The Austrian Grand Prix; The struggles of various teams seen, whilst Mercedes continues their lead in the championship.
- Cassandra Nicholls
- 12 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The weekend appeared to be a struggle for various teams including Ferrari who has been facing difficulties regarding straight line speed. The RedBull Ring would be considered their biggest enemy, and their weakness was shown.
For Mercedes it was yet another dominant showing as George Russell ran off with the lead, which ultimately turned into a race win, whilst teammate Kimi Antonelli who started from P4 managed to get a P3 result with a great race.
RedBull Racing driver Max Verstappen showed exactly why they have the best engine, with straight line speed and almost no difficulties in chasing the opponents. It was a P2 result and another podium for Verstappen, whilst teammate Isack Hadjar had a great race and finished in P6.
McLaren was a team that most people expected to be quick in Austria, and whilst that was seen in a way, there were also struggles from them. Oscar Piastri managed to finish P4, but well over 20 seconds behind Antonelli. Lando Norris faced a tough time, only managing to finish P7 and despite scoring points, it was not where he would’ve liked to have been at the end.
Ferrari were known to struggle at tracks like this, and in Austria that was clear. Lewis Hamilton was able to make it a P5 finish in Austria, despite it not being his best or most favourable track. His teammate Charles Leclerc was forced to finish P8, a tough result with starting in P2, but with very little pace to keep up, there was not much that could be done.
The Racing Bulls pairing had a solid race in Austria, finishing P9 and P10. Liam Lawson was able to finish P9, even with concerns of fire very early on in the race, which seemed to dissipate. Arvid Lindblad was our final driver in the top 10, finishing P10. It was a quiet one for him, with very little going on around him, which allowed him to cruise home.
As mentioned in previous weeks, Audi appear to be showing their capability and starting to make a move. Both drivers had just missed out on a point scoring opportunity, finishing P11 for Gabriel Bortoleto and P12 for Nico Hulkenberg.
Alpine had a semi decent weekend. Whilst no points were scored, the potential is slowly getting there for the team. Pierre Gasly was extremely close to an overtake on Hulkenberg in the closing laps but could not get it done and would be forced to finish P13. Teammate Franco Colapinto was unluckier, given he was further back than Gasly and would be forced to settle for P15.
Oliver Bearman had quite a quiet race, keeping to himself and towards the end of the race, being over 20 seconds back from Pierre Gasly. Bearman would ultimately finish P14, with no major threats to his position at the tail end of the race, whilst teammate Esteban Ocon would struggle to keep up to P15 and be well over 30 seconds behind, resulting in a P16 finish.
The Williams of Alex Albon had a tough weekend. So far, the team has had some on and off race results. The weekend in Austria was an off race. Albon would finish P17, ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz who ultimately had to retire on lap 23 when the car lost all power and he was forced to stop on the main straight.
Aston Martin was having another one of those weekends. A tough result for Stroll who only got 45 laps complete before being forced to DNF, due to reliability issues regarding his car. His teammate Fernando Alonso was able to keep in the race, but would be a backmarker and 3 laps down on the field as a result finishing P18.
For Cadillac it was another underwhelming weekend, with a double DNF ending their race by lap 4. For Valtteri Bottas, his race was over by lap 2 due to a brake fire that forced him to DNF for the third consecutive retirement so far in the season. Sergio Perez was out by lap 4, also due to overheating brakes. It was a very difficult weekend for the team, given there was new upgrades, but even that couldn’t stop the teams' difficulties.
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