.jpg)
On Sunday, the Red Bull Ring hosted a Formula 1 race for the second week in a row, this time under the banner of the Styrian Grand Prix, and the Austrian place delivered another cookie. We select the winner and losers …
Winner: Lewis Hamilton
Sublime. That was one of many adjectives he could have used to describe Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying lap in soaking conditions on Saturday as he secured pole position for 1.2s. The Mercedes driver was in another league.
READ MORE: Styrian GP victory ‘is a great way to bounce back’ after weekend fights, says Hamilton
On Sunday, he was able to build a gap at the start over Max Verstappen and then manage the pace efficiently, without needing to hit his best gears. It was a controlled and dominant performance by the current world champion.
The victory was his 85th, just six fewer than Michael Schumacher’s all-time record, and his 51st from pole position. It was also his 152nd podium, moving him to three of Schumacher’s 155 records. After a difficult opening weekend of the season, Hamilton returned to his best level.
Loser: Sebastian Vettel
Fifteenth in the drivers’ championship with just a two-round solo point was not how Sebastian Vettel would have expected to start his final campaign for Ferrari.
READ MORE: “We cannot hide behind the collision”, says Binotto after “the worst conclusion of a very bad weekend”
The lack of performance in the first race was his fault, but the four-time world champion was irreproachable during the Styrian Grand Prix, as his teammate Charles Leclerc attempted a bold lunge inside at Turn 3, then He slid into Vettel, ripping off his rear wing and ending the German’s run.
Vettel had some rays of hope this weekend as he found a better balance with the car and felt the upgrade package was a step forward, but he can’t afford results like this while searching for a disc for 2021.
All angles: Vettel and Leclerc collide in Styria
Winner: Lando Norris
Not even physical pain could stop Lando Norris from offering coming-of-age performance for the second successive race, the McLaren driver extended his opening period in the softs to give him fresh medium Pirelli tires later in the race.
READ MORE: LOOK: Enjoy Lando Norris’ incredible P8 to P5 load in the last two laps of the Styrian GP
The Briton then took advantage of that lead to make his way across the field, having started ninth after a three-point grid penalty for failing to slow down enough under yellow flags, to fifth, with three of his overtaking in the last two turns.
It was a remarkable performance, especially since he was taking pain relievers for the pain he suffered when braking during practice on Friday, and it means he retains third place in the drivers’ championship standings.
Loser: Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc was a star of 2019, his first season with Ferrari, but the Styrian Grand Prix weekend was not his best moment. The Monegasque struggled to qualify to miss Q3 and received a three-point penalty to compound his misery for preventing AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat.
Willing to regain lost ground, he attacked in the opening sequence of corners, but was overly ambitious in his attempt to pass Vettel, breaking his own front wing in the process.
READ MORE: “I have disappointed the team”, says Leclerc while accepting the blame for the confrontation in the first round with Vettel
Although he faced a new nose, the damage was too high and he was forced to park the car.
That meant both Ferrari failed to reach the checkered flag for the second time in four races, after Vettel and Leclerc also collided in Brazil last year.
Winners (for now): Racing Point
Racing Point continued to deliver on the promise of winter testing, with Lance Stroll and, in particular, Sergio Pérez showing the true pace of the car in dry conditions.
The duo struggled to get the best of the RP20 in a wet qualification, but on Sunday, Perez made his way across the field brilliantly to finish sixth, which should have been fifth and perhaps even fourth if he hadn’t contacted Alexander Albon when he tries pass the Red Bull driver.
READ MORE: I was ‘very lucky’ to just lose a position on the last lap, admits Pérez after the Albon crash
The damage incurred left him in sixth place, just 0.066 seconds behind teammate Stroll, but the fact that they were racing a Red Bull was an impressive feat and they now rank fourth in the constructors’ championship. However, success was tinted, as commissioners deemed Renault’s protest about the legality of the RP20 admissible, prompting an investigation. Look at this space.
Losers: Renault
The weekend started off positively as both Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo made it to Q3, but despite better overall car performance, the race was not nice to them.
READ MORE: “It forced us both to get off the track” – Ricciardo was frustrated with Stroll’s movement as the race “falls apart” in the last two laps
Ocon retired with the same problem they found last week. Worryingly, they examined the parts at Enstone and sent it back onto the track, but admit that they clearly lost something after a repeat of the failure.
Sure, Ricciardo finished eighth, so there were some points on the board, but he lost a couple of positions in the final stages, and this team hoped to perform better after a strong preseason.
Winner: Alex Albon
The half-second qualification behind his teammate Verstappen was not ideal, nor did he struggle with performance in the early stage of the race, as his teammate Red Bull maintained a comfortable position.
READ MORE: “I was having memories of Hamilton!” – Albon is pleased to survive Perez’s late assault on P4
And although he finished 11 seconds adrift on the flag, which would have been considerably more if Verstappen had not made a late stop to attempt an attack on the fastest lap, fourth place equaled his best career result.
Sure, Red Bull would like it to be faster, but the bare minimum is finishing within the top four, now that Red Bull appears to be the second-best team on the grid, and Albon, who still has 23 starts to his credit. – He did exactly that. A good recovery from the frustration of losing a first podium in the previous round after contact with Hamilton.
Loser: Russell
From winner to loser in the space of 24 hours. George Russell showed his class and promise for the future while maximizing the opportunity provided by a wet rating to secure the 12th fastest time, the best result of his career, which became 11th due to Leclerc’s penalty.
He got off to a great start and held his position until Turn 6, where he tried to grab the edge of the corner, where there is little grip, but lost control of the car and ran off into the gravel. falling to the bottom of the field.
The afternoon was past, but he continued and at least crossed line 16 for his first season finale.
Winners: Haas
Twelfth and thirteenth may not seem like much on paper, those positions offer no points after all, but nonetheless, there were reasons to rejoice over Haas.
After a double DNF at the start of the season, Haas not only managed to get both cars to the finish, but both drivers felt they had a car that, while not fast enough, was a huge improvement the weekend before. .
Crucially, they understand the car much better and it’s much more consistent and predictable, which means they now have a platform on which to develop more performance.
Max Verstappen: “We are pushing as hard as we can”
Loser: Max Verstappen
A podium is nothing to sniff at, but it is a measure of how far Verstappen has come that finishing third is disappointing.
The Dutchman put pressure on Hamilton in qualifying, before losing his car at Turn 9, and still started the race from the second. His Red Bull was not fast enough to contain Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes, but he tried very well, running side by side with the Finn through several turns and trying to attack him again when Bottas finally slipped with the help of DRS.
Verstappen had hoped to have come out of both Red Bull Ring races with a heavier total points, given that he had won the previous two Grand Prixes there, so he will look much better when F1 reaches the Hungaroring.
READ MORE: How a Key Red Bull-Honda Deficit Mitigated Verstappen’s Challenge to Mercedes
