Another six drivers were left to either count their blessings or doom the sprint – and some even found themselves on either side of fortune at the Red Bull Ring.
JO LUCKY YOU STARTED
First, a driver who suffered almost the same fate as Alonso – failing to even make the start. At the end of the formation lap, Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo was clearly, err, cut off from the rest of the field. His engine cut out as he approached the final turn, the pace dropping to a crawl. He stopped in the middle of the track while the grid formed ahead in the background. Zhou even went through the medical car as he tried a series of engine restarts before finally starting. The good news is that, as it was stuck in the middle of the track, the start was aborted and another formation lap began. The bad news was that he would have to make a second attempt at the pitlane start. But then he put in what team principal Fred Vasseur slightly generously called a “remarkable” recovery to close a gap from the rest of the pack once he exited the pits and then passed several cars to finish 14th. “It was difficult just because of the start,” Zhou said. “Obviously I couldn’t start on the grid because of a problem, the engine went straight away so I tried to put the switch back and it restarted again – and nothing was happening. “I did four shutdowns and redoes, so I lost all that distance at the start. “Everyone was waiting in the last corner and somehow my engine decided to go out, surprisingly. “This is the first time we’ve had this issue, so we have to figure it out and make sure it doesn’t happen tomorrow.”
HAMILTON ‘VERY LUCKY’ AFTER TWO SNAPS IN FIRST LAP
Pierre Gasly’s wandering AlphaTauri made heavy contact with the front right of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes heading into the first corner after the start. On the one hand this was unfortunate. On the other hand, it was a big impact, which could easily have broken the steering wheel, suspension or wheel – yet Hamilton was able to continue. He described the car as “definitely not the same as in the morning, but it was drivable” and expressed his gratitude for making the finish – saying he was “so lucky”. And although Gasly’s impact was a moment of obvious drama, moments later Hamilton had another lucky escape. Sergio Perez made an aggressive move by diving between Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas under braking for Turn 4, clipping Hamilton’s car in the process. If the pair had made harder contact, as Hamilton and Gasly did, the result could have been serious.
OCON JUST “JUST” FINISHED
Moments after crossing the line in a strong sixth, Esteban Ocon radioed the Alpine team: “I’ve got a problem, guys.” Ordered back to the pitches he said “I’m not sure I’m going to make it” and the reply was “Wrong, yes, we think you might struggle there. Waiting for advice, still trying… OK stop the car, stop the car and turn it off.” Ocon only stopped halfway into Turn 3, on the extra track set up for the MotoGP layout’s new chicane. He then admitted that he “just” did the termination. “We had a problem, I don’t know exactly what it is,” Ocon said. “But I felt the car hesitate a bit and after turn 1 it closed completely. “I hope it’s not too big of a deal.” Had the issue been resolved earlier, it appears Ocon would have lost three championship points and been looking at a grid position some 12 places lower for Sunday’s grand prix.
GASLY THE ARCHITECT OF HIS OWN DESTRUCTION
A confused Gasly had no idea what happened in his turn 1 collision with Hamilton. He simply expressed his surprise that he ended up “facing the wrong way around the corner.” Gasly was the architect of his own downfall, as he appeared to either not realize he was drifting left, assumed he was far enough away from Hamilton, or simply bet on Hamilton to drift across as well (which was not possible as there was a Williams on the road). Whatever the reason, Gasly lacked the necessary awareness. The result was another first lap crash in a sprint race. “Clearly the sprints are not playing in our favor,” he lamented. But at least he was lucky to keep going. The bump was big, but getting sideways in the middle of the pack in the first corner is a recipe for disaster. Fortunately Gasly lost all the other cars and was able to start, even managing to gain a few places and finish 15th – although significant damage, with “the whole left-hand side of the car really broken and hanging”, meant it was not possible to greater recovery.
TWO DRIVERS WHO JUST WANTED IT TO END
Gasly’s AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda didn’t have the same complaints about a damaged car, but his outlook was just as bleak after the sprint. Tsunoda said it was on a “different level” how slow he was compared to other cars – “not even close” and “slower than Pierre who had a lot of damage”. Struggled with an unpredictable balance and felt like something was wrong even in 2nd PP, but nothing that showed in the data. This left him with nothing to hide in the sprint, in which he finished ahead of just one driver – an equally disappointed Nicholas Latifi. Driving the non-upgraded Williams, having rolled the dice and tried a set of softs, Latifi sounded like a man who just wanted the race to be over. In fact, he admitted he just needs to get away with this weekend in a car that just isn’t competitive enough before he can hope to get his hands on the upgrade package for the next race in France. “It doesn’t really look promising [the race] for me because the gap is huge,” he said of the deficit in Alex Albon’s upgraded car. “Qualifying I think was positive because I was exactly where I needed to be in relation to the handicaps I have, the weights of the car and the upgrade package. “But that part is really waiting for next weekend, to be honest.”
