Evaluation: Issues we discovered from the Austrian Grand Prix

Final weekend noticed groups and drivers head to Spielberg for the Austrian Grand Prix, Spherical 9 of the 2023 FIA Method One World Championship. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó analyses the teachings we discovered from the Spielberg race.

Profitable streak – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen additional cemented his championship lead on dwelling turf for his crew. The Dutchman secured his sixth pole place, his first dash race victory and his seventh race triumph within the 2023 F1 season. The one two races the place he did not win have been the Saudi Arabian and the Azerbaijan Grands Prix the place he completed second behind his crew mate Sergio Perez.

Dominant – Crimson Bull scored their tenth consecutive victory yesterday, having gained the final race of the 2022 F1 season courtesy of Max Verstappen and each single race within the present championship marketing campaign.

It was the one hundred and first victory for the Milton Keynes-based outfit and their double podium end on the Crimson Bull Ring elevated the variety of their total podium finishes to 248.

Eye-catching type – Verstappen was faultless yesterday, securing his seventh profession hat-trick (victory, pole and quickest lap). The reigning champion secured his forty second profession victory of which he gained 22 final yr and within the present season which highlights his and his crew’s utter dominance within the present period of Method One.

Resurgence – Following a troublesome begin to the season, Charles Leclerc’s P2 was Ferrari’s greatest results of the 2023 season. The Scuderia achieved their 800th podium end in F1 with their heavily-upgraded automotive.

Sergio Perez might additionally go away the Crimson Bull Ring with a smile on his face following 4 troublesome race weekends that noticed him fail to progress into the final qualifying section. The Mexican secured a second place in Saturday’s F1 Dash and moved up the order from P15 to P3 yesterday.

Late push – In the direction of the top of the race, Max Verstappen loved sufficient of a niche to make a pit cease in pursue of the quickest race lap. With two laps to go, the Dutchman rejoined the monitor solely three seconds forward of Charles Leclerc and went for the quickest race lap which he simply achieved with a time of 1m07.012s.

The Dutchman’s effort was over a second faster than his crew mate Sergio Perez who posted the second quickest race lap. Nevertheless, the comparability is unfair because the Dutchman had softer and considerably more energizing tyres.

Apparently, Norris was solely a tenth of a second quicker than the 2 Ferrari drivers regardless of finishing his final pit cease a number of laps sooner than Leclerc and Sainz.

By no means seen earlier than – That was what Charles Leclerc informed within the post-race press convention relating to Ferrari’s current growth push. The Scuderia ditched its bathtub sidepod idea on the Spanish Grand Prix and launched a brand new entrance wing and an up to date flooring on the Austrian Grand Prix, two races sooner than deliberate.

The Monegasque didn’t conceal how content material he was with Ferrari’s improve plan as he achieved his greatest lead to 2023 along with his second-placed end. It was his second podium of the yr after securing a third-place end on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Quickest within the pit lane – On the Austrian Grand Prix, McLaren have proved to be the quickest within the pit lane after swapping tyres on Lando Norris’ automotive inside 2.1s. AlphaTauri have been not the quickest this yr when it got here to pit cease efficiency, however they managed to finish the second quickest tyre change once they serviced Nyck de Vries’ automotive.

Within the standings for the DHL pit cease award, Crimson Bull discover themselves on the highest, adopted by Ferrari and Alpine with Haas having proved the slowest by way of pit cease efficiency to date. The general greatest tyre change was accomplished by Crimson Bull when the Milton Keynes-based outfit swapped tyres on Sergio Perez’ automotive in Spain (2.07s).

Technical points – With an influence unit challenge forcing him to retire, Nico Hulkenberg’s 22-race ending streak ended as we speak. General, it was a optimistic weekend for Haas because it scored three factors courtesy of the German’s sixth-place end in Saturday’s dash race. Regardless of some eye-catching qualifying performances, the American crew has had a troublesome begin to the season because it solely scored on three events to date this season.

Observe limits – Observe limits have been one of many sizzling matters over the weekend of the Austrian Grand Prix with the the entry and particularly the exit of the ultimate nook prompting drivers to cross the white line.

Following the problems in Fridays qualifying session, the issue endured within the race with greater than 100 lap instances having been deleted after drivers repeatedly exceeded monitor limits. Based on the FIA, greater than 1200 potential offences needed to be reviewed by race management. The race stewards acknowledged that they have been unable to overview all cased through the race.

Seven drivers have been handed out time penalties through the race, together with Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz. Nevertheless, following a protest from Aston Martin, the FIA launched a overview into the monitor limits violations and handed out an extra 12 penalties which unfold throughout eight drivers.

Perez unhealthy – Crimson Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez missed the Thursday media day to relaxation after falling sick on Wednesday night time. Within the post-race press convention, Perez conceded that he was unable to relaxation over the weekend as he suffered fever each night time.

The Mexican had three lap instances deleted within the second qualifying session which meant that he missed out on Q3 on Friday. Perez subsequently began the Austrian Grand Prix from P15, however he recovered within the race, having made use of his dominant Crimson Bull RB19. Following 4 troublesome races, this outcome ended a run of three GPs with no podium for Perez.

Groups factors – Having gained each single race to date this season, Crimson Bull Racing discover themselves on high of the Constructors’ Championship. The crew has collected 4 one-two finishes to date and gained the dash races each in Baku and Austria, they usually sit now atop of the standings on 377 factors, a whopping 199 factors away from second-placed Mercedes.

Aston Martin sit in third place on 175 factors with Ferrari following swimsuit with 154 factors. Alpine discover themselves in a no man’s land with 47 factors whereas there are tiny gaps between the remainder of the sector with McLaren sitting on 29, Haas on 11, Alfa Romeo on 9 factors. Williams have additionally collected seven factors courtesy of two point-scoring finishes of Alexander Albon in Bahrain and Canada. AlphaTauri spherical out the standings with two factors each collected by Yuki Tsunoda’s two tenth-place finishes in Australia and Azerbaijan.

Drivers factors – After the dominant begin to his season, Max Verstappen’s lead within the Drivers’ Championship has grown to 81 factors forward of Perez who sits in second place within the standings on 148 factors. Fernando Alonso occupies P3, 17 factors adrift of the Mexican with Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz following swimsuit.

Together with his greatest results of the season, Charles Leclerc overtook George Russell within the standings with the Monegasque now sitting in P6 on 72 factors. Lando Norris has had an up-and-down season to date, however his fourth place in Spielberg earned him 12 factors, and he now finds himself in P10 within the standings.

Two of the rookie drivers, Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries are nonetheless but to attain factors in 2023.