F1 was back in Austria this weekend for the second sprint race of the season. With Max Verstappen and Red Bull still on their winning streak, many were asking the question as to whether this would be the race weekend that someone, anyone, would stop them.
First up was the Sprint race. It was a damp and soggy Saturday, so there was no surprise that the starting grid had quite the shake up earlier on in the day, with the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg lining up on the grid in 4th. However, the weather had no implications on Verstappen, claiming yet another pole position. His teammate; Sergio Perez would start 2nd.
As the five lights go out, the rain starts to come down, albeit lightly. Both Red Bulls have a strong start with Perez taking the lead from Verstappen into the first turn. It's not all over as the Dutch driver takes it back going into turn three. Perez attempts to attack his teammate back but instead gets squeezed and looses a position to the Haas of Hulkenberg. Perez, clearly unhappy with this, tells his team; "What's wrong with Max?" Further back, Lando Norris, in the McLaren, drops to 10th after starting an incredible 3rd.
A battle starts to brew from 10th downwards as a number of drivers try to fight for the last point. Ferrari driver; Charles Leclerc, is one of them. He's battling it out with the Alpine of Esteban Ocon but struggles to make any further impressions on the field.
Verstappen stretches his lead to over four seconds from second place man; Hulkenberg. Perez, who still sits in third, isn't really catching the Haas. He is, however, being chased down by Carlos Sainz as the Spaniard pushes his Ferrari ever so closer to the Red Bull.
Things are a little bit more difficult for the Mercedes drivers of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton with both of them down in 12th and 13th, respectively. Hamilton manages to catch his teammate who is being held up by the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen. By lap eleven, Hamilton has cleared both his teammate and the Haas. Magnussen isn't the only Haas loosing places. Hulkenberg is caught by Perez at turn seven and looses second. The Haas driver's tyres are quickly degrading and he also looses third to Sainz.
By lap fourteen, the track is starting to dry and many drivers are being asked about tyres over team radio. Russell indicates to his team that "it's not far off slicks." The British driver pits and is the first to appear on slick rubber. Russell's purple sectors start a chain reaction and pretty much everyone, who isn't in the points, comes in.
Both now on slicks, the Mercedes drivers find themselves squabbling again. Russell sets the fastest lap of the race. But, with only a handful of laps remaining, can he make much of an impression?
Alex Albon, in the Williams, pits from 6th. However, this isn't looking like a good idea. Most of those in front have already pitted or won't be pitting. To put salt on the wound, Hamilton gets past the Thai driver for 11th. A few laps later, Albon is then caught by Oscar Piastri's McLaren as the two bump wheels into turn four.
Back at the front, it's Verstappen that takes the chequered flag who finishes over twenty seconds ahead of his teammate and second place man; Perez. Sainz finishes in third. Then comes the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso to make up the top five.
With the sprint completed, next up was the main race.
Sunday was a brighter, calmer day, with a minutes silence to remember young Dutch driver; Dilano van't Hoff, who sadly lost his life in a FRECA crash yesterday at Spa. The Austrian and Styrian national anthems played and the drivers made their way to their cars. Due to car changes, Kevin Magnussen and Nyck de Vries will start the race from the pitlane. Max Verstappen is, again, on pole position.
With all drivers lining up on either medium or hard tyres, it's Verstappen, on the mediums, who leads away for the formation lap. And, as soon as they are back in formation on the grid, they're off.
Verstappen gets a decent start but Charles Leclerc, in P2, challenges him for the lead. It's the former who wins this battle. Sainz is in third, Hamilton 4th and Norris in 5th as they head up to turn three. But, it's in turn four where the trouble starts. Alpha Tauri's Yuki Tsunoda is in the gravel. He gets going again but there is debris all over the track towards the first corner. Replays show that he was involved in an earlier incident as he bounced off the kerb and into the side of the Alpine of Esteban Ocon going into turn one. The safety car is deployed. Both Tsunoda and Magnussen pit at the end of lap one. It's a new front wing for the Alpha Tauri and new tyres (plus an ERS problem) for the Haas.
As the safety car peels back into the pits, Verstappen takes off, dragging the rest of the field behind him. The order stays pretty static but, it's not long before Verstappen pulls out of DRS range from Leclerc. The second Red Bull of Perez, who had yet another disastrous qualifying session, is making up ground after starting P15. He's up into 12th after passing Ocon.
Norris, who is catching Hamilton, notes the amount of times he see's his countryman go off the track. "Track limits again, Hamilton! That's his third time," the McLaren driver informs his team. Just ahead of the two, Sainz seems to be gaining on his teammate; Leclerc. He wants Leclerc to let him through so he can go after Verstappen. Ferrari don't seem too keen on the idea, advising their driver not to attack his teammate.
Perez is all over the back of Russell's Mercedes. He makes a lunge into turn three and takes 11th, with a quick heart in mouth moment as the two momentarily touch. Hamilton, in the other Mercedes, is the first driver to receive the black and white flag for track limits. However, he seems more concerned with how slow his car is. At the back of the field, Hulkenberg pits, dropping to 19th. He's not back out on track long before he has to pull over with smoke billowing out of the back of his Haas. A Virtual Safety Car is deployed.
With the VSC in progress, a number of drivers pit for new tyres with Ferrari choosing to double stack. Both of the stops are slow which results in Sainz falling behind Hamilton and Norris. Both of who have already stopped the lap before. Neither Red Bull pits which brings Perez back into play in 3rd.
The track goes green and Hamilton is the first of many drivers who are eventually slammed with a time penalty. Five seconds for track limits. Within moments, Tsunoda is handed one too. Aston Martin seems to be the biggest loser during the VSC. Stroll found himself in the pitlane when the track went green. He's now down to 15th. Alonso is in 7th. Sainz, another loser during the VSC, is making up ground. He gets past Norris to move up to 5th. Next up for the Spaniard is Hamilton.
Further down the field, there are drivers battling everywhere. Ocon radios in to his team to tell them that the Alfa Romeo of Bottas has front wing damage which could fall off at any moment. Bottas, however, stays out. Back at the front, Sainz passes Hamilton who puts up a defense but it's around the outside at turn four where the Ferrari driver makes the move stick. It's not long before he's on the move again with Perez as his next victim.
The stewards, who are already busy, are now busier. A pitlane incident between Ocon and Logan Sargeant has caught their attention, with the latter having to slam the breaks on to avoid contact with the Alpine. Black and white flags are also consistently making an appearance with Sainz being the latest recipient. Hamilton, who is now challenging Perez, tells his team that Perez has been off at turn ten. Coincidentally, Perez gets pinged at the same time for turn nine.
After 249 consecutive laps led, that's every lap since lap 48 of the Miami GP, Verstappen pits and concedes his lead to Leclerc. He come's out just behind Sainz who he quickly disposes off. His next challenge is Leclerc, six seconds up the road. Tsunoda has also pitted and serves his time penalty. Talking of time penalties, Ocon gets five seconds for an unsafe release during the VSC.
The order of the top ten continues to change with Perez being the next driver to pit. He comes back out in 10th and is chasing the Williams of Albon. Norris barges his way past Hamilton who is struggling with brakes and Sainz gets hit with, wait for it, a time penalty. Tsunoda, who has recently served his penalty, finds himself under investigation for not serving the initial penalty properly. Albon and Pierre Gasly may be the next two on the stewards hit list. They've both had several recently deleted laps.
Things seem to be flowing quite nicely at the front of the field with Verstappen less than three seconds behind Leclerc and catching. However, Leclerc is informed that tyre deg is higher than expected. The team offer him a new three stop strategy, one that Leclerc declines with a simple "no." On lap thirty five Verstappen makes the move with the help of DRS. The two drivers swap places and Verstappen leads once again.
After both receiving track limit warnings, Albon and Gasly get time penalties, adding their names to the ever growing list. Things then get even worse for Gasly when Perez overtakes him for 7th. At the back of the field, Magnussen and de Vries are battling it out. The Alpha Tauri driver pushes Magnussen off track with the Haas taking a trip through the gravel. This incident is referred to the stewards with de Vries getting the blame. Another five second time penalty is dished out.
The second round of pitstops begin with Norris starting the chain reaction. Both Hamilton and Sainz pit, carrying out their penalties in the process. Verstappen also dives into the pits. He retains his lead as he returns to the track. The Dutch driver gets on it straight away throwing in purple sectors and the fastest lap of the race. However, this doesn't stand long as his teammate has also pitted and takes the fastest lap away from him. Another penalty is also handed out. Tsunoda get's his second one of the race; ten seconds.
Not far off the end of the race now and it's Perez vs Sainz for 3rd. Perez attempts to use turn three to get past the Ferrari but Sainz has DRS which he has gained from a backmarker. Perez has to bide his time wisely here. He tries it again on the next lap but finds himself ahead at the DRS line giving Sainz the extra help instead. Sainz fights back and pushes past the Mexican going into turn four. A few more laps past by with some stunning attack/defense action from the two. On lap 62, Perez finally gets the job done. A cracking job done by both drivers there. However, Sainz doesn't seem too sure, telling his team "the stewards should have a look at that. He was intimidating me a lot." In the meantime, the battle for third has given Leclerc some breathing space. He's nearly thirteen seconds ahead of Perez.
With only a handful of laps remaining, two more drivers get hit with a time penalty. This time they're for Sargeant and Magnussen. That takes the total penalties up to nine. At the rear of the field, the action is coming in thick and fast. Zhou Guanyu, de Vries, Bottas and Piastri are battling hard. Unfortunately, it's not for points. But, for P14.
Perez currently has the fastest lap but with a pit stop in hand, Verstappen decides he wants to go for fastest lap. The team are hesitant but the stop goes smoothly and he returns four seconds ahead of second place man, Leclerc. Talking of Perez, he's just been shown the black and white flag.
Verstappen pushes on the final lap and takes the chequered flag with the fastest lap. Leclerc comes home in 2nd, giving Ferrari their 800th podium in Formula One. Perez completes the podium after starting in 15th.
Sainz finishes in 4th and he is followed in by Norris, Alonso, Hamilton, Russell, Gasly and Stroll. Phew. You'd think it's all over. But it's not.
Aston Martin has decided to protest the race result believing many more drivers should have been penalised. The stewards look into this and agree. With over 1000 deleted laps throughout the race, it's going to be a long night. But fear not, they get through this quickly and announce a handful of extra penalties which are as follows:
Carlos Sainz - 10 seconds - Drops to 6th
Lewis Hamilton - 10 seconds - Drops to 8th
Pierre Gasly - 10 seconds - Drops to 10th
Alex Albon - 10 seconds - 11th
Esteban Ocon - 30 seconds! - 14th
Logan Sargeant - 10 seconds - 13th
Nyck de Vries - 15 seconds - 17th
Yuki Tsunoda - 5 seconds - 19th
What a day! And, it's not long before the next one. See you all next weekend for the British Grand Prix!
