The F1 teams were on Red Bull territory on the Austrian track of the Red Bull Ring this weekend, and we can say that we had the right to some surprises, which rarely displeases racing enthusiasts.
During qualifying, Alonso disappointed was unable to make the most of his Alpine because of the traffic in front of him. As a result, he will not pass Q1. In the second qualifying session, it was the Ferraris and Daniel Ricciardo who could not have enough time to fight for a place in the top 10 at the start. Suddenly, a certain George Russell passing by with his Williams which usually rarely crosses Q1, offers himself the right to take the8th place on the grid, very good performance for the Briton!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPcHmAL2lMk
In Q3, it is the intrepid Lando Norris and Max Verstappen who are the fastest and are fighting for pole. Note that our national Pierre Gasly with his Alpha Tauri was once again fast in qualifying.
At the end of Saturday, we had in pole position, Verstappen followed by Norris, Sergio Pérez the Dutchman's teammate. Then, still in order: Hamilton and Bottas the two Mercedes drivers, themselves followed by the two Alpha Tauri drivers with Gasly in 6 and his Japanese teammate Tsunoda in 7. And as mentioned above, it is Russell who starts in 8 with behind him the Canadian Stroll at the wheel of his Aston Martin ahead of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr.
At the start of the Grand Prix on Sunday, it must be said that it changes a little from usual: on the first three places of the grid normally the preserve of Red Bull and Mercedes, we have this Sunday, July 4 a touch of orange with the McLaren of the young and talented Lando Norris, that Sir Hamilton will even greet during the race for his driving.
The pressure is felt on the shoulders of Leaders Verstappen and Hamilton before the lights go out. No right to make mistakes and obligation to score points for the two rivals who are neck and neck in the world championship standings.
After the start, we started for 71 laps, the first three drivers maintain their respective positions.
Esteban Ocon, still unlucky, was forced to retire in the first laps. Hard blow for the Alpine team, but we know that without these incidents, Fernando and Esteban have the weapons to go for points.
Yellow flag of the blow and exit of the "safety car" which will be the only car to overtake the Red Bull of "Super Max" Verstappen! The Dutch driver who had already been able to get a little ahead had to restart the race with Norris just behind him who seemed fit. But hey, Max is not in the mood to want to look in his retros to see if we follow him. So, perfect recovery. We feel it, he wants to take advantage of being in front to widen the gap with the Mercedes still stuck behind his friend Sergio in3rd place. Moreover, the Mexican winner in Baku a month earlier is quite fast and goes on the attack on Norris to take the2nd place. But while on lap 4 in turn 4, he tries to overtake the McLaren from the outside, the young British driver closes the door and forces him off the track. Lando received a lenient penalty of 5 sec and Max's teammate found himself 11th behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who tried to get back on Ricciardo in 9. In front of the Australian, the two Aston and the Alpha Tauri. At the same time, Hamilton took advantage of Pérez's exit to pass his team-mate Bottas.
Verstappen continues to take off because he loses the support of his teammate, and prints a very big pace of race. The championship leader breaks down lap records in the race even with tyres that have 20 laps of wear. So, if in addition you put him overexcited supporters dressed in orange who encourage him with smoke, good luck to follow him!
On lap 20, Lewis, who had hit his tyres well to get second place from his compatriot Lando, found himself more than 10 seconds behind Verstappen. Behind them, Bottas, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Pérez, Sainz, Russell and the stainless Kimi.
Valtteri Bottas who let Lewis Hamilton get back on Norris has a better tyre capital while maintaining a very good race pace. And behind him, a few seconds away, it smells like a fight especially between Pérez and Leclerc.
On lap 41, Sergio Pérez, then 8th, saw the French driver Charles Leclerc at the wheel of his Ferrari get back on him on the outside of this famous turn 4. And it is the turn of the Mexican, himself a victim of this maneuver at the beginning of the race, to close the door thus pushing the driver of the scuderia to the fault. This put Leclerc in a bad mood, before he went mad with rageon lap 47 when the Red Bull driver again blocked his trajectory during his overtaking. Not nice and dangerous Sergio to take revenge on Charles who lost time in the race. So, double penalty for Pérez or 10 sec, decidedly, the FIA was lenient. Bottas begins to get back on his teammate thanks to the good management of his rubbers.
After the first pit stops , we get on the scoreboard: Verstappen, Hamilton, Bottas, Norris, Ricciardo, Pérez, the two Ferraris and the Alpha Tauri.
On lap 52, Bottas passed Hamilton before the latter returned to the pits and, on lap 55, Norris took his 3rd place.
With 10 laps to go, the top 8 are gauging themselves to see who can catch the point of the fastest lap in the race, but in this game the Max concedes nothing, while the best time is achieved successively by Gasly, Hamilton and Sainz. The Dutchman, still in the lead, asked his engineers for permission to put his Honda engine in qualifying mode on a lap to close the debates.
George Russell at the wheel of his Williams is in P10 behind Gasly with Alonso at his heels, but 3 laps from the finish, Fernando's Alpine gets the better of the Williams. Nevertheless, we must salute this performance of Russell whose potential no one knows anymore. This is especially the case since he had the opportunity to be at the wheel of a Mercedes, the time of a race the previous season. He finished one position away from scoring the first points of the season for his team who usually fought with the weakest. Well done, Sir!
Even though they weren't in the points, Raikkonen and Vettel hung on just before the finish. And in the end, Verstappen who had made the race in the lead finished first, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris on the third step of the podium. Then comes Hamilton and behind him Carlos Sainz5th, followed by Pérez, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Alonso.
In this race, the McLarens proved to us that we could count on them to add competition at the top of the standings. Ferrari and Alpha Tauri also show progress heralding interesting future duels.
A hotly contested Formula 1 constructors' standings
In the constructors' standings, it remains quite tight between Red Bull and Mercedes who have respectively 286 and 242 points. And the battle for3rd place between McLaren (141 points) and Ferrari (122 points) also promises great things. Because even if the McLarens seem to have a mechanical advantage, the consistency of the two Scuderia drivers is formidable.
On the other hand, in the drivers' standings, Max, with now 182 points after his 5thvictory of the season, managed to widen a good gap on Lewis who has 150. And again, it promises a show for the3rd place which is very contested between Pérez (104 pts), Norris (101 pts) and Bottas (92 pts).
The season is still long, there are still 13 races to go and nothing is played, especially when you see the scenarios that a Grand Prix can reserve for us. Just go back to Baku where Verstappen leader, was betrayed by his tyres like Lance Stroll, which had opened a window of opportunity for Lewis who could have taken 25 points from his direct rival.
We expect an answer from the reigning champion in two weeks because the next meeting will take place this time on the land of Sir Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone!
