2019 Austrian GP
How refreshing it is to hear drivers saying that they could push on these tyres. To hear Hamilton defend the 2019 tyres where you could push them more than the 2018 construction, then we finally see what the drivers could do... well a fair few of them.With Mercedes off colour due to high altitude and high temperatures, we had two young chargers at on the front row, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Stars of the Race 💪
The star of the race was undoubtedly Max Verstappen. There were other good performances, but in an underpowered car that lacks the overall grip of its main competitors, today it really came together for a driver who I said in my last review was my driver of the season so far. It's arguable if the poor start was his fault or the software or a combination of both, but it set up for an incredible comeback drive. If you think he and Gasly were attacking Kimi and Lando in the opening laps, but when Verstappen took the chequered flag, his teammate was just behind a lap down. Gasly said he pushed too soon on his second stint, whilst Verstappen bided his time before going on the assault. The contrast between the two couldn't be greater, Gasly is left wondering how to unlock his obvious pace, whilst Verstappen is receiving the plaudits for passing everyone ahead, bar Hamilton, with some exciting battles along the way. For me, I'm not keen on hard racing, but I accept it. He needed to stop the Ferrari from blasting past on the straight again, so he ran him wide, which he was entitled to do having won the apex of the corner, but it stops being an exciting side-by-side battle, just a clinical overtake.It's great to see Honda win again after many years of bad press, it's great to see a Honda representative on the podium, thoroughly deserved.
Ferrari continue to make blunder after blunder and bad strategy calls. Vettel was hampered in qualifying and had no tyres at his pitstop - you could say the radio not working could happen to anyone, but it seems to always be Ferrari at the moment. Then Leclerc pitted early which left him liable to others who pitted later. I know the old Kimi strategy of leave him out didn't really work out, but the pace on the first stint wasn't that bad. In the end it left Charles liable to an attack, and it came in the form of a recovering Verstappen. Leclerc could have done more to close the inside line into the hairpin, but it was another strong weekend for the young Monegasque and his time will come. Vettel made a good comeback to take fourth, but I still worry when in an overtake he swerves back onto the racing line before he's completed the move. Has Webber and Turkey 2010 not taught him this lesson? Norris did well to back off in the braking zone. He did the same to a lesser extent on Hamilton late on in the race, and I think that's a worse offence than Verstappen's collision with Leclerc.
McLaren had another strong weekend, it was great to see Lando mixing it with the big guns early on, battling Hamilton on the first few turns. Another best of the rest finish and beating Gasly is a great result for the team. Sainz also had a great recovery drive having started at the back, but was halted from his late race charge by a problem with his front wing, he probably could have nailed Gasly and caught Norris too. Just gutted we didn't see any of it.
It was nice to see Kimi back at the front after his superb start in the Alfa, but he didn't have the pace of the McLarens to stay with them. Giovinazzi also had a good drive to earn his first point, his best race of the season so far.
It was a surprisingly good day for Williams, well for one of them, and the other being named driver of the day in error. Russell made a great two car overtake on Kvyat and team-mate Kubica, and had the pace to fend off the Haas' and Toro Rosso's and at one point wasn't too far off the pace of the Racing Points and Renaults. Williams cars do tend to suit the Austrian track since locking out the front row in 2014, so it was encouraging progress, but don't expect this kind of competitiveness for all the remaining races.
Strugglers 🙎
Poor old Haas, with Kevin Magnussen having qualified a strong fifth place, he didn't have the pace of the Williams or Toro Rosso's during the race.I suppose I could lump Renault, Racing Point and Toro Rosso together, as well as Mercedes.
Final thoughts 💬
On top of not seeing any of Sainz's progress through the field during the race, the onboard Youtube clips showed some great battling of the Renaults on the first and the last lap. Though there was lots going on and it was a great race, it's still a shame that some great action is not being broadcast, and even worse, it took 3 hours for the stewards to declare no action effectively - that's more than twice the length of the race itself!Three races and three stewards decisions being the main talking point is not great to be honest, but let's finish by praising the racing, albeit DRS assisted, with some teams being able to push on the tyres all race, and it produced a great watch. It was nice to see some of Niki Lauda's Championship winning cars lined up in the pitlane.
For me, this race gets a 10/10 for me. It didn't have everything, but it was gripping from beginning to end, some nice underdog stories, some great battles, and Verstappen starring with his comeback through the field and bold pass on the leader near the end of the race.
