Spielberg would be home to the second sprint race of the season. Leclerc went into the weekend aiming to rectify what could’ve been a podium in Silverstone, he hoped to close to Verstappen who seemed to running away with the championship.
Meanwhile, his teammate, Sainz, on the back of his first victory in Great Britain in part one of the double header, looked to show he was also a force to be reckoned with and would not take the back seat.
Practice
In practice one and two over the Friday and Saturday, Verstappen and Sainz topped the charts in the sessions respectively.
The Mercedes boys, showed a continued improvement with some real pace in practice one with Russell taking P3 and Hamilton P5, within four and six tenths of a second to the leading Red Bull. It was not a Friday McLaren wanted to remember, Norris with issues to his car and Ricciardo struggling to find pace with his car.
In practice two, Leclerc was just pipped by Sainz with a faster time, but the real surprise was the impressive pace of the Alpines, who looked like they could cause some damage to the others as they took P4 and P5. Mercedes did manage to fix both cars before the end of the second practice session after both cars suffered crashes in qualifying on the Friday which left the teams with some work to do. But they did it! And were able to claim 7th and 9th.
Qualifying
Eliminated in Q1: Vettel, Latifi, Zhou, Stroll, Ricciardo
Eliminated in Q2: Norris, Tsunoda, Perez*, Bottas, Albon
* Originally qualified 4th but a post-session investigation for track limits saw all of his Q3 times deleted, leaving him in 13th.
Top 10: Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, Ocon, Magnussen, Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, Gasly.
Sprint race
Verstappen took the maximum eight points available from the sprint race win, benefiting greatly from the scrapping Ferraris who were fighting for position and allowing him to pull away.
There has been the question of when team orders will come to play for certain teams, for Red Bull, it has been made clear that Verstappen is the main man. For Ferrari, although the focus is on Leclerc, team orders have not yet been directly given; and this cost them the chance to fight Verstappen as both red cars concentrated on each instead of their rival.
But Leclerc made the move stick on his team mate and began to close in on Verstappen towards the final few laps.
Before the sprint began, Alonso’s race was over as he was unable to take part in the formation lap- ending his sprint race early. A similar issue occurred with Zhou Guanyu but he was able to get his car to start, but it would be from the pits.
Russell and Perez finished fourth and fifth respectively, the Red Bull driver making up many places after a 13th place start due to his Q3 lap times being deleted.
The remainder of the top ten was Ocon, Magnussen, Hamilton, Schumacher and Bottas.
It was 11th and 12th for the papaya team, and 13th for Alex Albon who was given a five second time penalty for forcing Norris off the track.
Vettel was the only other retiree in the sprint race, his race crumbled after contact with Albon.
Race
Charles Leclerc took the victory at the Red Bull Ring, showing his rival that it was still all to play for, cutting the gap to 38 points between the pair. The Monegasque driver made some impressive moves to overtake for the lead. Unfortunately, in the other Ferrari, Sainz, who looked to be closing in on Verstappen for a 1-2 finish, suffered an engine issue, his car going up into flames- a scary incident for the Spaniard.
Verstappen, who looked threatening this weekend, struggled to keep up with the Ferraris and had to settle for second place. Perez on the other hand, who had made up many places from the sprint race, retired from the race early after first lap contact with Russell ultimately led to the end of his race.
Mercedes looked to be back in shape, several straight podiums for the team; and Lewis Hamilton did what he does best— got his car where it needed to be. Although he fortunately benefited from Sainz’s DNF, the Brit drove a solid race, putting him in the right place at the right time and earned him a 4th podium in 2022. Russell, who fell to the back of the grid after his first lap incident and five second time penalty, also drove a stunning race, finishing behind his teammate in P4.
Rarely spoken about, but definitely deserving of praise, Ocon brought his Alpine home to fifth place, earning him his highest finish of the season. Alonso, was the last of the point scorers, a good result for the team indeed.
On the back of his first points finish, Mick Schumacher, impressing all weekend, was even more impressive during the race, at times pulling off some stunning defences against other drivers. He was voted driver of the day for his best finish in 2022. Kevin Magnussen finished P8, securing a back-to-back double points finish for the team.
McLaren were back to their points scoring ways, both cars ending in the top ten, in P7 and P9; a much needed result for the Surrey-based team. Both cars took part in some intense midfield battles, treating us to a spectacle.
Aston Martin continued with their struggle as Stroll finished in 13th, and the unlucky Vettel was involved in another tangle on his search for points for the second time this weekend, this time with Gasly, who was later penalised.
Speaking of the AlphaTauris, both cars ended the race outside the top 10 yet again, another team struggling to find form, especially in comparison to last year. Gasly placed 15th and Tsunoda 16th, the Italian team will be looking to turn their hopes around in France.
Albon picked up P12 for Williams and Latifi retired from the race, while Bottas made the most of all that happened with 11th place after starting from the Pitlane and his teammate Zhou Guanyu in P14, a reasonable result considering his accident at Silverstone.
After a week’s break we head to Paul Ricard for round 12 of the 2022 F1 season at the French Grand Prix. See you then! Meanwhile, follow The Fastest Sector to keep you updated and occupied while you wait.
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