FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen dominated yesterday’s (July 2) Austrian Grand Prix after a short-lived challenge from Charles Leclerc during and early virtual safety car.
Max Verstappen celebrates after his victory at yesterday’s (July 2) Formula One Grand Prix. Photo: AFP
But the race ended mired in controversy after a marathon steward’s investigation shook up the order with a bevy of post-race penalties.
Verstappen beat Leclerc off the line despite some first-lap sparring and established a comfortable gap, but a virtual safety car on lap 14 gifted the Ferrari driver a cheap pit stop and a small strategic advantage into the second stint.
It kept him in Verstappen’s pit window, forcing the Dutchman to concede the lead when he made his first tyre change.
That ended Verstappen’s streak of 248 laps in the lead of a grand prix dating back to the Miami Grand Prix on 7 May, but it wasn’t enough to end Red Bull Racing’s undefeated run this season.
He dropped to third behind Carlos Sainz in the sister Ferrari but made quick work of both the Spaniard and Leclerc, resuming the lead just 11 laps later.
Ferrari was tempted to think another early pit stop could win back the initiative, but on a day of high tyre degradation in the warm Styrian sunshine Leclerc couldn’t get close enough to put Verstappen under any serious strategic pressure.
Both made their final stops without swapping positions, and in the final 22 laps Verstappen stretched his lead to a whopping 24 seconds.
Running high on confidence, he even talked his team into a risky late pit stop for soft tyres, which he used to take the bonus point for fastest lap without losing the lead to sweep the round.
“It’s been a pretty incredible weekend,” he said. “With the strategy, with the pit stops, everything was smooth, and out there on the track we just had a very quick car and I felt comfortable in the car.
“We could do everything we wanted like we planned it.”
His championship lead now stretches to 81 points, more than three clear grand prix victories.
Leclerc finished a comfortable second in Ferrari’s best result of the season and only its second grand prix podium appearance of the year.
It was a powerful validation of the team’s string of major updates targeted at improving the car’s balance and tyre usage.
“It feels good to be back on the podium,” Leclerc said. “I think with the new upgrades the feeling is getting there.
“We still need to work extremely hard to catch up Red Bull, who are still quite a lot faster on race day, but the feeling is better.”
Sergio Pérez prevailed over Sainz in an epic late battle for the final spot on the podium.
Pérez had qualified a lowly 15th but was aggressive early in the race, incisive with his passing in a way that’s been lacking from the Mexican’s game since his demoralising loss in Miami in May.
His final pit stop put him behind Sainz, and the pair duelled for five laps up the hill to turn 3 and all the way down to turn 6, swapping positions in the slipstream and sweeping around each other’s outside.
Some clever gamesmanship from Pérez won him the place, staying behind Sainz until both crossed the DRS detection line just before turn 3, ensuring he could boost his straight-line speed down to turn 4 and seal the deal.
“It’s really nice to get back to the podium,” he said after ending a three-race run off the rostrum. “We had good pace since lap 1, we managed to understand our issues we had in the previous races, so I believe that we are back.”
The final finishing order was unclear for more than five and a half hours after the chequered flag thanks to a protest from the Aston Martin team about penalties for exceeding track limits.
Drivers crossing the white lines at the downhill turn 10 was a major issue all weekend owing to the flat kerb and the lack of asphalt run-off which tempted drivers beyond the boundary.
Race control gave drivers three warnings during the race. A fourth transgression resulted in a five-second penalty.
Several drivers were penalised during the race, but Aston Martin’s protest drew attention to the several warnings not followed up with penalties.
The stewards agreed, noting that more than 1200 reports of track limits violations had been received, and added 12 penalties to the final classification.
Sainz was bumped down to sixth, with Lando Norris promoted to an excellent fourth place in his heavily upgraded McLaren, which had the measure of both Mercedes and Aston Martin through the race.
Fernando Alonso also moved up to fifth for Aston Martin.
George Russell moved ahead of Lewis Hamilton in seventh and eighth, and Lance Stroll was promoted ahead of Pierre Gasly in ninth and 10th.
