Max Verstappen puts Red Bull back in front of everyone. The Dutchman won the pole start in the Sprint Race of the Austrian GP. Max reached a time of 1’04″686 on the soft tire and put the RB20 ahead of Lando Norris’ McLaren by 93 thousandths. The flying lap challenge between these two drivers never reached a gap of more than tenths, a sign that there is a sensational leveling of performance between these two protagonists who know how to ignite the interest of enthusiasts.
Verstappen and Norris are a sport apart: the Englishman is the sun that manages to prod the three-time world champion, reassured by the idea of being able to count on a Red Bull that will no longer have the advantage at the start of the season, but which allows you to settle into the pole position tomorrow morning in the competition.
The others are far, far away. Oscar Piastri is third with the other MCL38: at least he has returned to the position that the team expected, after a less than brilliant Spanish weekend. Oscar is three tenths behind Verstappen, but he managed to control George Russell who was able to bring the Mercedes to fourth place at 67 thousandths from the papaya car.
Ferrari is far away, disappointing. Maranello’s expectations have miserably foundered in Spielberg. Carlos Sainz is fifth with the SF-24: the red one defends itself admirably until the last sector when the hopping that penalizes the Prancing Horse in the fast sector begins to be seen. The Spaniard with 1’05″126 accumulates a gap of four tenths which is enormous on a very short track like the Austrian one.
Charles Leclerc is tenth, without time in DQ3: the Monegasque took the flag and failed to launch on the only possible attempt. The Ferrari driver, like the others, left the pits right at the last minute and, while queuing in the pit lane, suffered the engine stalling. Charles pulled the Ferrari over and restarted the power unit, but when he managed to get onto the track it became clear that he would not be able to complete a timed lap.
A disaster for Maranello: Austria was supposed to show the true Ferrari and after Canada and Spain another cold shower has arrived, because the team is once again showing flaws that are not only technical. Did the wall make a mistake in letting the Monegasque exit the pits late and did the driver make a mistake in letting the anti-stall kick in? The result is that Leclerc is forced to start much further back than he should be.
Lewis Hamilton is only sixth with the W15: the Englishman had given up on using the soft tyre in the only free practice session and paid for it, but, above all, he had to raise the floor of the car because it was sliding too much at lunchtime and the effect was seen with a black-silver arrow less incisive than one might have expected.
Sergio Perez is eighth with the second Red Bull: the Mexican was also a victim of leaving the box too late. He found himself behind Esteban Ocon’s Alpine and the only thing he managed to do was to precede the Frenchman, but obviously the gap of 1″3 does not capture Checo’s potential.
The two Alpines entered SQ3 again, a sign that a more positive trend has begun: Ocon in the final raffle managed to find a less difficult lap than that of Pierre Gasly, ninth.
Outside the top 10 is Kevin Magnussen who did his job with a Haas that doesn’t seem too brilliant: the Dane arrived 49 thousandths away from entering SQ3, so he certainly didn’t do badly considering that he preceded the two Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso. The Canadian who has extended the agreement with his… father to race next year has enjoyed being ahead of the Spaniard who seems to have entered a phase of demotivation with an AMR24 that isn’t going according to his expectations,
Yuki Tsunoda is 14th with Racing Bull: the Faenza-based team is struggling after introducing important updates in Spain and the team’s priority is to find the key to development, rather than pure performance, to avoid taking the wrong path later in the season.
Logan Sargeant was very satisfied, last in Q2, but finally able to leave the back of the grid. The American made only one attempt because he had used an extra train to pass the first cut and then finished without time due to a track limit. But 15th place was already enough for him…
Daniel Ricciardo with Racing Bulls does not come out of SQ1: the Australian suffers from the rumors that fuel a possible cut in the season to make room for Liam Lawson. Daniel is 16th for 24 thousandths behind his teammate who, instead, overcomes the trap.
Nico Hulkenberg is 17th with Haas: the German finished behind Ricciardo by just 2 thousandths. The real big disappointment is Alexander Albon with Williams who is 19th, while Logan Sargeant managed to emerge from the cut. The Anglo-Thai never found his pace at the start of the weekend in Styria. The Saubers sandwiched the FW46: Valtteri Bottas settled in 18th place, while Guanyu Zhou was last: the Chinese saw his first run time canceled due to a track limit and then never found a clean lap again. He is not going through an easy period and this involution risks complicating his plans to stay in the Circus…
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