July 3, 2023
The Austrian Grand Prix saw the FIA on a power trip again. Hooray! As everyone got penalties for exceeding track limits and I complained about the Sprint race, the weekend became quite eventful. Here is your 2023 Austrian Grand Prix weekend recap:
Free-Practice: June 30, 2023
Due to the Sprint format of this race weekend, teams only had one practice session to test upgrades and determine their car set-up. Max Verstappen went fastest with the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc just behind him. Finishing so close to Red Bull is a good sign for the success of Ferrari’s upgrades. Mercedes’ performance was not as they had hoped it would be as Lewis Hamilton went P4 while George Russell only managed to go ninth fastest. Aston Martin was in a similar position with their drivers sixth and eighth. The Williams garage saw Logan Sargeant finish in P17 as he got accustomed to the new upgrades that have been equipped to his car. And Lando Norris, the only McLaren to have the massive upgrades package, went P20 because team spent so much time collecting data that they didn’t have time to set a flying lap.
Qualifying: June 30, 2023
The stewards really decided to enforce track limits this week and as a result, a whopping 47 lap times were deleted during Qualifying. I simply “adore” the FIA.
Q1:
The session was Red Flagged for Valtteri Bottas when he spun at Turn 1. Luckily the Finn was able to limp back to the pits and get his car fixed.
Nico Hulkenberg, Lando Norris, Sainz, Verstappen, Hamilton, Zhou Guanyu, Nyck de Vries, and Bottas were all among drivers who had their lap times deleted due to track limits.
Eliminated: Tsunoda (P16), Zhou (P17), Sargeant (P18), Magnussen (P19), De Vries (P20)
Yuki Tsunoda’s best time was deleted for track limits and the time left on the board was one that only got him P16.
Q2:
The track limits bonanza continued as Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, and Albon picked up more penalties.
Eliminated: Russell (P11), Ocon (P12), Piastri (P13), Bottas (P14), Perez (P15)
After his second lap was deleted, Perez went out for a final lap to get himself out of the drop zone. The time he set warranted a P2 but the stewards deleted his time again and Perez had to stick with the first time he set. This will be the fourth race in a row where the Red Bull driver has failed to get into Q3.
Mercedes has been lacking pace at this track, so Russell’s unusual Q2 exit doesn’t come as too much of a shock.
Q3:
Verstappen ended up taking pole with Leclerc 0.05s behind in P2 and Sainz in P3 after getting a lap time deleted. Norris qualified in P4 to give us a Carlando second row!
Sprint Shootout: July 1, 2023
The rain that we all know and love at the Austrian Grand Prix finally fell to give us quite the interesting Sprint Saturday. This started with the Sprint Shootout, which is a mini Qualifying session that sets the grid for the Sprint race.
SQ1:
SQ1 and SQ2 typically mandate the use of medium tires while SQ3 requires soft compound tires. However, the rain meant teams could choose whatever tire compound they wanted. Albon, Sargeant, and Oscar Piastri opted for intermediates while the rest of the field used slicks.
Sainz started the session with brake failure but got it fixed and went on to top the session.
Eliminated: Zhou (P16), Piastri (P17), Hamilton (P18), Bottas (P19), Sargeant (P20)
Hamilton’s shock SQ1 exit was a result of him not finding pace in his car.
SQ2:
Hulkenberg was investigated for a potential unsafe release in the pitlane but it didn’t amount to anything.
Eliminated: Albon (P11), Gasly (P12), Tsunoda (P13), De Vries (P14), Russell (P15)
Albon had his lap time deleted for track limits. Again.
Russell struggled with a hydraulic issue that didn’t even let him set a time in SQ2.
SQ3:
After weeks of waiting, Red Bull will finally get their front-row lockout as Verstappen clinched Pole position and Perez actually qualified P2. Perhaps Perez is getting his mojo back.
Norris continued his amazing performance and got P3 with Hulkenberg in P4 next to him.
The Ferraris qualified for the third row in P5 and P6, but a penalty given to Leclerc for impeding Piastri in SQ1 set him to start in P9.
Sprint: July 1, 2023
In the few hours between the Sprint Shootout and Sprint Race, the rain had come and gone. Still, the track was soaked at the beginning of the race and every driver started the race on intermediates. Bottas was originally fitted with mediums but after the formation lap, he pitted for inters and started the Sprint from the pit lane.
Perez had a better jump off the line but Verstappen fought back and retook the lead by the end of Lap 1. After Verstappen overtook Perez, the Mexican was left exposed and Hulkenberg swooped in to take P2. Much to my dismay, Norris had to brake to avoid getting hit by the fighting Red Bulls and went from P4 to P10. Meanwhile, Hamilton had an amazing first lap where he got up to P13 from P18.
About halfway through the race, Perez and Sainz finally managed to overtake Hulkenberg to take P2 and P3.
On Lap 16, Russell reported that conditions were becoming more suited to slicks and soon after, he pitted for softs. This prompted half of the grid to take the risk and pit for slicks with the knowledge that they would have less than ten laps to make up for the time lost in the stop. The Red Bulls, Sainz, Aston Martins, Alpines, Norris, and Bottas kept their inters and it paid off. Although the slicks were incredibly fast, there wasn’t enough time left in the race for those who pitted to catch the front-runners who didn’t.
At the end of the 24 laps, Verstappen won the Sprint with a 20 second lead from Perez and Sainz. Hulkenberg got an impressive P6 even after pitting for slicks, and Ocon took P7 in the photo-finish to his battle with Russell. Sadly, Norris was unable to maximize on his P3 start as he missed out on points with P9.
Race: July 2, 2023
After the Sprint, we had to think all the way back to Friday to remember the starting grid for Sunday’s Race. The only change made was Magnussen and De Vries starting in the pit lane due to changes made to their cars under parc ferme conditions. With the two starting last on the grid, this didn’t really have any effect on the race.
Everyone except Alonso, Bottas, and Magnussen started on medium compound tires. These three started on hards.
The start of this race was quite chaotic as Leclerc threatened Verstappen for the lead, Hamilton overtook Norris for P4, and contact with Ocon broke Tsunoda’s front wing. Bottas was also involved in this incident and a Safety Car was brought out when he lost grip into Turn 4, locked up, and slid off the track. This bought Tsunoda and Magnussen time to pit for repairs. On Lap 3, the Safety Car was brought in and Verstappen expertly kept his lead on the restart.
After the restart, Sainz started to pressure Leclerc from P3. The Spaniard was lapping faster times and wanted to be let through to have a go at Verstappen, but Ferrari told him not to fight his teammate and wait his turn. At the same time, Mercedes’ team radio showed Hamilton complaining that his car wouldn’t turn as Norris reported the Brit for violating track limits “everywhere”. Hamilton was later handed a 5-second penalty.
Haas’ amazing weekend sadly came to an end as Hulkenberg lost power and had to pull over on the side of the track. A Virtual Safety Car period was started and drivers took this as the opportunity to make their first round of pit stops. The Mercedes, Williams, Alpines, and McLarens all double stacked on the first lap of the VSC, and the Ferraris and Aston Martins pitted on the second lap. Aston Martin threw away their race here because they pitted Alonso early when he was on hards and timed it wrong so Stroll ended up losing more time because he exited the pitlane as the VSC ended. The short VSC ended with Verstappen leading Leclerc, Perez, Hamilton, Norris, and Sainz.
Sainz quickly made up positions to get back to the Top 3 as his teammate cut into Verstappen’s time. After struggling with tire degradation for a while, Verstappen finally pitted for hards on Lap 25 and came out in third, making it the first time in some 200 laps that Verstappen hadn’t led a race. His teammate, Sergio Perez, pitted for mediums one lap later. Verstappen quickly overtook Sainz for P2 and started closing in on Leclerc. Ten laps later, on Lap 35, he finally overtook Leclerc to retake the lead.
Norris’ fight with Hamilton finally came to a head when he overtook Hamilton for P5 around Lap 30. Meanwhile, the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri had front wing damage and pitted for a replacement, sending the Australian to the back of the field.
Around Lap 40, Norris, Russell, Albon, and Hamilton started off the second set of pit stops. Sainz followed on Lap 46 when he pitted for hards and served a penalty for exceeding track limits. Leclerc then pitted for hards and on Lap 50, Verstappen responded by pitting for mediums, using an opposite strategy from Leclerc. Perez pitted just after Verstappen and came out in P5.
With about twenty laps to go, Perez had to get past Norris, Sainz, and Leclerc to get a Red Bull 1-2 finish. The Mexican eased by Norris before getting stuck behind Sainz, who put up an incredible fight. After holding Perez up, Sainz finally conceded the position. Sainz had played the team game because he wasted enough for Perez’s time that the Red Bull couldn’t catch Leclerc for P2.
Leading the race by 23 seconds, Red Bull took a risk and pitted Verstappen for softs on Lap 69 to go for the fastest lap. The gamble payed off and Verstappen made it a clean sweep for the weekend, having topped every session, won the race, and taken the extra point for fastest lap. Leclerc got Ferrari back on the podium with P2 and Perez put an end to his slump with P3.
Throughout the race, the stewards continued to hand out penalties for exceeding track limits. After the fact, Aston Martin lodged a complaint with the FIA saying that many drivers who should have been penalized, weren’t. In response, the FIA handed out 12 more penalties that changed the finishing order around.
After this weekend, I think it’s safe to say the Great Stalemate has finally come to an end. I am pleased to have seen a Ferrari on the podium, a Lando P4 and proof that these McLaren upgrades actually work, a bad day at Mercedes, and a promising result for Williams. Although Williams didn’t score points, I think P11 and P13 are still pretty good considering the fact that we have four top teams that claimed eight of the ten points positions this weekend. The results of this weekend have not, however, swayed my opinion of Sprint races. I still think they are stupid, and with the amount of extra work they gave me to write this post, I don’t see myself becoming a fan of them any time soon.
I will be back later this week for the British Grand Prix!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1213/austria/practice-1.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1213/austria/sprint-shootout.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1213/austria/sprint-grid.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1213/austria/sprint-results.html
