Leclerc Back in the Win Column as Sainz’s Podium Hopes Goes Up in Flames
The eventful British Grand Prix was hard to follow, but the Austria Grand Prix offered nothing less than nail-biting action. The Red Bull Ring on the hills of Austria is the host of the second sprint weekend of the 2022 season. It was an action-filled weekend, from Friday qualifying to the main race on Sunday.
The view of the Red Bull Ring from the top of turn three.
Twitter: @RedBullRacing
Qualifying saw 20 drivers take on the track after just one practice session. Qualifying only set the grid for the sprint race on Saturday as it was a sprint weekend. The Aston Martin struggle continued as both drivers were eliminated in Q1. Nicholas Latifi, Guanyu Zhou, and Daniel Ricciardo joined the two Aston Martin drivers in the elimination zone. In addition, Lando Norris struggled with car issues on Friday.
In practice, he first suffered a power unit failure, and then a brake failure guaranteed his exit in Q2. Both AlphaTauri drivers were joined by Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon in the Q2 elimination zone. Finally, Q2 was met with a controversial end as Sergio Perez was investigated for leaving the track while doing his fastest lap. Race control decided to investigate the matter after qualifying.
Hamilton getting out of his car after running into the barriers at turn seven.
Twitter: @MercedesAMGF1
Q3 saw two red flags, and Mercedes drivers caused both. Lewis Hamilton crashed at Turn Seven, bringing out the first red flag. George Russell crashed at Turn 10 right after the session was resumed. With the interruptions of red flags, drivers were only left with time to do one timed lap. Charles Leclerc successfully improved his time to take the provisional pole. Carlos Sainz also improved, but it was not enough for first. Max Verstappen’s chances of taking pole looked bleak until he did a blistering third sector, taking pole by 0.029 seconds. The top three of this qualifying session were separated by 0.089 seconds and showed how close the pace between the Red Bulls and Ferraris was.
Polesitter Verstappen(middle) pictured with second-place Leclerc(left) and third-place Sainz(right).
Twitter: @RedBullRacing
Perez’s fate was also decided after race control deemed his fastest lap in Q2 illegal as he left the track. Therefore, his fastest lap in Q2 and all his lap times in Q3 were deleted. His remaining lap time was only good for P13.
Alonso was stranded on the grid with his car jacked up and tyre warmers still on.
Twitter: @F1
The sprints race is one-third of the main race’s length and sets the grid for Sunday’s main race, but it took two attempts for the race to start. First, Fernando Alonso’s car failed to start, as the Spaniard was left stranded on the grid. The team pushed him back into the pit lane, but his car still failed to start with an external battery. As a result, Alonso was forced to retire before the race began. On the second attempt, Zhou’s engine cut out, and he was forced to stop at the end of Turn 10. Once again, the drivers were ordered to do a formation lap. Zhou successfully restarted his car and drove into the pit lane for a pit lane start. The sprint race finally started on the second attempt.
Verstappen defended his lead as Sainz overtook leclerc for second. Sainz then proceeded to attempt an overtake on Verstappen. Sainz failed, and Leclerc took second place back. Verstappen extended his lead while the Ferrari drivers fought for second place. Sainz tried his best but backed off after locking up while trying to overtake his teammate. Further back, Perez stormed up the rankings to gain eight positions by Lap 13.
Mick Schumacher taking on the Red Bull Ring during Friday Qualifying.
Twitter: @HaasF1Team
On the other hand, Hamilton had contact with Gasly at the start and had to fight Mick Schumacher for seventh place. Schumacher had his teammate Kevin Magnussen in front, helping him by allowing him to use Drag Reduction System (DRS). Hamilton did not have any opportunities as Schumacher was fiercely defending him. Hamilton’s only chance appeared when Schumacher was out of Magnussen’s DRS range. Hamilton took his shot and successfully passed Schumacher for seventh. At the line, Verstappen took his second sprint victory of the season, Leclerc placed second, and Sainz third. Perez came back from thirteenth to fifth. Hamilton fought hard but only gained one position.
Alonso gained nine places for a point during the main race on Sunday.
Twitter: @AlpineF1Team
There were big movers up and down the grid in the main race. The most notable gainer was Alonso, making his way from 19th to 10th, getting one hard-earned point. Alonso might have gotten up to sixth if it wasn’t for his late pit stop misfortune. Russell was another big mover, but it was a roller coaster of a race for him.
He collided with Perez and received a five-second penalty. Perez suffered a lot of damage and was forced to retire later on. Russell’s front wing was damaged, and he lost his pace. He had to make an early pit stop to serve his five-second penalty, change his front wing, and change his tires. Russell dropped to 19th and started his recovery back to the top. It was a tough run, but Russell was able to climb 15 places in 50 laps for fourth place. He finished in his starting position on paper, but he had a difficult way there.
Verstappen leading Leclerc at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix.
Twitter: @RedBullRacing
Once again, there was a fight for the lead until the final laps. Verstappen was struggling with tire degradation the whole race. The pace between him and Leclerc wasn’t as close as in the sprint race. Leclerc was able to pass Verstappen for the first time on Lap 12. Leclerc dove down the inside of Verstappen, who pitted two laps later. However, Leclerc was in for the long haul and pitted 12 laps after Verstappen did. Even though Verstappen retook the lead, Leclerc had fresher tires to close down Verstappen. Leclerc overtook Verstappen the second time on Lap 33. Verstappen pitted two laps later, and Leclerc pitted 12 laps later. Verstappen had the lead, but Leclerc was able to catch up again. This time Verstappen tried to defend, but Leclerc was able to pull a switch around on top of Turn Three. For the third time, Leclerc took the lead against Verstappen.
Sainz narrowly escapes his flaming Ferrari.
Credit: Planet F1
Sainz was also catching up to Verstappen, but when it seemed like Sainz had a chance to overtake Verstappen, his engine went up in flames. Sainz was able to escape the firey Ferrari, but it brought out the virtual safety car. Hamilton inherited Sainz’s third-place position, while Leclerc and Verstappen pitted for medium tires. At the same time, Leclerc reported that his throttle was stuck open. Even if he took his foot entirely off, the car is still pushed on. He had to fight this mechanical failure while trying to stay ahead of Verstappen. Verstappen cut Leclerc’s lead from 3.6 seconds to 1.6 seconds in the final laps, but he ran out of laps to have a shot of passing Leclerc. Leclerc crosses the line first for the win in Austria.
Leclerc crosses the line with a throttle issue to win his first race since Australia.
Twitter: @ScuderiaFerrari
The win was Ferrari’s first in Austria since Michael Schumacher's victory in 2003. Leclerc returned to the podium and broke his five-race podium-less streak, while Hamilton visited the podium for the third race in a row. Mick Schumacher achieved his career-best finish as he crossed the line in sixth and was voted the Driver of the Day.
Third-place Hamilton(left) celebrating with race winner Leclerc(right) on the podium.
Twitter: @MercedesAMGF1
After the Austria Grand Prix, the 2022 F1 season has officially reached its halfway point. Through 11 races, Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship by 38 points while Red Bull leads the Constructers’ Championship by 56 points. F1 will hold two more races before the summer break in August. The next Grand Prix will be held in Le Castellet, Frace, at Circuit Paul Ricard, where a great race took place last year. Will this year’s race live up to the expectations?
There will only be one way to find out.
