The black cloud of misfortune hanging over Charles Leclerc since early May finally lifted, and he took advantage to make a powerful statement as he took a commanding win at the Austrian Grand Prix. For five races, it looked like this wasn’t going to be Leclerc’s year, despite the blistering pace he’s showing in his Ferrari. Four times in those five races, Leclerc lost a winning position through no fault of his own – two engine problems and two strategy mistakes, all while leading. In the fifth of these races he started from the back of the grid as a result of these engine problems. But in Austria everything came together and Leclerc took one of the most convincing wins of the season. Look what I can do with a clean run, he seemed to say. Even that wasn’t without suspense, however, as a sticking throttle in the Ferrari allowed title rival Max Verstappen, who had looked well beaten until then, to put Leclerc under pressure in the closing laps. But Leclerc held on for his first win since Australia in early April. Then the relief inside him was palpable. “I definitely needed it,” he said. “Of course, when I entered a new race, from five races I have a smile on my face and continued to be optimistic. “But tough race after tough race, I just felt like everything was against me. In the end, we had a good innovative race today and it’s really nice to win.”
Verstappen has no answer to the refreshed Ferrari
Leclerc passed Verstappen three times en route to victory Grand Prix wins don’t come much more convincing than this – especially against a rival as formidable as Verstappen and Red Bull. Leclerc overtook Verstappen at least three times on his way to victory as Red Bull struggled with excessive tire degradation and were forced into a sub-optimal strategy. Leclerc’s first pass for the lead was a beauty – a slow dive, but committed to the inside of Turn Four from a good distance back, he appeared to catch Verstappen off guard. Once Ferrari took the lead, Red Bull rolled the strategy dice, pitting Verstappen early for a fresh set of tires and committing to a two-stop strategy in a race that, before it began, looked at the quarterbacks on the edge between that and a single stop. Perhaps they were hoping that Ferrari would take the bait and try to cover Verstappen with at least one of their cars. But showing a composure and determination not always evident at Ferrari’s pit wall, they stuck to their guns, saw off Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and took control of the race. As the laps went by, it was clear that Verstappen had no answer to the pace of the red cars. Leclerc also switched to two stops – but with much more conventional timings. And despite falling behind Verstappen each time, Leclerc had no problem closing and retaking. Sainz was poised to do the same with 14 laps to go and make it the perfect day for Ferrari when his engine failed. It was not only a reminder of the team’s vulnerability – it was the third power unit problem in six races for a Ferrari car – but it also ensured Verstappen could minimize the damage. He moved up to second place and with the fastest lap, in addition to winning the sprint, he lost only five points to Leclerc on the weekend despite Ferrari’s superiority. With a deficit reduced to just 38 points and half the season gone, Leclerc still has a mountain to climb. But the manner of that victory means the mountain doesn’t seem as insurmountable as it did just a week ago.
Ferrari’s pace does not surprise Leclerc
Leclerc’s victory was his fifth in F1
The extent of Ferrari’s superiority around the Red Bull Ring surprised everyone, especially Verstappen.
“I expected them to be strong, but I didn’t expect them to be this good,” he said. “I think we were a little disappointed in what we expected.”
Leclerc, however, was quietly confident going into the race. He was beaten on pole position by Verstappen and lost in the sprint race on Saturday as well. But then he saw signs of what might have been possible.
Leclerc and Sainz allowed Verstappen to get away in the opening laps of the sprint as they raced each other. But Leclerc closed on the Red Bull towards the end and after crossing the line he told his team over the radio: “It’s OK. We’ve got them tomorrow.”
“I was pretty confident,” he said after his win on Sunday, explaining that comment. “The pace has been strong in the last five races. I’ve said it quite often on Saturday night, but not just to say it, I’ve believed it in all five races. It’s good to finally show it on Sunday and have a clean weekend.
“Talking about yesterday, the pace was there and although at the end of the qualifying sprints it was hard to know how much Max was pushing, I felt we had a bit more of an upper hand at the end of the sprint. of that I was sure.’
Verstappen’s problem on Sunday was too much tire degradation.
“Just a lot of degrees and I can’t explain at the moment why it was so high,” he said, “because I think normally we’re OK with the tires. I expected it to be difficult, but not like this. An off day or a bad day, the to lose only five points in a weekend is good.”
Ferrari had learned from the sprint. At the grand prix, there was no fight between their drivers, although it was not clear whether it was by accident or design.
Leclerc didn’t get off to the same good start, so he didn’t attack Verstappen in the first corner, which combined with Verstappen’s aggressive defense was what brought Sainz into the picture in the sprint.
Instead, Sainz came under pressure from George Russell’s Mercedes and ran out at the first corner. Leclerc could therefore concentrate on staying within a second of Verstappen, so he had the benefit of DRS overtaking assistance once it became available on the second lap. He turned the screw tighter and tighter each lap, pushing Verstappen harder and harder, and before long the lead was his and he took control of the race.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said: “In pure speed, we’re very similar and qualifying proved that. I don’t think there’s much difference between the two cars. If anything, it’s down to the degradation of the tyres.
“In the sprint, I think we had a little bit more of an advantage in tire deviation, which was even more evident today because we started to push Max from the start and push him to have more pace and degrade the tires more.
“I think what we saw yesterday in the sprint was more evident today because we put more pressure on him.”
Ferraris are back – but did they ever really go away?
It was a mundane explanation of what is potentially a major change in the balance of the season. Judging from the outside, this appeared to be the first grand prix since Melbourne in which Ferrari had a decisive pace advantage over a race distance compared to Red Bull. Admittedly, it’s not the easiest thing to judge. In Barcelona, Leclerc was leading convincingly before his engine failure, but was only a few seconds ahead before Verstappen made a mistake and went out at Turn Four in the first stint. Ferrari was the fastest car in Monaco qualifying, but the wet early laps of the race and Ferrari’s strategy errors made it difficult to judge comparative pace. In Baku, Leclerc took the lead again. But the team bought that lead with a gamble on an early stop under a safety car and it was not certain it could hold off Verstappen on fresher tires towards the end – indeed computer predictions suggested it would not. In Canada, where Leclerc started from the back, Sainz was on Verstappen’s tail in the closing laps, but again there were tire spins and safety cars. Then at Silverstone, Verstappen looked set to take control of the race before running over debris and falling out of contention with a damaged car. In Austria, though, there was no doubt – in a race, the Ferrari was definitively the fastest car. Leclerc said he “doesn’t entirely agree” with the analysis that this was the first time since Melbourne that Ferrari was definitely faster. “I think Barcelona was one of those games where we were very strong,” he said. “Monaco we were very strong. But since those races, yes, it was the first time we were significantly faster. “It’s not a surprise because we worked very hard. But probably the surprise comes from yesterday to today. Because yesterday Red Bull also looked very strong, but today we seemed to pick up a bit more pace compared to them. . It’s a good surprise.”
Sainz blasts a reality check
Sainz’s car ended in a fiery incident on lap 57 This is the positive for Ferrari. The downside was more reliability issues. Sainz’s retirement not only handed Verstappen three points but may have ended his hopes of going for the championship, which the Spaniard had expressed after his maiden win at Silverstone. He is now 75 points behind Verstappen, almost certainly too much to consider a review. “It seems to be the story of my season,” Sainz said. “As soon as we have some momentum, something goes wrong and it’s hard to keep going with it.” For Ferrari, this may be a blessing in disguise in a way – if they now want to back Leclerc as their main title contender, which they have resisted until now, they have a good reason to do so. The biggest concern, though, is the engine’s durability. As with Leclerc after his failure in Baku, Sainz now faces an imminent grid penalty for excessive engine use, having already used his maximum limit for the season. Although Binotto won’t say on Sunday whether that will be the case at the next race in France. Not only that, but both drivers face at least one additional engine penalty on top of that because they will both need at least one more new engine to see them through to the end of the season.
