ring’ will again be the host. For Red Bull, they had claimed their fourth race win in a row and increased the constructors gap to 40 points. Individually, Verstappen builds an 18 point lead over Lewis Hamilton, as the pair separate themselves from the chasing field. In terms of the midfield battle, McLaren stay ahead of Ferrari, but they will be hoping Ricciardo can begin to string some strong performances in order to support Norris, who finds himself up in 4th in the Drivers’ Championship.
Can Hamilton chase down Verstappen? Can Ricciardo turn his fortunes around? Let us know in the comments!
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