By Carlo Platella
The second qualifying of the Austrian Grand Prix has returned the verdict of a growing gap between Red Bull-McLaren at the top and the pursuers Mercedes-Ferrari, the latter deserving of a separate analysis. Another gap is created between Norris and Verstappen, the latter in monstrous form in Styria, revitalized by a Red Bull that rediscovers its fixed points. Among the challengers, however, there are those who are not discouraged, confident that Max’s Austrian supremacy is an isolated case.
Max’s Return
At the Red Bull Ring Verstappen finds the joy of pole position more than a month after the last one achieved in Imola. The gap of 4 tenths given to his friend Lando Norris is an important one, the biggest of the season if compared to one of the shortest circuits on the calendar. In Austria the Dutchman enjoys the support of the RB20, with the team finding its certainties in the search for the optimal balance, often found with difficulty in recent events. Red Bull arrives in Styria with a starting point for the impeccable set-up, which had already yielded the pole position on Friday, which was then concretized with the Sprint victory.
The mastery and awareness of the car’s needs are also evident in the effectiveness of the changes made to the set-up in view of Saturday afternoon, with all the risk of not being able to verify the consequences if not directly in qualifying. Yet on the flying lap Verstappen manages to shave 80 and 130 thousandths respectively in the first and third sectors compared to Friday. What is most striking, however, is the tenth and a half shaved in the second sector, the most indicative in view of the degradation of the rear tyres in the race, laying the best foundations for Sunday.
The jump on Saturday, however, is not entirely due to the changes in set-up, but also to Verstappen’s greater confidence in an RB20 that he had almost not been able to test on a single lap before qualifying on Friday. The impression once again is that Red Bull’s superiority does not lie entirely in the aerodynamic load released, but in the balance and in the extreme predictability of driving that give the driver an enviable confidence. Something that also emerges from the record times that Verstappen returns to print already in Q2, without any pole position to repay the risks taken.
A bad day
The discomfort of the McLaren drivers in the face of such excessive power from the world champions was inevitable, with Oscar Piastri speaking of “back to reality”. However, Andrea Stella has a different opinion: “I think the picture from Austria today, as well as yesterday, was smaller gaps and it was more encouraging in terms of qualifying performances.”, comments the Italian with the press presented at the Red Bull Ring, included FormulaPassion. “Today the conditions were a little more treacherous for us, it was more difficult to put the tour together.”
“If we look at the qualifying of the previous races, after Monaco the situation could have seemed encouraging for Ferrari, while in Barcelona we were the ones who thought we had the fastest car in qualifying,” Stella continues. “The reality is that they are all very close and depending on the conditions and track one may have a small advantage over the other three teams. There is certainly one constant and I think you all know what it is: Max Verstappen.”
Sprint’s clues
The morning sprint offers some clues ahead of Sunday’s race, the first of which is Norris’ determination to learn from recent disappointments. In fact, on the starting grid the Briton jolts his McLaren just enough to exploit every centimeter of his space, gaining that meter that he was missing at the start in Barcelona. The number 4 then does not hesitate to put pressure on his friend-rival from Red Bull, aware of having to attempt to overtake before the tires are too hot. “The pace was fast”Verstappen himself acknowledged after the Sprint. “[Norris] it wasn’t too much to save the tires and at the end it was a bit in survival mode, because obviously the tyres collapsed a bit in the last laps.”
Norris’ aggressive tactic proves to be correct, catching Verstappen in a moment of difficulty: “Lando had DRS and I was struggling with grip”says the world champion. “Here it is really difficult to judge how much you lose by staying behind in the corners and how much you gain with DRS instead, because there are three activations”. McLaren showed it had the pace to put pressure on Red Bull early in the race, with Norris overtaking Verstappen, but making the mistake of leaving the door open at Turn 4, which Piastri also took advantage of.
The Sprint thus lacks an overall comparison of pace between Lando and Max, although the Englishman from McLaren says he is satisfied with the level of degradation: “The pace was very goodespecially at the end.” Verstappen, however, is the author of the best partials in the second sector, a sign of good management of the degradation of the rear tires coming out of the two hairpins, the main limiting factor in the race, thus making himself a candidate to repeat Saturday’s success on Sunday.
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