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2022 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX WEEKEND RECAP

July 13, 2022

The Austrian Grand Prix was A LOT. There were a lot of penalties, overtakes, and great battles on track. It was a good weekend and I was quite pleased with the outcome. So, without further ado, here is the Austrian Grand Prix Weekend Recap!


Free-Practice 1: 7/8/2022

This weekend was a sprint weekend, meaning FP1 is especially important because it is the only practice session teams have before qualifying. They only had one hour to set up their cars and get them ready for the race.

  • Max Verstappen led the pack in P1 with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc following at 0.348s behind.

  • George Russell and Lewis Hamilton showed that the Mercedes has significant pace this weekend. Russell finished in P3 with only 0.05s between him and Leclerc, and Hamilton finished in P5.

  • It does not look like my McLarens will get a podium this weekend. Lando Norris stopped on the side of the track within the first twenty minutes of the session after technical problems caused smoke in his car. This brought out a red flag, but once they cleared his car the session started again. Since Norris was not able to set a good lap time, he was in P20 and Ricciardo’s time put him in P17.

Lando Norris after stopping on the side of the track during FP1

  • Haas is capable of getting another double points finish. Kevin Magnussen went P6 and Mick Schumacher went P9. Magnussen caused the second red flag of the session after running over the curbs at Turn 6 and dislodging sealant that sits between the track and the curb. It was easy enough to fix, so the session started back up soon. 


Qualifying: 7/8/2022

This week’s Qualifying session sets the grid for the Sprint race, not Sunday’s race. The results of the Sprint set the grid for Sunday’s race. While drivers and teams can use the Sprint to recover from poor qualifying positions, it is hard to do so because the Sprint is short. Most teams try their best to get good Qualifying positions so that they can improve even more during the Sprint and get a better grid spot than usual.

Q1:

  • The Ferraris led Q1 with Charles Leclerc in P1 and Carlos Sainz in P2. Max Verstappen followed behind and Fernando Alonso shocked us by going P4.

  • Knocked Out: Ricciardo (P16), Stroll (P17), Zhou (P18), Latifi (P19), Vettel (P20)

  • When the timer went out, Daniel Ricciardo was the Driver At Risk and Pierre Gasly was in the elimination zone. Gasly’s final flying lap got him into Q2 and pushed Ricciardo down into the elimination zone.

  • Both Aston Martins were eliminated in Q1 again. Lance Stroll managed to improve his lap time but it wasn’t enough and Sebastian Vettel’s final lap time was deleted for track limits.

Q2:

  • Charles Leclerc led Max Vestappen and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

  • Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schmuacher both qualified for Q3! Haas really seemed to have the pace this weekend.

  • Both Alpines got into Q3 as well! This is not good for me as a McLaren fan but it’s good for Alpine.

  • Knocked Out: Gasly (P11), Albon (P12), Bottas (P13), Tsunoda (P14), Norris (P15)

  • Pierre Gasly managed to improve his lap time in his final flying lap, but it wasn’t enough to get out of the elimination zone. He missed Q3 by 0.009s.

  • Lando Norris had three laps deleted for track limits, so he wasn’t able to set a time in Q2. On his radio, he said he kept running wide and exceeding track limits because he couldn't trust the car enough to brake where he needed to.

This was once instance where Lando Norris exceeded track limits

Q3:

  • There were two red flags and both were caused by Mercedes. The first was brought out when Lewis Hamilton caught a snap of oversteer at Turn 7 and went skidding into the gravel. He hit the barriers but managed to get out of the car and walk away. This led to Hamilton qualifying P10 for the Sprint.

Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barriers at Turn 7

  • Then, just as the first red flag ended, George Russell crashed his Mercedes and brought out another red flag. I think the Mercedes is capable of driving very fast and battling with the top teams, but it isn’t good enough to maintain enough downforce for the drivers to have complete control over the car when driving at such speeds. 

George Russell's crash during Q3

  • With two minutes left in the session, Carlos Sainz got provisional pole. However, Charles Leclerc managed to go faster with his final lap and Max Verstappen went even faster, taking pole position.

  • During Q2, Sergio Perez went wide at Turn 8 and the stewards decided to investigate this after Qualifying was over. Their investigation found that Perez had exceeded track limits so his Q2 lap time was deleted and this subsequently deleted all of his Q3 lap times. Even though Perez qualified P4, his deleted lap times dropped him down to P13.

This was the FIA throughout the race weekend. Everyone was getting their lap time deleted for exceeding track limits, but they didn’t even realize they were doing it.

  • After Perez’s penalty, George Russell got bumped up to P4 and Haas qualified P7 and P8. 


Free-Practice 2: 7/9/2022

  • Carlos Sainz went fastest with his teammate Charles Leclerc 0.05s behind in P2. Max Verstappen was then about one-tenth of a second behind Leclerc and the Alpines of Fernado Alonso and Esteban Ocon were P4 and P5.

  • Mercedes mechanics had to work very fast to repair the damage on both cars after the crashes in Q3. They only had six hours where they were allowed to work on the car, so the fact that they were able to fix the cars in time is impressive. Lewis Hamilton ended up joining FP2 in the last fourteen minutes after the team finished repairs and he went P9. George Russell’s time got him P7.


Sprint: 7/9/2022

  • The Sprint started with some confusion. As the drivers started their formation lap, Fernando Alonso stayed on the grid with his tire warmers on. The Alpine mechanics had to wheel him back to the pits and from there, Alonso was retired from the Sprint before it even started. It’s sad because Alonso had a good qualifying and was starting in P9, so he might have been able to get some points.

In this picture, you can see the tire warmers on Fernando Alonso's car. He can't drive with these on, so he couldn't start during the formation lap of the Sprint. 

  • The other nineteen drivers had no problems in the formation lap and got situated on the grid. However at the final corner, Zhou stopped because his car momentarily lost power. He was able to fix it on his own, but because he was unable to get back to his spot on the grid, he had to start the race from the pit lane. Another formation lap was held to put the cars into their new grid order and Zhou went to the pit lane. 

Zhou Guanyu stopped on his way to the grid after his car lost power

  • After all of that confusion, Max Verstappen was finally able to get his race start and covered off both Ferraris in Lap 1. 

  • Lewis Hamilton made contact with Pierre Gasly on the way down to Turn 1, sending Pierre Gasly spinning. The contact mirrored the way Gasly hit Russell in Silverstone, so it was as if Hamilton was getting payback for his teammate. 

Gasly went spinning after making contact with Hamilton

  • On Lap 6, Carlos Sainz tried to pass his teammate Charles Leclerc but was unsuccessful. The Sprint was a battle between the two Ferrari cars as Max Verstappen drove off to extend his lead. I was screaming at the TV because if the Ferraris crashed, it would be even worse than losing to Verstappen.

  • Sergio Perez had to start the Sprint from P13 after exceeding track limits during Q2. However, that didn’t stop him. Perez fought his way through the pack in twenty-three laps and went from P13 to P5.

  • Mick Schumacher gave us some amazing racing in his battle with Lewis Hamilton. Schumacher’s teammate Kevin Magnussen was in the position just ahead of Schumacher, so he stayed back to give Schumacher DRS. This helped Schumacher in his defense against Hamilton until Lap 22, when Schumacher was finally overtaken. 

Magnussen and Schumacher worked together to defend Hamilton

  • The McLarens recovered from their poor qualifying. Lando Norris went from P15 to P11 and Daniel Ricciardo went from P16 to P12. 

  • Alex Albon finished the Sprint in P13, but a five second penalty for forcing Lando Norris off the track bumped him down to P16. 

  • AlphaTauri has been struggling this weekend, with Pierre Gasly finishing the Sprint in P15 and Yuki Tsunoda finishing in P17. 

  • Alex Albon made contact with the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, leading him to spin into the gravel and limp back to the pits to retire the car from damage.


Race: 7/10/2022

  • Max Verstappen got a good start but Charles Leclerc managed to stay close behind. Leclerc put pressure on Verstappen until Lap 12, when he went down the inside of a turn and overtook Verstappen. Then on Lap 27, he lost the lead when he pitted for new tires but he managed to retake the lead on Lap 33. Verstappen didn’t put up a fight this time because he knew that the Ferrari had more pace than his Red Bull. At that point, Verstappen knew that his fight was for P2. On Lap 51, Leclerc pitted again and lost the lead to Verstappen. Within two laps, he retook the lead. 

Verstappen and Leclerc had quite a few battles during the Austrian Grand Prix

  • On Lap 57, the engine of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari caught on fire. He was in P3 and closing in on Verstappen when his engine couldn’t take it anymore and blew. This led to Sainz retiring from the race, letting Lewis Hamilton, who had come from P8 to P4, into P3 to get a third consecutive podium.

Carlos Sainz jumped out of his car as it lit on fire and rolled down a hill. It was scary, but luckily he was able to walk away from the incident.

  • Just after Sainz’s retirement, Leclerc started reporting that his throttle pedal was getting stuck. This scared everyone because his teammate’s car had just had mechanical issues. In the end, Leclerc struggled but he made it past the checkered flag to win the race. Verstappen had managed to close in during the final laps but he was still 2.3s behind at the end of the race. 

  • George Russell and Sergio Perez made contact on Lap 1 of the race, leading Perez to retire a few laps later due to damage and giving Russell a five-second time penalty. This put Russell from P4 down to P12, but he was able to fight his way through the pack to make it back up to P4. He managed to finish the race where he started. 

George Russell and Sergio Perez were very close before Russell hit Perez and sent him spinning into the gravel

  • On Lap 25, Zhou Guanyu, Mick Schumahcer, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, and Lando Norris were all fighting each other for P8. “The Quintet”, as Crofty called it, gave us some epic racing.

"THE QUINET"

  • Mick Schumacher got Driver of the Day for the first time in his career and Haas got their second double points finish in a row! It was a great weekend for Haas.

  • Although Lando Norris was given a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, McLaren still had a double points finish. Daniel Ricciardo finished in P9 and Norris was in P7. The stewards were really big on enforcing track limits in this race. Everyone was being given warnings and time penalties for exceeding track limits, and during qualifying many lap times were deleted. 

  • Sebastian Vettel caught the short end of the stick again, finishing in P17 after picking up damage from a collision with Pierre Gasly. Gasly was given a penalty for the collision. This is the second time during the weekend where another driver made contact with Vettel.

Gasly turned in on Vettel and caused a collision

  • Nicholas Latifi retired from the race after suffering damage to his floor. Williams decided to retire him and preserve his engine instead of just running the car when they knew they wouldn’t be able to improve their position. 


Honorable Mentions:

  • The Austrian Grand Prix always has fans bringing all of their Max Verstappen merch and orange smoke machines. However, this year was insane. The seas of orange were huge and there were parts of the track where it seemed like drivers were just driving through orange smoke. 

Look at all the orange!

  • Sebastian Vettel has always been outspoken about his passion for taking care of the planet and sustainability. He has created charity bee hotels, stayed after races to pick up trash left by spectators, and used his influence in a very positive manner. During the Austrian Grand Prix, he had a helmet to honor his partnership with an Austrian organization that helps conserve bees and supports their habitats.

  • There has been a lot of talk about whether or not Nicholas Latifi will get a contract extension this year. His contract is up at the end of the 2022 F1 season, and if it isn’t extended, he won’t have a spot in F1 for 2023. He has worked hard for Williams in the time that he has been in F1, but this season his teammate has outperformed him by a landslide. There have been rumors about Williams signing Alpine reserve driver Oscar Piastri instead of Latifi for 2023. I think this could be a possibility. Piastri is an incredible driver and I’m sure he is at the top of the list when teams look for a new driver. I have a feeling that he might replace Latifi at Williams. 


That was the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix for you. It was a very eventful weekend, but I would say we got the outcomes we wanted. Charles Leclerc finally won a race again and now he’s back to fighting Max Verstappen for the championship. Leclerc is thirty-eight points behind Verstappen, so hopefully he can retake the lead within the next few races. Mick Schumacher has finally gotten his points and now he’s in beast mode. He’s battling world champions and defending beautifully. I think he just needed the extra boost of confidence that the points in Silverstone gave him. McLaren is still in a rough patch with their unpredictable race performance, but I have faith in them. They will be back to being a successful McLaren team again. Mercedes has established themselves as a podium-sitting team. They have had P3 in the last three races, and I don’t see that pace stopping anytime soon. I don’t think they are going to win the championship, but their drivers will probably keep giving the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers a run for their money on the track. 


That’s all for this race! I will be back for the French Grand Prix on July 24.


~ Divya

Where I got these

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Pictures:

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