Charles Leclerc dominated the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. True, he started behind, but he hunted down Max Verstappen all he wanted in Spielberg. He passed him three times! Carlos Sainz suffered an engine blowout
The rain that was imagined for the weekend didn't show up, but it was dispensable. The Austrian GP this Sunday (10), held at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring track, had its own merits. If the sprint race didn't allow the fight between Ferrari and the home team to be put into practice, the official race gave several demonstrations that the Italian team was capable of dueling. More than dueling, Charles Leclerc swallowed Max Verstappen and finally interrupted the sequence of bad luck in the season. Leclerc won the Austrian GP.
The two met more than once in the race. Verstappen defended at the start and stayed in front in the first laps, but Leclerc was never 1s away. The attack was a matter of time and came on lap 10, without success. On lap 12, an unappealing overtake. Two laps later, Verstappen stopped in the pits to put on hard tires and, when Leclerc stopped, 13 laps later, he was second. That was fine, because he had newer tires and would attack again to overtake on 34. Leclerc and the Ferrari were simply too fast especially on the straights. After another window of going to the pits and different strategies, Leclerc had to overtake again near 55. You could ask for music with three overtakings.
Sainz seemed to come in tow to overtake Verstappen in the last 15 laps. In fact, it was inevitable. He could even think of pulling over Leclerc, but none of that happened. The Ferrari engine, which was having a glorious day, blew up on the straight. Desperate, the driver only repeated 'no and no' over the radio. The image was strong, because Sainz was trying to get out of the car, which started to catch fire, and had difficulties, since the car descended by itself on the small slope where he parked. He got out without physical problems, good, but also without points.
In the last ten laps, after the pit-stop to change tires that Ferrari did with Leclerc - and Red Bull also did, with Verstappen - in the VSC burr caused by Sainz, the Monegasque started having problems with the throttle and reported to the team. Still, he held the lead and won the race.
Lewis Hamilton held on and completed the podium, helped by Sainz's problems and the touch between George Russell and Sergio Pérez on the first lap, which forced the Mexican driver to retire. Russell was fourth, followed by Esteban Ocon, Mick Schumacher, Lando Norris, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, and Fernando Alonso. Verstappen took the fastest lap.
The 2022 Formula One season continues in two weeks, July 22-24, at Paul Ricard in the French Grand Prix.
Check out how the race went:
At no other activity of the weekend so far did the Spielberg skies show as much heavy cloud as near the time of Sunday's start. The weather forecast indicated a 20% chance of rain during the hour and a half of the race. The sun was showing up, but in a more timid way, among many clouds.
Valtteri Bottas started in last place, punished for changing the engine, but he also changed front wing and gears in the last hour, which made him start from the pit-lane.
The start went in Max Verstappen's favor. The Dutchman started well, defended and got away, while Charles Leclerc came in tow, unable to attack or be attacked. But George Russell started well and got side by side with Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard got the better of him, while Sergio Pérez paired up after a few corners. The duel between Russell and Pérez lasted until the hairpin contour: then the two touched, and Pérez got the worst of it. He spun and went to the gravel. He even managed to escape, but in the last place and had to go to the pits.
Lewis Hamilton did not gain any positions and even made a slight slip that allowed Mick Schumacher to approach him. After the duel of the sprint race, with Hamilton as the pursuer, now it was Schumacher's turn to hunt. And overtake!
With everything settled, Verstappen was leading and saw Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Schumacher, Hamilton, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in the top-10. Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel were unable to clear the pack and had only gained the position of Perez.
Despite Verstappen's good start, Leclerc could not get away. Always within the same 0s5 or 0s6, he decided to attack on lap 10 - which came quickly since the Austrian track is the smallest on the calendar. Charles went up at turn three and then turn four, but Max resisted and defended. It was short-lived, because Leclerc attacked again at turn four two laps later. Now unappealable. The Austrian GP had a new leader.
On lap 13, Russell received a 5s penalty for causing a collision with Perez and stopped in the pits to change his medium tires to hard ones and change his damaged front wing, as well as serve his penalty. Verstappen liked the idea and stopped next, also to put on hard tires and come back in sixth place.
Hamilton finally woke up for the race, and after suffering so much yesterday and at the beginning of the race with Haas, he passed Schumacher and Magnussen in a space of two laps: Mick at turn eight, when he dived on the inside, and Kevin using the mobile wing at turn four. Verstappen was going down the track and also left both of them behind before pulling into Hamilton. Lewis defended himself initially, but there was no way he could hold on for long. To the delight of the fans, Verstappen would overtake on lap 19 and take third place.
After 20 laps, Verstappen was the only one of the top eight who had already stopped in the pits. Yuki Tsunoda, Guanyu Zhou, and Alonso, who were sixth, seventh, and eighth, started on hard tires, so they would remain on track for a while longer. Meanwhile, Ocon, best among those who had stopped - excluding Verstappen - quickly lined up the three and took sixth place.
It turned into a street fight when Alonso positioned himself to pass Zhou and saw Magnussen follow suit and get the three to share the corner. Magnussen passed both and Zhou recovered against Alonso, but Norris and Schumacher also caught up to make it a five-car race. Faster, Norris and Schumacher got Fernando out of the way.
At the front, Verstappen was starting to take Leclerc's advantage. He had much newer tires. Max would be in the lead when the Ferrari stopped, but they would have younger tires for the rest of the race. Said and done: Leclerc stopped on the 27th of 71 laps. According to Pirelli, F1's tire supplier, the best strategy would be to start on mediums and do 24 to 32 laps until switching to the hard ones. Leclerc was in this window, but Verstappen had stopped on lap 14. It would be necessary to do 57 laps with the same set of tires. It was also important to note that both had already been cautioned for track limits - four cautions would earn a 5s penalty.
Leclerc came back 5s9s behind Verstappen, and Sainz went into the pits a lap later. Hamilton appeared in front of the Spaniard, but had not yet stopped. So was Stroll, who was fifth. Even those who started on the hard tires did not stay on the track until lap 30, as they were being swallowed up by those on the newer tires. Hamilton decided to stop on lap 29 and had a reasonably slow pit-stop, dropping to sixth. Stroll finished the window in 30th. Meanwhile, at the back, Pérez abandoned in the pits.
Gasly and Norris were the first to receive a 5s penalty for track limits, but they opened a list that would almost inevitably be quite long of those penalized for the same reason.
On lap 33, Leclerc again pulled into Verstappen. A few corners later, he would overtake again: even simpler than the first. Leclerc was back to being the leader, while Sainz was getting dangerously close to Verstappen. The championship leader complained to Red Bull and said that the car had grip on the front one lap and didn't the next. "It's totally unpredictable," he stated.
Verstappen's second pit stop came on lap 37. Ferrari did not cover the strategy and preferred to keep their two cars on track for the natural course of tire strategy.
The situation was unfolding at the front, while the middle of the pack was boiling. Alonso overtook Tsunoda and even made a hand gesture of complaint. A complicated weekend for Yuki. Vettel was spun out on the gravel! The reason was a touch from Gasly, too optimistic in the contour of the corner. Another blow distributed to the four-time champion throughout the weekend. The next punishment was also coming: Zhou. Soon, Gasly received another, but this time for hitting Vettel.
Out of trouble, Schumacher was diving to overtake Magnussen and take eighth place. The two Haas cars were safely ahead of the McLaren after another round of pit-stops - just before, Norris even passed Schumacher, but had to stop.
Leclerc had to stop for the second time on lap 50, with 21 more ahead, and came back closer to Verstappen than before. "What a joke is our traction," Max grumbled. The overtake would come a little later, easy, and Sainz was closing in. In fact, Sainz would become the fastest of the three. Swallowing Verstappen was a matter of time when the Ferrari engine went into space. After two blowouts for Charles, it was Carlos' turn to abandon with problems.
The car started to catch fire at the rear and as Sainz tried to get out after parking, the car went down backwards on its own with the fire coming. Worrying image with the Spaniard calling the inspectors, who thankfully arrived with the fire extinguisher. Sainz got out of the car, while the VSC was called.
This time, Ferrari stopped Leclerc immediately to put on medium tires - Red Bull did the same with Verstappen. With ten laps to go, green flag. The top-10 at that point was Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Ocon, Russell, Schumacher, Magnussen, Norris, Ricciardo, and Alexander Albon.
From the restart, Leclerc would start warning that he had some unidentified problem with the throttle. "What's happening? It seems like the throttle is stuck from time to time," he questioned. "It's not accepting gear changes well," he added. Red Bull was warning Verstappen, but still the duo's performance was similar. Although close, Max did not have close enough proximity to trouble.
Alonso stopped again and went down to 14th, but started overtaking - as well as Norris left Magnussen behind and got between the two Haas. Before the end, Vettel received a 5s penalty for disrespecting the track limits. The final act of the race was Alonso leaving Albon behind and taking tenth place.
Leclerc was back to winning ways after a disastrous sequence, but Verstappen managed to limit the damage well with second place and the fastest lap. Hamilton completed the podium.