2019 drivers’ mid-season report cards

Posted on by James Mackenzie

We’re (just over) halfway through the season, so it seems a good time to recap the year and see how everyone has done.

Lewis Hamilton

1st | Pts: 250 | Wins: 8 | Podiums: 10 | Poles: 4 | FL: 2 | Ret: 0

Lewis Hamilton just keeps on winning. Eight of the first twelve races have ended in that familiar combination of the British and German national anthems. That takes him up to 81 Grand Prix victories and suddenly he is just 10 shy of what had, until recently, seemed an unassailable record.

Valtteri Bottas has been closer to him in qualifying this year but Hamilton has generally been setting the car up for races and perhaps that is why he now has a commanding championship lead of 62 points. He is well on his way to a sixth world championship. All that denies him an A+ was that rare off day whilst ill in Hockenheim.

Highlight: Holding on with ancient tyres for an emotional win in Monaco.

Lowlight: Uncharacteristic mistakes from driver and team in Germany.

Grade: A

Valtteri Bottas

2nd | Pts: 188 | Wins: 2 | Podiums: 9 | Poles: 4 | FL: 2 | Ret: 1

Bottas came back from the winter break with a new beard and a steely determination. That brought about the notion of ‘Bottas 2.0’ and the Finn backed it up with a comfortable victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. A few more strong performances followed and he was keeping his world champion teammate honest but, since Monaco, things have started to slip away from him.

Hamilton slowly but surely eked out a championship lead and then, just as Mercedes are deciding who gets the second seat next year, Bottas has had a couple of shockers. He crashed out in Germany when he had an excellent chance to gain points on Hamilton and then had a clumsy start at the Hungarian Grand Prix which left him having to recover from last place. And suddenly he is far closer to third than first in the standings. Will he be far lower in the standings at a different team next year?

Highlight: Redemption in Baku after last year’s heartbreak.

Lowlight: That costly crash at the Hockenheimring.

Grade: B

Sebastian Vettel

4th | Pts: 156 | Wins: 0 (Best: 2nd) | Podiums: 6 | Poles: 1 | FL: 1 | Ret: 0

Sebastian Vettel has had a tough year. A string of issues have plagued him all the way back to that fateful rainy day in Hockenheim last year and this season started similarly. With errors whilst under pressure, most notably in Bahrain and Canada, leaving people questioning whether he has cracked, if he is thinking of retirement, etc. A new, young, hungry, and most importantly fast, teammate is testing his resolve too.

He has managed to enter the summer break on a more positive note, however, with strong podiums in Germany and Hungary. And it’s worth remembering he has generally been ahead of Charles Leclerc in the standings all year too. He will need to end a run of being outqualified by the young Monegasque soon though.

Highlight: Laying to rest his Hockenheim demons with a drive from last to second place.

Lowlight: The highly controversial penalty that cost him a win in Canada.

Grade: C+

Charles Leclerc

5TH | PTS: 132 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 2ND) | PODIUMS: 5 | POLES: 2 | FL: 2 | RET: 2

The start of Leclerc’s Ferrari career has been something of a rollercoaster ride but, so far, the downs have been far more excruciating than the ups have been euphoric. A win in only his second race for Ferrari was cruelly taken away by a mechanical error in the final few laps. A strategy error meant he was knocked out of Q1 at his home race and then crashed as he tried too hard to force overtakes on race day. And then Max Verstappen rudely barged his way through to snatch another victory away in Austria.

But he has shown some real speed and, since changing his approach after the Canadian GP, has outqualified Vettel five times in a row. He just needs to iron out the mistakes which, whilst understandable from someone in only their second season of F1, you can’t be making at the front of the grid.

Highlight: A fantastic duel with Verstappen at Silverstone and a podium at the end of it.

Lowlight: Either win that was snatched away but Bahrain was probably the more agonising.

Grade: B-

Max Verstappen

3rd | PTS: 181 | WINS: 2 | PODIUMS: 5 | POLES: 1 | FL: 3 | RET: 0

Arguably the star of 2019 so far, Verstappen is having a fantasic year. He has picked up where he left off last year in terms of performance and seems to be relishing his new role as de facto team leader. Dramatic wins in Austria and Germany, along with impressive consistency, have seen him close in on Bottas and he is now in an unlikely battle for second in the championship.

This has led to debate over whether he is the best driver in the sport right now. I think that is a little premature. He is in excellent form at the moment but we have to see him over the course of a high-pressure title battle at the very top before he can seriously be compared to Hamilton and potentially argued as the best. Nonetheless, he will be getting the only A+ in this report.

Highlight: Both wins were showstoppers but the Austria comeback was paricularly impressive.

Lowlight: Being punted out by Vettel at Silverstone.

Grade: A+

Pierre Gasly

6th | PTS: 63 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4th) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 2 | RET: 2

Whilst I have been writing up this report card, the news has broken that Pierre Gasly has been demoted. And sadly, it has not come up as much of a surprise (despite Red Bull’s repeated assurances that he would see out the season with them). Being promoted to Red Bull in only your second full season and coming up against an in-form Verstappen is an unenviable task. But it has to be said that Gasly has been embarrassingly off the pace.

Consistently a second per lap slower than this teammate in qualifying and races; even being lapped by him in Austria and Hungary. He showed potential last year so where has it gone? Maybe it’s just a lack of confidence that has spiralled out of control. This demotion is unlikely to help with that if so…

Highlight: Silverstone looked like it might have been a breakthrough and resulted in 4th.

Lowlight: But it wasn’t. And at the next race he drove into the back of a Toro Rosso to boot.

Grade: D-

Daniel Ricciardo

11TH | PTS: 22 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 4

Ever since breaking his front wing a few metres into the first race of the year, Daniel Ricciardo’s move to Renault has proven to be pretty frustrating. The team have not only failed in their goal of closing the gap to the top three teams but have, in fact, dropped behind McLaren and are now battling for fifth. The Aussie has experienced similar engine blow-ups as he did with Red Bull’s Renault engine last season and it is thoroughly testing his ever-cheery persona.

He does, at least, seem to have improved his understanding of the car – having struggled initially to adapt – and is now regularly outpacing his teammate. But surely the Honey Badger is currently questioning his move somewhat.

Highlight: Qualifying fourth in Canada, Renault’s highest grid position since 2010.

Lowlight: Another mechanical failure in Germany costing him the chance of an upset.

Grade: C+

Nico Hülkenberg

14TH | PTs: 17 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 7TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 3

What or whoever cursed Nico Hülkenberg, did so very thoroughly. This year’s German GP looked like being his best chance of a long overdue podium but yet again it wasn’t to be, as he slid agonisingly into the barriers whilst very much in contention.

His reputation is in some danger too. After a strong start to the year, he now seems to be a little slower than Ricciardo most weekends. This, combined with a lack of the consistency he has generally been renowned for, has meant that rather than being a name mentioned in regards to available front-running seats, he is now fighting to hold on to his Renault seat. A few eye-catching performances straight after the summer break certainly wouldn’t go amiss.

Highlight: A strong run to seventh in the first race of the year.

Lowlight: That crash in Germany costing another chance at a podium.

Grade: C

Romain Grosjean

17TH | PTS: 8 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 7TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 6

It has been another error-strewn season for Romain Grosjean. From repeated clashes with his teammate to spinning at the pit exit during a practice session, these are incidents that a driver of his experience shouldn’t be making; certainly not with this frequency.

He certainly still has a flash of speed on his day and the fact that he was proven right with regards to his idea to revert back to the Australia-spec Haas car helps his cause. But there were questions over his seat last year and surely Guenther Steiner will be assessing his options again.

Highlight: Having his suspicions that the car had actually become worse proven right.

Lowlight: Immediately spinning into the barriers at the pit exit during Practice 1 in Britain.

Grade: D

Kevin Magnussen

13TH | PTS: 18 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

This year, Kevin Magnussen has generally been qualifying very well but then suffering from Haas’s non-existent race pace and coming out of the weekend without much to show for his efforts.

He has also, obviously, been on the other end of those inter-team collisions with Grosjean, though, which haven’t helped. The fault has generally laid somewhere between 50/50 and Magnussen and he continues to not make many friends out on the track. Not that he seems to care. His outright speed is currently keeping him in an F1 seat but, at some point, surely he’ll have to ask himself if there isn’t another way when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing. Particularly with your teammate.

Highlight: Starting the season with a strong sixth-place finish in Australia.

Lowlight: The collision with Grosjean at Silverstone taking out both cars.

Grade: C

Carlos Sainz

7TH | PTS: 58 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 5TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

Could this be the year that Carlos Sainz truly shows what he is made of? After a year of not getting to grips with the Renault car, many people seemed to have forgotten that Sainz was pretty evenly-matched with Verstappen during their respective rookie years. But this year, he is revelling in his new role as team leader at McLaren and heads into the summer break as ‘best of the rest’.

After an overeager move around Verstappen in Bahrain cost him a haul of points, Sainz has gone on an impressively consistent run and finished the first half of the season with consecutive fifth-place finishes. He will need to address qualifying, however, where his rookie teammate has generally had the edge.

Highlight: The fifth place in Hungary that had him singing ‘Smooth Operator’.

Lowlight: Forgetting how few prisoners Verstappen takes in Bahrain and costing himself dearly.

Grade: A-

Lando Norris

10TH | PTS: 24 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 4

Lando Norris has had more than his share of bad luck in the first 12 races of his F1 career but, nonetheless, he has made quite the impression. He got into Q3 in his first ever qualifying session – something not achieved in a McLaren since Fernando Alonso in Monaco last year. He then finished sixth in the next race. An 8-4 lead in qualifying over his more experienced teammate is also particularly impressive.

The significant points deficit to Sainz is fairly unrepresentative. Whilst the Spaniard has been excellent, the youngster in the sister car has lost many points through no fault of his own; two mechanical failures, a poorly-timed safety car and a slow pit stop, all coming whilst he was running between sixth and eighth. But he has remained positive and even made memes out of most of his misfortune. The teenager from Somerset is a breath of fresh air in the sport and appears to have the speed to indicate that he’ll be around for some time.

Highlight: Sixth place in only his second ever race.

Lowlight: Getting unlucky with a safety car at his home GP when on for a good result.

Grade: B+

Sergio Pérez

16TH | PTS: 13 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

Normally, by this point of the season, Sergio Pérez would have managed to grab himself an unlikely podium somewhere. But this year, the car appears to have taken a step back and he hasn’t had that bit of luck he often manages to find – indeed, he was the first to spin out in Germany and his teammate nearly grabbed a podium.

After a reasonably promising start to the season, Pérez hasn’t scored a point since Azerbaijan back in April, generally finishing every race just outside the points in 11th or 12th. An update in Germany seems to have improved the Racing Point so the Mexican will hope to score some points and get back ahead of his less experienced teammate in the championship.

Highlight: Qualifying fifth and then holding on to sixth in Azerbaijan.

Lowlight: A clumsy spin in the German rain ending his chances in his type of Grand Prix.

Grade: C-

Lance Stroll

12TH | PTS: 18 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

Lance Stroll may be the higher Racing Point driver in the championship but he owes that to an inspired (and slightly lucky, obviously) strategy gamble in Germany. It left him briefly leading the race, having been running near the back of the field previously. He couldn’t quite hold on for a podium but fourth place tripled his points tally.

Stroll has held up his reputation for starting races very well but much of that is down to his awful qualifying record. He is 12-0 down against Pérez and has only managed to get out of Q1 on one occasion. That is something he will really have to improve upon to be taken more seriously in the paddock.

Highlight: Suddenly, incredibly finding himself leading a Grand Prix in Germany.

Lowlight: Staring down the barrel of a qualifying whitewash at the start of the summer break.

Grade: C-

Kimi Räikkönen

8TH | PTS: 31 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 7TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 0

Is Kimi Räikkönen back to his best again, free from the spotlight at Ferrari and back to just enjoying racing? Or have Alfa Romeo built a great car and Antonio Giovinazzi just isn’t up to it? It’s hard to say what Räikkönen’s renaissance is down to but he is driving very well and with fantastic consistency.

His recent years at Ferrari weren’t a total failure but he rarely hooked up a qualifying lap and was normally a bit shy of the frontrunners. This year, about to turn 40, he has been comfortably ahead of Giovinazzi in qualifying and the races, picking up steady points and finds himself only a couple of positions lower in the championship than he often was in a Ferrari. There’s life in the old dog yet.

Highlight: Bwoah, who knows? It was all okay.

Lowlight: See above.

Grade: B+

Antonio Giovinazzi

18TH | PTS: 1 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 10TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

It has all just been very underwhelming from Giovinazzi, sadly. He has now managed his first point in the sport, at least, but generally it’s all been races spent thoroughly in no man’s land. Honestly, it’s difficult to even make up two short paragraphs regarding his season thus far. So, I won’t.

Highlight: A first point in Austria.

Lowlight: Having eighth in Germany taken away after a 30-second post-race penalty.

Grade: D

Daniil Kvyat

9TH | PTS: 27 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 3RD) | PODIUMS: 1 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

The torpedo has returned. And in style, with Toro Rosso’s first podium in over a decade at the German GP. The rest of the year so far has been pretty solid, although he has been bested by his rookie teammate more often than he would probably like.

He’ll also likely be frustrated to be passed up for the Red Bull seat – we will see when we return from the summer break. But he appears to just be enjoying being back in F1 after a rollercoaster few years.

Highlight: An unlikely podium on the same weekend that his first child was born.

Lowlight: Missing out on a Red Bull seat again; another dip in his Red Bull rollercoaster.

Grade: B-

Alexander Albon

15TH | PTS: 16 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

It has been a convincing start to Alexander Albon’s career, having come into the sport without much hype and off the back of only third in last year’s F2 championship. But, suddenly, he is about to be thrust very much into the spotlight with a move to Red Bull to partner Max Verstappen…only 12 races into said career.

It’s a hell of an ask. He has seemed pretty unflappable thus far, however, consistently scoring points and showing good wheel-to-wheel ability in a four-corner side-by-side battle with Kvyat in Hungary. Time will tell if this move is too soon for him.

Highlight: A strong eighth place in his first Monaco GP.

Lowlight: Perhaps not being the Toro Rosso on the podium in Germany – he had the chance.

Grade: B-

Robert Kubica

19TH | PTS: 1 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 10TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 0

Robert Kubica’s return has not been quite the fairy-tale story that many had hoped for. The Williams has been, of course, a long way off the rest of the pace but generally Kubica has also been a fair way off the pace of his teammate. There have been rumours regarding whether the drivers have equal machinery but, after swapping chassis, it would appear the Pole sadly just doesn’t have the pace.

He did at least claim the unlikeliest of points in Germany to have something to show for what is nonetheless an incredible comeback, nearly a decade after a near-fatal injury. We must not forget the man is basically driving with one hand.

Highlight: A points-finish in Germany in a car that seemed unlikely ever to achieve one.

Lowlight: Consistently driving round in last place, being lapped two or three times.

Grade: D+

George Russell

20TH | PTS: 0 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 11TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 0

George Russell is now the only driver without a point but that is far from the story of his impressive debut season thus far. Whilst Kubica is an unknown quantity since his return, Russell has frankly destroyed him. 12-0 in qualifying and 10-2 on Sunday. And beating your teammate is about all you can do in a car so off the pace as this year’s Williams.

The car did get an update in Hungary and Russell very nearly dragged the car miraculously into Q2. Last year’s F2 champion would appear to have a very bright future ahead of him.

Highlight: That Hungarian qualifying lap. 16th in this Williams is stunning.

Lowlight: Missing out on a point in Germany.

Grade: A-

Red Bull pull the ol’ switcheroo again

Posted on by James Mackenzie

Rule One: The Doctor lies.

I’m not exactly a Doctor Who fan, but I am aware of that as a reference. And it also applies in Formula 1…at least when referring to Dr Helmut Marko.

Less than two weeks ago, Dr Marko ruled out replacing Pierre Gasly mid-season, stating that he would be remaining with the Red Bull team for the rest of 2019. But that is exactly what has happened today. Gasly will be demoted back to Toro Rosso to partner Daniil Kvyat – a man very familiar with that feeling – and replaced by Alexander Albon at Red Bull from the Belgian Grand Prix.

That is a very early promotion for Albon. He is just 12 races into his Formula 1 career and suddenly faces the daunting prospect of switching teams mid-season into a race-winning car and being compared with an in-form Max Verstappen on the other side of the garage. This is a young man who was dropped entirely from the Red Bull programme in 2012 and who only really got his chance this year thanks to Red Bull’s pool of junior prospect drying up.

There is logic behind the decision, however. Gasly has badly underperformed, obviously, and Kvyat is a known quantity to Red Bull management, so why not give the new guy a shot? Albon has been performing well in his debut season and, as the official statement points out, “Red Bull are in the unique position of having four talented Formula 1 drivers under contract who can be rotated between Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso. The team will use the next nine races to evaluate Alex’s performance in order to make an informed decision as to who will drive alongside Max in 2020.”

The four Red Bull drivers.

Red Bull have little to lose. If Albon doesn’t cut it then – being brutally honest – he’s unlikely to be that true star driver. Sink or swim situations are where the ‘generational’ talents thrive – think Verstappen winning his first race for Red Bull or Lewis Hamilton’s rookie season, pitted against the reigning double world champion Fernando Alonso. And if he does well then they have pulled off a master stroke and stand a far better chance of beating Ferrari to second in the Constructors’ Championship this year. That is the main motivator behind this change – it was evident in Christian Horner’s comments after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Should we feel sorry for Gasly?

He is by all accounts a lovely guy and he was probably unlucky to be thrust into the big team so early, after Daniel Ricciardo‘s shock move to Renault. But Formula 1 is cut-throat; Red Bull Racing particularly so. Perhaps he will recuperate at Toro Rosso and come back stronger – he certainly showed promise last year and, between Kvyat and Robert Kubica, this has already been a year for comebacks. Or he may take it the way Kvyat took his demotion in 2016 and mentally struggle to deal with the setback. Time will tell; I hope it’s the former.

Spare a thought for Kvyat, too, as he can now add ‘passed up for the job’ to his long list of grievances through his Red Bull rollercoaster.

‘Silly season’ has now officially started. Over to you, Mercedes…

2019 Hungarian GP report | Hamilton stages comeback to snatch victory

Posted on by James Mackenzie
The Hamilton-Verstappen duel we’ve all been waiting for.
Lewis Hamilton celebrates winning the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Image credit: AP

Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team produced a tale of redemption, after their messy weekend in Germany, to take a dramatic late victory at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen had continued his excellent recent form to pip both Mercedes drivers – Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas – for his first ever pole position on Saturday. He then just about survived with the lead intact to the first corner, despite running three-wide with Hamilton and Bottas, and from there it looked his race to lose on a track where it is notoriously difficult to overtake.

Behind him, the two Mercedes battled through the first few corners. Bottas did so clumsily though, locking up twice and then clipping his front wing first against the rear tyre of his teammate and then that of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Both escaped without punctures but Bottas’s wing was damaged to the extent that he was forced to pit for a replacement and would emerge in last place, with a long race ahead of him.

The top two of Verstappen and Hamilton steadily pulled away from the Ferrari pair; it becoming apparent fairly quickly that this was to be a two-horse race. At first there was something of stalemate but as Verstappen’s tyres began to fade, Hamilton closed up to the back of the Dutchman and forced Red Bull to pit him early on lap 25, as they feared a pit stop by Mercedes would produce an ‘under-cut’ and give Hamilton the lead. Mercedes stretched the championship-leader’s first stint as far as they could – for another six laps – with the hope of fresher tyres at the end of the race. Hamilton rejoined and immediately closed the gap; a six-second lead gone in just over three laps.

Thus ensued the duel that Formula 1 fans have been craving for a long time. Of course, the two drivers have battled for position on track before, but it has rarely been in closely-matched cars and, generally, Hamilton has been very cautious – looking at the bigger picture of his own title fights and knowing Verstappen’s tendency to take no prisoners. But here, it was different. Hamilton has a far more comfortable lead in the championship and, at this point, his closest competitor is arguably Verstappen. So he went for it. Specifically around the outside of the deceptively tight Turn Four, at 150 mph over a blind crest. He nearly pulled it off too but for a snap of oversteer which sent him wide into the run-off area.

The first four corners of that lap were captivating, with excellent attacking and defensive driving from the two. But now, it was the turn of the Mercedes strategy team to excel.

With no threat to their second place coming from behind, they decided to roll the dice and pit Hamilton for a set of medium tyres, hoping he could claw back the 20-second gap in the remaining 22 laps as Verstappen’s tyres aged. For a while, it looked overly ambitious, with the gap still at over 15 seconds seven laps later, but then Hamilton turned it on and Verstappen’s tyres faded badly; the gap suddenly decreasing by more than 1.5 seconds per lap. By the time Hamilton had reached the back of the Red Bull, there was little Verstappen could do to defend. There was to be no repeat of the dramatics from earlier and Hamilton neatly swept around the outside of Turn One with a little under four laps remaining and claimed his eighth victory of 2019.

A totally different race to the chaos in Germany but certainly still an enthralling one – plenty of action, interesting strategies and nail-biting tension at the front. Formula 1 enters its summer break on a high.

Ferrari Finish Third But Now Have the Third Quickest Car

Ferrari were always likely to struggle in Budapest but will be disappointed to have finished a full minute behind the leader. This was a track that in recent years has very much suited their car, with its downforce and speed through slow corners, but this year’s machine has almost the exact opposite traits. They now have a significant straight-line advantage but are somewhat hopeless in slow to mid-speed corners. And whilst Red Bull have made impressive progress in reducing the gap to Mercedes, Ferrari have faltered.

Image credit: Callo Albanese

They were left to their own private race for the final step on the podium and it was Sebastian Vettel who used a similar strategy to Hamilton’s to catch and pass his younger teammate a couple of laps from the end. An impressive 39-lap stint on the medium tyres left the German able to switch to the softs for the remainder of the race and reel in Leclerc on similarly fading tyres to Verstappen’s at the front.

It was continuation of Vettel’s recent upturn in form and/or luck but he will be fully aware that there is a long way to go for the team. They found themselves with clearly the third quickest car this weekend. That is something that will provide some embarrassment at Maranello – this was supposed to be their year, remember? And Red Bull were supposed to be in a rebuilding phase as they acclimatised to a Honda engine.

At least the races after the summer break will present an opportunity for the Scuderia, with Spa and Monza both heavily reliant on straight-line speed. And oh how the Tifosi could do with a victory at home right now…

Pressure Mounts on Bottas and Gasly

With ‘silly season’ in full swing and lots of rumours swirling regarding their seats, both Bottas and Pierre Gasly could have done with a solid race heading into the summer break. But neither managed one.

Toto Wolff has now openly admitted that it is a straight choice between Bottas and Esteban Ocon – the Mercedes reserve driver, waiting in the wings after missing out on a seat this year – and that the Mercedes management will be using the summer to weigh up their options. But the Finn made a less-than-compelling case in Hungary. Fortunate not to wreck both Mercedes cars’ races with that early contact, he certainly damaged his own and then did a somewhat average job of working his way through the field, eventually being held behind Kimi Räikkönen’s Alfa Romeo for an underwhelming eighth place finish.

The Mercedes at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Image credit: Motorsport Images

His mental state after that mistake in Germany was dicussed; did that play a part in his sloppy performance on Sunday? Either way, that would appear to be his championship hopes all but over. Potentially his Mercedes career too.

Meanwhile, at Red Bull, Gasly is a driver under even more pressure. He has been given more time than probably any other driver in Red Bull’s history when performing so badly but now, after once again being lapped by his teammate and failing to pass a McLaren, is that time up?

Helmut Marko had announced very recently that Gasly would stay on for the remainder of the season but there was a pointed shift in the comments made by both himself and team principal Christian Horner after this race. Horner stating that “we shouldn’t be racing Saubers [sic] and McLarens”. The issue being that Gasly’s lack of performance noticeably cost them this weekend – a driver closer to Verstappen’s level should have been within 20 seconds of Hamilton and would then have prevented the strategy that won Mercedes the race.

With Red Bull now legitimately challenging Ferrari for second in the Constructors’ Championship, every point counts. And Gasly is not providing many unfortunately.

Sainz and McLaren Continue to Impress

Image credit: McLaren F1

Speaking of the McLarens, the fact is that they are racing with Gasly…and winning. Once again, they punched above their weight, running comfortably in fifth and sixth until Lando Norris was again unlucky with a slow pit stop, on a track that they thought might cause them problems. Norris recovered well through the field to earn a couple of points at least in ninth, whilst Carlos Sainz finished fifth for the second successive race and is now only five points behind Gasly in the standings.

McLaren have thoroughly embarrassed Renault – comfortably outperforming them with their own engine and doing so in a season where the French team were aiming to close the gap to the top three. And, after struggling with the Renault car somewhat last year, Sainz is really showing his quality and consistency in 2019. It’s worth remembering that he generally matched Verstappen in their year together at Toro Rosso.

A word also for Williams, who seem to have had something of a breakthrough with their understanding of their car, and particularly George Russell. The young Briton narrowly missed out on claiming a spot in Q2 – a feat which would have seemed unthinkable prior to the weekend – and then finished ahead of Lance Stroll and Antonio Giovinazzi on legitimate pace on Sunday. In doing so, he is ensuring that his name is at least mentioned in regards to that Mercedes seat, even if Toto Wolff – probably correctly – thinks it is a little early for him.

The Hungarian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

Answering the Burning Questions

Surely the upward curve of increasingly dramatic races can’t continue?! Well, the curve maybe didn’t continue upwards but I wouldn’t say it went particularly downwards either.

Can Bottas mentally recover from his costly crash in Germany? A good performance on Saturday but come Sunday, it would appear maybe not.

Will his performance last race prove to be a turning point for Vettel? Quite possibly. Time will tell but it was another better weekend for him.

Can Verstappen continue his good form and head into the summer break as an outsider for the title? He certainly continued his good form. The title looks maybe a taller order than it did prior to Sunday but he’s an outside bet nonetheless.

Will we get the Pierre Gasly from Silverstone or Hockenheim? Turns out it was specifically the Gasly from Austria – getting stuck behind a McLaren and lapped by Verstappen.

2019 Hungarian GP preview

Posted on by James Mackenzie

The Burning Questions

Surely the upward curve of increasingly dramatic races can’t continue?!

Can Bottas mentally recover from his costly crash in Germany?

Will his performance last race prove to be a turning point for Vettel?

Can Verstappen continue his good form and head into the summer break as an outsider for the title?

Will we get the Pierre Gasly from Silverstone or Hockenheim?

The Track

The Stats

Track Length: 4.381 km

Laps: 70

Race Distance: 306.630 km

First Grand Prix: 1986

Race Lap Record: Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 2004 | 1:19.071

Outright Lap Record: Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 2017 | 1:16.276

Most Driver Wins: Lewis Hamilton | 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018

Most Constructor Wins: McLaren | 1988, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012

The Weather

The Photos

The Predictions

Podium

Pole Position

Fastest Lap

Driver of the Day

2019 German GP report | Verstappen wins utterly chaotic race

Posted on by James Mackenzie
What a difference a year makes…
Max Verstappen wins the German Grand Prix.
Image credit: LAT Images

Max Verstappen came home to take a popular victory at the 2019 German Grand Prix after an incredibly eventful race which was dominated by ever-changing weather conditions. The race started under a safety car but, after it came in, we experienced the first post-safety-car standing start. And from there, the madness never really stopped.

Strap yourself in: this might be a long write-up.

Lewis Hamilton led away from pole but Verstappen, alongside him on the front row, suffered severely with wheelspin and dropped back behind Valtteri Bottas and the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Räikkönen. There was normally a car in a run-off area during the next few laps as the drivers struggled with cold tyres and a slippery track. Räikkönen held on to his impressive 3rd place for a couple of laps but was passed by Verstappen just before Sergio Pérez became the first casualty of the race, spinning his very jittery Racing Point and being collected by the wall. That brought out the first safety car of the day and the first wave of pit stop panic. Most cars came in for intermediate tyres and, in the pandemonium, Ferrari were punished with a fine for an unsafe release having sent Charles Leclerc out directly into Romain Grosjean’s path.

The rain stopped and the track began to dry up, but teams suspected more was on the way and were instructing their drivers to try and take care of their tyres. Daniel Ricciardo experienced an all-too-familiar Renault engine blow-up on Lap 15 and Leclerc used the ensuing Virtual Safety Car for a cheap pit stop. Suddenly he was the fastest car on track by two seconds a lap and rapidly closing in on the front three. A bit more rain had begun to fall but Kevin Magnussen and then Sebastian Vettel – who had started the race from the back of the grid – took the gamble of pitting for dry tyres; after initially sliding around, they began to set fastest sectors and those in front decided to follow suit.

Red Bull fitted the mediums to Verstappen, which take longer to heat up than the soft tyres. The Dutchman span – but survived with a neat 360 – and berrated his team over the radio for not giving him the softs. Another Renault engine blow-up – this time for the luckless Lando Norris – brought out another VSC on Lap 28. The race was about to turn on its head.

Leclerc benefitted again, pitting for soft tyres and leapfrogging Bottas for 2nd place. Hamilton, who had been controlling the race superbly from the front up to this point, then also pitted for softs. This top two would not last long however as Leclerc ran wide on to the slippery drag strip on the outside of the final corner and aquaplaned into the barriers and out of the race. Moments later, with a safety car already called, Hamilton suffered a near carbon copy of the incident but just about managed to keep the car moving, having bounced off the barriers. He had lost his front wing though and would need to pit.

Image credit: AFP

This meant, firstly, he had to go the wrong side of the bollard at pit entry – which would earn him a five second penalty – and, secondly, that his engineers were not ready. Thus ensued a fairly comedic 50-second pit stop with engineers bumping into each other as they tried to replace the nose and changed their mind on which tyres to fit. Hamilton did eventually re-join in 5th; some blushes spared by the gap he had held and the safety car. In the meantime, most had now changed back to inters and the new top 5 was Verstappen, Nico Hülkenberg, Bottas, Alexander Albon, Hamilton.

The Mercedes cars worked their way back into the top 3 within a few laps and then, with that elusive podium in sight, agonisingly, Hülkenberg recreated the Leclerc/Hamilton incidents but with the Leclerc result of bogging down in the gravel and retiring. This brought out yet another safety car. Verstappen and Vettel pitted but the Mercedes did not. Just three laps after the restart, all the drivers came in for dry tyres and Racing Point’s gamble to fit them to Lance Stroll’s car during the safety car period meant that he was suddenly, unbelievably leading the race.

It didn’t take long for Verstappen to retake the lead of the race but we were left with a provisional podium of Verstappen, Stroll and the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat. Then another uncharacteristic error from Hamilton saw him spin at turn 1 on Lap 54, whilst chasing down. The championship-leader narrowly kept it out of the barriers but was forced to pit for new tyres and rejoined in last place. And then, just when Mercedes thought things couldn’t get any worse, Bottas – whilst chasing Stroll for 3rd – recreated Hamilton’s spin from a couple of laps prior but couldn’t keep it out of the barriers. He hit the wall, about as hard as Toto Wolff’s hand hit his desk, and was out of the race too. The safety car made its fifth appearance.

It returned to the pits on Lap 59, leaving a five-lap sprint race to the end. The race still had time for one more retirement as Pierre Gasly drove into the back of Albon whilst battling for 6th; a poorly-timed mistake from the under-fire Frenchman, with excellent performances from both the Toro Rosso drivers that are eyeing up his seat. Verstappen finished the job and sealed an almost flawless victory – his second of the season. Meanwhile Vettel, who had been steadily working his way through the field at various points of the race, sent the home fans wild by passing Stroll and then Kvyat for an unlikely 2nd place.

Behind Verstappen and Vettel, Kvyat took the final place on the podium – Toro Rosso’s second ever podium. Stroll held on to 4th, Sainz – who had at one point spun out and had to put it in reverse – claimed 5th, and Albon 6th. After the race, the two Alfa Romeos – who had finished 7th and 8th on the road – were given 30 second time penalties for driver aid infringements. This promoted the Haas drivers of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, who had conspired to crash into each other once again during the final laps, along with Hamilton to 9th and Robert Kubica to 10th. In a season where he has perenially been running in last place, the least likely of points scorers to cap the least likely of races.

And breathe.

Redemption in Red

Image credit: Ferrari

A year on from his title-swinging, gut-wrenching crash in the rain at Hockenheim, Sebastian Vettel produced an inspired fight through the field to finish 2nd, having started the race at the very back of the grid.

It was not only a tale of the difference a year can make for Vettel, but also the difference 24 hours can make. For the second time in three races, he experienced a technical issue in qualifying as his Ferrari developed a turbo problem and he was unable to set a competitive time. Last place on the grid with rain forecast for Sunday always felt like a chance for redemption and that’s exactly how it played out.

Vettel, who was born just half an hour’s drive down the road from Hockenheim, got straight down to business. He was up to 10th by Lap 5; 7th by Lap 8. For the most part of the race he was then generally running in the low end of the top 10 – changing surprisingly little despite the madness going on around him. But he came alive towards the end of the race, using the straight line speed of the Ferrari and some tactical nous to pass cars before and after the final safety car period and collecting a well-deserved 2nd place.

It is a much-needed result for himself and his team. And particularly fitting that it occurred on the effective anniversary of his lowest point, in Germany last year. For a team that has been much-criticised for their strategic calls in recent years, Ferrari barely put a foot wrong in such a manic race and made up numerous positions for both cars with opportunistic pit stops.

Will this prove to be a turning point for team and driver? Time will tell. But it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

A Miserable Anniversary for Mercedes

For a team that had won nine of the first 10 races this season, one would imagine that this was just another weekend. But no, this one really mattered to the dominant force of recent F1 history that is Mercedes-Benz: it was one of their two home Grands Prix; they were celebrating (complete with special livery and fancy dress) the 125th anniversary of motorsport and their 200th Grand Prix; this was the one race they had given access to the Netflix crew of Drive to Survive. So for things to have gone this way will have especially hurt them.

In fairness, there were few truly major errors; it was mostly a domino effect from a few small ones. They dominated the first half of the race. Particularly so Hamilton, despite still suffering from illness, but that ended with the first switch to dry tyres. In hindsight, it was a bad call. Hamilton had a very comfortable lead and was saying that he didn’t think the switch was the right call – it was still raining after all. Could they have waited for a lap or two to see how things were progressing? Yes, but of course that is easy to say now. Either way, the call was made, Hamilton ran wide and then brought about an embarrassing pit stop as he was forced to pit immediately whilst the team had been waiting for Bottas with different tyres. The whole episode made the fancy dress element of their celebrations seem suddenly very clownish.

A few laps later, they were back running 2nd and 3rd but this is where the wheels were really about to fall off – literally in the case of Bottas. Again, in hindsight, they probably should have pitted Hamilton under the safety car and were overly wary of the five-second time penalty dropping him too far back when the drying track was about to make that issue far worse. But the drivers were about to outdo the strategists in terms of their mistakes with synchronised spins at Turn 1.

Hamilton rescued his but Bottas did not and his was far more costly. Hamilton does not present his competitors with an opportunity to claw back that many points in the title race very often. And for it to happen just as the Mercedes hierarchy is about to decide on their driver line-up for 2020 and beyond is particularly unfortunate. You have to wonder if Bottas will mentally recover from this setback.

It seemed Toto Wolff had decided after the race that they would not be making such a song and dance about any celebration in the future: “It shows that you shouldn’t fool around with stuff – you should concentrate on the job, we are not superstitious, but we should focus on the job at hand.”

The German Grand Prix in 90 Seconds (It needed the Extra 30)

Answering the Burning Questions

Will the run of great races continue? Oh yeah. And then some.

Can Bottas can do anything to claw back some of Hamilton’s championship lead? He had the opportunity but fluffed his lines.

Will Leclerc and Verstappen have another epic battle? Not this time. Verstappen battled with Bottas, Leclerc battled with the slippery drag strip.

Can Gasly continue the progress he made at Silverstone? No. He crashed badly during practice and drove into the back of the sister car of Albon.

There are a few updates this weekend. Whose will have the biggest impact? Hard to tell in the rain but judging by earlier in the weekend, Racing Point seemed to have made a big jump.

Could we actually have a wet race?? We could and did. And it was great.

2019 German GP preview

Posted on by James Mackenzie

The Burning Questions

Will the run of great races continue?

Can Bottas can do anything to claw back some of Hamilton’s championship lead?

Will Leclerc and Verstappen have another epic battle?

Can Gasly continue the progress he made at Silverstone?

There are a few updates this weekend. Whose will have the biggest impact?

Could we actually have a wet race??

The Track

The Stats

Track Length: 4.574 km

Laps: 67

Race Distance: 306.458 km

First Grand Prix: 1970 (Hockenheimring) | 1951 (German GP)

Race Lap Record: Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren | 2004 | 1:13.780

Outright Lap Record: Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 2018 | 1:11.212

Most Driver Wins: Michael Schumacher | 1995, 2002, 2004, 2006

Most Constructor Wins: Ferrari | 1977, 1982, 1983, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012

The Photos

The Predictions

Podium

Pole Position

Fastest Lap

Driver of the Day

2019 British GP report | Hamilton wins for record sixth time

Posted on by James Mackenzie
History for Hamilton, fun for the fans.
Image credit: Getty Images

With some help from a fortunately timed safety car, Lewis Hamilton took a record-breaking victory at the 2019 British Grand Prix.

Having been pipped to pole position by his teammate Valtteri Bottas on Saturday, Hamilton came out of the blocks quickly and looked thoroughly determined to make amends. After a few laps getting increasingly close to the Finn’s gearbox, Hamilton made his move with a clever cut-back through Brooklands and looked to have the job done. But Bottas had other ideas. With the passionate home crowd still roaring, he pulled back alongside Hamilton and regained the lead into Copse Corner.

That was to prove the championship-leader’s best opportunity as he spent the rest of the first stint generally between 0.5 and 0.8 seconds behind. But when Bottas pitted on lap 16, Hamilton and his team saw an opportunity to mix up their strategy. He stayed out as long as he could, knowing that Bottas would need to stop again, with the aim of a one-stop race and the hope for a safety car. The latter duly obliged. By that point however, Hamilton had already put himself into a commanding position.

Even without a safety car, he was about to pit and rejoin a couple of seconds behind his teammate. Hamilton could then have sat behind Bottas, waiting for him to pit again and he showed just how much extra pace he had when he set the fastest lap on the last lap of the race, despite being on 30-lap-old hard tyres.

Bottas was actually fortunate to retain his 2nd place as those behind him had also pitted under the safety car and he was the only driver in the top six that needed to pit again. As it was, some antics from those following made his job far easier.

The Action Behind the Mercedes

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen picked up where they left off in Austria and this time the young Ferrari driver was going to make sure he gave as good as he got. He defended magnificently – at times towards the boundaries of acceptability, but always within them – lap after lap, in a battle that will likely be remembered for a long time to come and continues what is shaping into a fantastic rivalry. However, for all his excellent work, the Red Bull team produced a quicker pit stop which edged Verstappen out in front. Leclerc was not done though and immediately seized on a mistake by the Dutchman to regain his position. They then continued their fight until the safety car, where a delayed stop for Lelerc left him down in 6th.

Sebastian Vettel benefitted the most from the safety car and found himself up in 3rd on a weekend where he had been consistently off the pace. Verstappen, having been let past his team mate Pierre Gasly, began to close the gap on Vettel and on Lap 37 he made a move around the outside of Stowe. He was ahead but had ran slightly wide which allowed the German to close back up as they approached the chicane at the end of Vale. Vettel aimed for a small gap that was barely there and, once Verstappen had fully closed it off, was over-committed and had nowhere to go but into the back of the Red Bull. In desperation, he locked up and slammed into Verstappen’s gearbox, sending him flying sideways over the chicane.

Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen collide at the British Grand Prix.
Image credit: Formula 1

Verstappen impressively kept the car moving through the gravel and would recover to 5th, whilst Vettel had damaged his Ferrari more significantly and, once a ten-second penalty had been added on, would finish dead last.

It is another high profile mistake from the four-time world champion and will increase the pressure on him even further as we approach the German Grand Prix – the scene of his infamous crash last year that caused a swing in the championship he would never recover from and marked the beginning of this series of mistakes that has now run the length of an entire season. His young teammate has seemingly rectified his qualifying issues – having said he had changed his approach after the Canadian Grand Prix – and is now looking thoroughly the stronger Ferrari driver. Indeed, despite the issues with strategy and slow pit stops that were out of his control, he recovered to finish 3rd after the drama had unfolded ahead of him, and described it as “the race I enjoyed most in my F1 career”.

More Drama Throughout the Field

The action was not limited to the front six cars. Lando Norris continued his excellent form to run as best of the rest early on in the race, having passed the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo and then held him off impressively. However, it was his teammate, Carlos Sainz, who was the biggest benefactor of the safety car in the midfield, with it promoting him to 7th place, having started 13th. The Spaniard then did well to hold off an eager-to-divebomb Ricciardo for the final few laps and inherited 6th after the Vettel-Verstappen incident. The safety car sadly had the opposite affect on Norris who was left in the same situation as Bottas – but without a Mercedes to recover the lost time of a second stop – and ended 11th.

Haas had another weekend to forget. Amid ongoing dramas with their joke of a title sponsor, Rich Energy – seriously, they formulate tweets that read like a Donald Trump parody account – their two drivers crashed into each other on the first lap and were then soon forced to retire. What looked a promising season, when they qualified in 6th and 7th at the season-opener, has turned into a nightmare. They are now on average the second slowest car, particularly on Sundays as they continue to struggle with the tyres, and Romain Grosjean is surely wearing his team’s patience paper-thin with his current run of errors – even managing to spin into the wall at the pit exit during Practice 1.

A Few Extra Shout-Outs

The sheer amount of action in the race has left little room for much more analysis, so just a few quick words for those who deserve them.

Pierre Gasly had a long-overdue but nonetheless much-improved weekend. With the aim of helping him find some form, the Red Bull bosses decided he would be given Verstappen’s setup, with just the ability to tweak a few aspects to his liking. It seems to have worked wonders as he was the faster Red Bull through the practice sessions, came much closer to matching his teammate in qualifying and then finished a season-best 4th, having been in amongst the action of the top 6 throughout the race. He now needs to keep this up to reduce the rumours around his seat as silly season heats up.

Image credit: Red Bull Racing

Daniil Kvyat, having been somewhat put in his place on Saturday by teammate Alexander Albon, slowly but surely made his way up from 17th on the grid to finish an impressive 8th. Albon though was unfortunate on Sunday and further enhanced his reputation through the weekend on a track where he took the victory in F2 last year.

Speaking of last year’s F2, the 2018 champion, George Russell, continued his clean sweep over Robert Kubica on Saturday and then converted that to a best-ever finishing position of 14th in the race. Williams are slowly closing the gap on the midfield and it is Russell who is generally passing any cars that drop near him.

Although Hamilton’s 26 points were the only ones gained by British drivers at the British Grand Prix, Norris, Russell and Albon are all showing that British motorsport – or Thai-British motorsport in Albon’s case – has a very bright future.

Answering the Burning Questions

Can Red Bull and/or Ferrari take momentum from their performance in Austria and challenge Mercedes again? Ferrari looked closer earlier on but come race day it was Red Bull who may have challenged, had Verstappen been able to pass Leclerc. Mercedes were most likely in a class of one again though.

Will there be another controversial stewarding decision to make? The Vettel penalty was pretty much a slam dunk and the fact nothing between Leclerc and Verstappen was even investigated is pleasingly consistent.

Will McLaren continue to cement their place at the front of the midfield? Yes. Norris was unfortunate whilst Sainz was fortunate. Renault were certainly closer but it’s McLaren who came out with the most points.

Is Gasly capable of a decent result that would alleviate at least some pressure? Yes!

Can Hamilton make amends for last year’s British GP disappointment and send the home crowd wild? And if so, will he crowdsurf again? Yes and yes.

The British Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

2019 British GP preview

Posted on by James Mackenzie

The Burning Questions

Can Red Bull and/or Ferrari take momentum from their performance in Austria and challenge Mercedes again?

Will there be another controversial stewarding decision to make?

Will McLaren continue to cement their place at the front of the midfield?

Is Gasly capable of a decent result that would alleviate at least some pressure?

Can Hamilton make amends for last year’s British GP disappointment and send the home crowd wild? And if so, will he crowdsurf again?

The Track

The Stats

Track Length: 5.891 km

Laps: 52

Race Distance: 306.198 km

First Grand Prix: 1950

Race Lap Record: Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 2017 | 1:30.621

Outright Lap Record: Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 2018 | 1:25.892

Most Driver Wins: Alain Prost/Lewis Hamilton | 1983, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1993/2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

Most Constructor Wins: Ferrari/McLaren | 1951, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2018/1973, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008

The Photos

The Predictions

Podium

Pole Position

Fastest Lap

Driver of the Day

2019 Austrian GP report | Verstappen takes dramatic victory

Posted on by James Mackenzie
An end to the Mercedes domination…and what a way to end it.
Max Verstappen wins the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix.
Image credit: Getty Images

Many criticised the sport in the wake of an uneventful race in France but, just seven days later, Formula 1 reminded the world of the drama it can produce with an action-packed 2019 Austrian Grand Prix, a last-gasp pass for the win and obviously some controversy to boot.

The youngest ever front row promised excitement into the first corner but, after Max Verstappen got away horribly, Charles Leclerc was left unchallenged and all the drama unfolded behind him with Lando Norris even momentarily passing Lewis Hamilton for 3rd. The following laps produced some good racing as Hamilton, Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel worked their way past the slower cars, before the usual top five started to break away from the pack and the race somewhat settled down.

Leclerc appeared comfortable at the front but was forced to pit slightly early to cover off Bottas – something that would prove decisive later on. Hamilton and Verstappen aimed to go long in their first stint but the Briton put paid to his chances by clipping one of the many unforgiving kerbs around the Spielberg track and damaging his front wing. The younger man in the Red Bull made no such mistake however and re-emerged in 4th with tyres 10 laps fresher than those ahead of him.

Verstappen then set about chasing Vettel, passing him with about 20 laps remaining and suddenly the masses of orange in the crowd realised there was the chance of an unlikely victory. Bottas proved easy to dispatch – the Mercedes had been short of power throughout as they struggled with cooling – and he was right on Leclerc’s tail with four laps to go. On Lap 68, Verstappen dived down the inside into Turn 3, allowing Leclerc a Ferrari’s width on the outside and they drag raced along the back straight with Leclerc coming out on top. One lap later, Verstappen made the same move but this time did not leave the room, taking the lead and then the victory – the first for a Honda engine since Jenson Button in 2006.

“Hard Racing” or “Not the Way You Overtake

As you would expect, Verstappen and Leclerc had very different views on the overtake. They both immediately came on the radio; Verstappen claiming Leclerc had turned in on him and Leclerc asking “what the hell is that?”

Image credit: DPPI

The stewards decided to investigate, with the result only being confirmed as a Verstappen victory three hours after he had taken the chequered flag. And so the conversation of what the rules should be and how they should be enforced reared its ugly head once more.

It is very easy to see why Ferrari and their fans could feel aggrieved. There have been two fairly similar incidents in which they have somehow lost out on both occasions, despite being on opposite sides of the two. Vettel was penalised for not leaving Hamilton a car’s width in Canada and the obvious differences between there and here are that Verstappen was fully in control of his vehicle and that Leclerc was fully alongside his rival. Both of which you could reasonably expect to further cement a penalty.

Personally, whilst I’m glad the result stood – the sport didn’t need another overturned win fiasco and Leclerc deserves a better maiden victory than being told three hours after the fact – I can’t help feeling that Formula 1 has contradicted itself. After the Vettel penalty, there was a lot of talk of ‘the letter of the law’ and so on, but now it’s about ‘the way to interpret the rules’. I refer back to my post after the Canadian Grand Prix and my opinion that the stewards should be a consistent panel of respected figures who are accountable and explain exactly how and why they have come to their decisions. There is no point having thousands of regulations if they are not airtight and leave so many situations that are open to interpretation – that has been the case in the three most recent races and they all appear to have been dealt with differently. It is obviously far easier said than done but a reasonable number of more iron-clad rules and a stable stewarding presence is surely the answer.

Whatever your opinion on the incident though, it could well turn out to be an infamous moment that defines the beginning of an intense rivalry. One that could even dominate the sport for the next decade.

McLaren Prosper Whilst Mercedes Faulter

McLaren continued their good run of form and excellent progress this season with 6th and 8th place finishes. Both impressive drives in very different circumstances. Norris showed his star potential again by qualifying 5th and then mixing it with the front-runners for a few laps before settling into a very solid 6th and holding off the other Red Bull of Pierre Gasly – yet another disappointing performance from the under-pressure Frenchman. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz fought admirably from the back of the grid to end up 8th.

Lando Norris at the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix.
Image credit: DPA

To have had two great races back-to-back on such different tracks as Paul Ricard and the Red Bull Ring shows how much progress McLaren have made and, for all his undeniable talent, there is a distinct freshness to the team since Fernando Alonso’s departure. They are enjoying the challenge of their revival without the pressure that Alonso puts on a team. There are no politics; it’s just racing. And they continue to punch above their weight, or at least their weight of recent years.

Mercedes, however, finally had an off-week.

It’s unlikely to prove a huge turning point, as the unique combination of high temperatures and altitute, twinned with a very short track, meant they had cooling issues throughout the weekend. Their engines were not at full power and they were even having to do a considerable amount of ‘lift and coast’ during the race, where the drivers lift off the throttle up to 400m before the corner.

But certainly it bodes well for some more competitive races whilst temperatures are likely to be higher in the summer.

The Austrian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

Session Progression