The Red Bull Ring is always a fun track. With a simple layout and three DRS zones, the track encourages overtaking and battling throughout many laps. The Grand Prix this year was a good watch, providing entertaining battles and late race drama. Whilst the race felt like it was lacking a cohesive narrative and felt more like a series of disconnected events, the events in themselves were fun. Not fun for a Leclerc fan, but the action towards the end of the race distracted from that particular disappointment.
Before the drama at the race’s conclusion, there were limited moments of intrigue throughout the first two stints. In particular, there were some exciting teammate rivalries to ruminate on. The first example came when the Haas cars made their first stops, with Magnussen and Hulkenberg proceeding to pass and repass each other as their respective engineers begged for them to work together to save tyres. It took a few minutes of convincing and some colourful language from Magnussen to get there, but eventually the Haas boys calmed down and recorded their best finish of the season. The Alpine boys were not so quick to settle, as they engaged in yet another vicious battle. Whilst it was a tremendously foolish idea to ever make Ocon and Gasly teammates, it provides fans with the entertainment of watching two people who absolutely despise each other fight. As always, the way they raced each other demonstrated their feelings, as they were fighting through for multiple laps, whilst pushing each other off the track at every opportunity. Eventually Gasly passed Ocon, but the fighting likely lost both drivers time and tyres. However, the fact that at any track these drivers never stop fighting makes up for the lack of sensibility with a flurry of entertainment.
Whilst the first two thirds of the race were not boring, it was during the final third that the main spectacle came to pass. Red Bull had already made a mistake during practice, using too many medium tyres when these would prove the strongest in the race. Thus, they had to put Verstappen on an old set of mediums for his final stint. Combined with a slow pit stop and a lock up, this put Lando Norris right on Verstappen’s tail. For a number of laps, Norris tried to hustle his way past, in a battle that was as thrilling as it was silly. Both drivers didn’t show their best qualities during this duel. On Norris’ behalf, his hastiness to overtake Max led him to commit to some silly divebombs and opportunistic overtakes. This showed a lack of solid race craft during high pressure moments from Lando. On Verstappen’s behalf, he demonstrated his willingness to be too aggressive when he feels he can get away with breaking the rules. Virtually every time Norris attempted to overtake, Max would move in the braking zone to push Lando into backing out. The stewards repeatedly failed to intervene to stop Verstappen’s illegal tactics, despite the rule breaking being obvious to anyone watching the race. With Norris and Verstappen both getting increasingly angry at each other’s driving, there was only one way this battle could end.
Thus, on lap 64, as Norris tried to overtake, Max moved under braking again. But Norris didn’t back down and they collided in a dramatic fashion. This gave both of them punctures and was a fantastic example of why the stewards should punish illegal tactics before those tactics lead to the inevitable. One would have thought that the stewards would have learnt their lesson from the events of 2021, but instead they let history repeat itself. Whilst I often criticize Lando Norris, in this moment I have to praise his resolve. He showed Verstappen that he wasn’t prepared to be pushed around. Whilst Norris lost out more from the collision, as he had to retire whilst Verstappen finished fifth, this is still good if Norris wants to be in regular battle with Verstappen. Norris needs to carry the aggression forward throughout the season, as you can only beat Verstappen by meeting his aggression.
The collision between the leaders led to the biggest surprise of the afternoon, George Russell winning. This was the first Mercedes victory since Russell’s win in Brazil 2022 and whilst it fell into his hands, it was nevertheless well deserved. George has been fantastic this year, regularly outqualifying his teammate and proving that he can become Mercedes’ team leader. He drove a perfect weekend, making no mistakes where others faltered. I said that he needed to win another race during my Canada review, to prove his critics wrong. George delivered in the best way possible and I’m sure the Mercedes factory enjoyed their champagne Monday.
Ryan's Lil' F1 Blog 