Controversy, FIA incompetence or great points for Schumacher. What does Charles Leclerc’s victory mean for Ferrari?

Comment:: Formula 1 has already had its eleventh race of the season and it has shown a lot. Although Charles Leclerc won again, Ferrari are clearly still having reliability issues with their engines as Carlos Sainz’s car literally burned up. Hamilton walked onto the podium for the third time in a row, but the Austrian VC also hinted at some confused FIA decision making.

The Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring was won by Leclerc in a Ferrari ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton. And that’s after a really great performance.

If we subject the Austrian Grand Prix to our classic nitty-gritty, we find that this race has once again shown us a lot. And not just in terms of the form of the teams or the drivers themselves, but we’ll also look together at how the FIA’s decision making (again) brought confusion to the actual running of the race weekend.

Leclerc was able to enjoy victory again after three months

The Australian Grand Prix, the third round of the 2022 season, was the last time Leclerc would stand on the podium. It should be noted, the 24-year-old Monegasque could probably have celebrated more than once this season.

But in Monaco, he was robbed of victory by his own team’s strategy, and in Baku, he was knocked out by the technology of his Ferrari. Well, what happened at the last British Grand Prix is probably something every Formula 1 fan has read in several other posts.

Just like at Silverstone, Leclerc delivered an impressive performance at the Red Bull Ring in terms of race pace, which simply had to lead to victory. And probably no one deserved the victory in Austria more than Leclerc.

“I definitely needed this. The last five races have been incredibly difficult for me and for the team. And it’s incredible that we could finally show that we have the speed in the car and that we can do it. We have to push until the end, ” said the Ferrari driver in one of the post-race interviews, quoted by the Czech news server F1 Sport.

During the race, he outperformed Max Verstappen, who was struggling with his Red Bull, three times. However, due to a different team strategy, where Leclerc always found himself behind Verstappen on the pit lane exit after his pit stop, he managed to overtake him each time on the hard tyres.

Interestingly, this is also Leclerc’s first race that he has won without starting from pole position. It is also Ferrari’s first win in Austria since 2003, when Michael Schumacher triumphed. This victory has taken Leclerc to second in the drivers’ championship, but he is still 38 points behind leader Verstappen.

That’s not a horror loss, but despite the sweet victory, Ferrari fans will be aware of how close it would have been between the two drivers had Leclerc won at Monaco and Silverstone. Now, however, the Leclerc-led Italian team has no choice but to focus on the second half of the season and put the failed races behind them with more triumphs.

The reliability scarecrow or Ferrari and their technical problems

It probably could have been a certain double. On laps 50 and 51 both Ferrari drivers pitted, Leclerc not before, then Sainz after. Of course, they both dropped behind Verstappen after pit-stops, who regained the race lead.

But on lap 53, Leclerc completed his hat-trick, overtaking the reigning world champion for the third time in the race. And for good. However, Verstappen continued to be pulled back by Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari and with a fresher set of tyres and the Ferrari’s great pace, it would only be a matter of time before the Spanish driver would take second place.

But instead, the Italian stable’s fans witnessed a shocking and dangerous moment. For Sainz’s engine not only failed, but actually caught fire. The flames then made their way almost to the cockpit, but the track marshals managed to extinguish the whole thing relatively quickly.

As Sainz said afterwards, there was no indication during the Austrian Grand Prix that the Ferrari’s engine would collapse like that. Everything looked fine, he said.

Mattia Binotto subsequently stated at a press conference that although Ferrari is working hard to resolve the engine problems, they are still reportedly far from solving the reliability problem. To make matters worse, Leclerc complained of mechanical damage to the accelerator pedal in the Austrian Grand Prix.

According to him, the pedal simply would not return to zero position when depressed, making the end of the race very difficult for Leclerc. This explains the slight loss of pace from the very end of the Austrian Grand Prix. So they really have something to deal with in Maranello.

High tyre degradation, poor race pace for Verstappen

Ferrari, compared to Red Bull, simply drove superbly in Austria. It was all down to the tyres, or rather their degradation. The configuration of the Red Bull Ring simply ensures that tyre wear reaches a very high level every year.

After Saturday’s sprint, it looked like another Verstappen triumph. But as Red Bull boss Christian Horner himself noted at the press conference, the tyre degradation at race pace was higher than expected.

A frustrated Pérez, more controversy from the FIA

Track limits or the great saga continues. Indeed, for the 2022 season, the International Automobile Federation has set a clear definition that the white line will always determine the track limits, regardless of curbs or other concessions with regard to the configuration of other race circuits.

But in Austria, this has proved to be a big problem, and it could be said that the FIA’s decision-making often spoils Formula One races unnecessarily. After all, after FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem introduced various changes, one of the main ones being the appointment of two race directors, the FIA’s decision-making processes were simply in disarray.

And the Austrian Grand Prix was a prime example, or rather the course of the race weekend. We have written about Pérez’s situation before. However, to make a long story short, the FIA allowed Pérez into Q3 (the third part of the qualifying session – ed.) despite the violation of track limits, and only as a result of the subsequent investigation did they decide to delete all the Mexican driver’s times not only from Q3, but also his best time in Q2.

One thing is to follow the rules. That is, of course, without question. But there is another side of the coin – if a driver exceeds the set track limits, the FIA punishes it immediately. But this wasn’t the case, for one thing. And secondly, the result of the investigation also said that Pérez did not gain any time advantage by going off track. Plus, by running in Q3, he wore out the tyres he could have used in the sprint or the race.

So the question is, how logical and beneficial to racing was this decision by the FIA? And why, given the sprint format of the race weekend, did the FIA not set track limits in Friday’s free practice when the teams were collecting data?

In the race, four drivers – Lando Norris, Sebastian Vettel, Pierre Gasly and Kuan-yu Zhou – were penalised five seconds. Lewis Hamilton, Mick Schumacher, Lance Stroll and Sainz also received black and white flag warnings. A total of 48 times were deleted.

Penalty for George Russell or Another special FIA decision

The Red Bull Ring and Turn 4 – that’s a place where it’s very difficult to pass. On the first lap, Russell and Perez were battling it out with the former on the inside track. He hit the apex, or the centre of the corner, almost exactly as he should have, with the Red Bull driver next to him on the outside.

Given the way Turn 4 looms, the driver on the outside often pulls back in such battles, as a result of avoiding a potential collision. But the Mexican driver in Red Bull colours was keen to get ahead of Russell after the start of the race, hoping that this aggressive manoeuvre would work. But it didn’t, just like Albon’s in 2020.

Pérez was forced to go to his mechanics due to damage to his monoposto, whereupon he subsequently dropped hopelessly to last place. Red Bull then resorted to a conservative solution and withdrew their driver from the Austrian Grand Prix.

Russell incurred a five-second penalty for causing the accident. But could the talented British driver have done any better?

“I think it’s a harsh penalty. I braked as hard as I could and tried to make the best of it. I had Carlos (Sainz) in front of me and when I saw Checo (Pérez) coming on the outside and turning towards me, I knew we were going to collide,” Russell said in an interview with F1.

As far as racing lingo goes – “no room, don’t cram”. This is a statement that continues to be espoused by many drivers, including Fernando Alonso and former F1 driver Kimi Räikkönen.

Of course, Russell acknowledges that in such battles, the driver on the inside must leave some space for the driver on the outside of the corner. But, as the Mercedes driver added afterwards, there was little more he could do at that point. Objectively speaking, incidents like this are always very difficult to judge. But one can understand the outrage of Mercedes fans.

Nevertheless, Russell finished the Austrian Grand Prix in the same position from which he started the race, despite a five-second penalty. And that is fourth place.

More great points for Haas

The Austrian Grand Prix was the second race in a row where both drivers of the American team managed to finish on points. In Great Britain, Schumacher scored his first points by finishing eighth, with Kevin Magnussen rounding out the elite top ten.

And the son of the famous legend put in a really good performance at the Red Bull Ring. And perhaps more importantly, a sensible and healthy aggressive drive. The reward is a nice sixth place, Magnussen finished eighth in Austria.

These are very valuable points for Haas in the Constructors’ Cup as they move up to seventh ahead of AlphaTauri. The American team is currently 17 points behind sixth-placed Alfa Romeo.

It should be added, although Haas is still a little off the pace in the race, its cars were very fast on the straights. However, this was evidenced by the duel in Saturday’s sprint, when Schumacher fiercely defended his position against Hamilton.

A decent McLaren finish, with both Norris and Ricciardo finishing on points

So far, 2022 has not been a successful year for the British Woking stable. On the contrary. The Austrian Grand Prix was only the third event where both McLaren drivers finished on points. In terms of team success, the Australian Grand Prix was McLaren’s best yet, with Norris crossing the line fifth and Ricciardo sixth.

The other race where both drivers finished on points was Azerbaijan – Ricciardo eighth, Norris ninth. Oh, and in Austria, despite a horrendous qualifying session, McLaren showed decent damage limitation, with Norris capturing at least seventh and Ricciardo ninth.

Norris holds the same position in the drivers’ championship. In the Constructors’ Cup, he currently has the same number of points as fifth-placed Alpine – 81.

Hamilton on the podium for the third time in a row

Three third places in a row. The rising form of Mercedes is evident, especially in the performance of Lewis Hamilton. It should be noted that in the last two Grands Prix, the seven-time world champion also scored one extra championship point for the fastest lap of the race.

Hamilton is now within 19 points of Russell in the drivers’ championship. And if Mercedes not only maintains the set trend, but improves its car, we can look forward to a very interesting battle of the top three teams in the second half of the season.

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