The 4.318 km long Red Bull Ring, embedded in a magnificent mountain world, remains firmly in Dutch hands. More than 55,000 fans in orange clothing celebrated Max Verstappen’s (24) clear sprint victory.
“Uncanny, I drove past the orange smoke almost the entire way,” laughed the world champion, who has already won four World Championship races in the Red Bull car in Spielberg.
Ferrari duo without a chance once morest Verstappen
The Dutchman didn’t give the Ferrari duo a chance over the 23 laps and scored eight extra points. First, Silverstone winner Sainz attached himself to his rear, then he had to let Leclerc past. The Spaniard: “My tires started to overheat!”
There wasn’t much else going on there. But in the fight for eighth place, the last championship point. The Haas duo Magnussen and Schumi harmonized well, because Hamilton (following a collision with Gasly at the start) appeared larger and larger in the rear-view mirror.
The Dane always let his German team-mate drive nicely in the DRS window in order to accelerate properly.
Magnussen took off – Hamilton passed Schumi
Well, Schumi was able to defend himself bravely for nine laps, then Magnussen fled – and the seven-time world champion passed the man with the big name.
No more points for Schumi – as well as for the Alfa-Sauber duo. So far, Bottas and Zhou have had a black weekend in Austria – like a week ago at Silverstone: Zhou had a terrible crash, and Bottas’ gearbox was damaged.
Bottas’ 10th place for the stats
And now Spielberg started with bad news. The Finn practically had to change the entire engine environment and will start from the last row on Sunday. His 10th place in the sprint (0.3 behind Schumi) was just for the stats…
Zhou was able to convert his 18th place on the grid into 14th place. Although he had to start from the pit lane. When lining up on the start straight, the Chinese suddenly stopped before the last corner! When the engine started once more, the pit lane was waiting – and the whole field had to do another formation lap.
Except for Zhou and Alonso, who suffered a technical defect while still wearing electric blankets and had to retire.
Zhou’s nightmare
Zhou’s nightmare: He has to start on the seventh row next to Pierre Gasly. So the Alpha Tauri driver who was involved in his two accidents at the Imola sprint and the Silverstone race!
The consolation for the Hinwil team: Théo Pourchaire (18, Fri) from the Sauber Academy finished second in the Formula 2 sprint race, one second behind winner Armstrong (Neus).
The Alfa-Sauber voices
Frederic Vasseur, Teamchef: “Both our drivers showed good pace today and we think we have a chance of scoring points in tomorrow’s race. Valtteri, with great reflexes, managed to avoid a collision right in front of him and get closer to the top ten: he has made good progress, although he has to start from the back tomorrow, having changed the powertrain at the beginning of the weekend. Zhou put in a remarkable performance, fighting his way from the pit lane to the checkered flag in 14th place, showing really good speed. It was a really good comeback following a difficult Saturday: if we’re able to repeat today’s speed tomorrow, he’ll be good to fight for the points. I’m confident that we can still play a role with both cars in tomorrow’s race and I’m looking forward to seeing how the race develops.”
Valtteri Bottas (10.): “It was a good ride with some nice fights but we ran out of rounds to go beyond tenth place – it’s a shame there are only points for the top eight. In the beginning we struggled with a bit of an engine problem, but in the end we had better pace than the Haas, although we were still a bit slow on the straights – probably because of the wing. Tomorrow should be a very different day starting from the back: it’s going to be a longer race but I’m confident we can make up ground. The pace is there and I firmly believe that we can make it into the points: you never know what can happen.
Guanyu Zhou (14.): “At the end of the warm-up lap, just before the last corner, my engine suddenly cut out. This was very strange and the first time this has happened to me. I had to go through the entire shutdown procedure, which took a little longer, but luckily we were able to get going once more. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the race. It was a good comeback from last week’s crash and I was able to attack with confidence and move up the grid. We showed very strong pace overall and I’m very happy with how the car performed today. I’m happy with my grid position for tomorrow’s race because that’s what we were aiming for following qualifying. We have to find out what happened on the formation lap today, but I’m confident for tomorrow, I think we have a good chance of fighting for points.”
Frederic Vasseur, Teamchef: “Both our drivers showed good pace today and we think we have a chance of scoring points in tomorrow’s race. Valtteri, with great reflexes, managed to avoid a collision right in front of him and get closer to the top ten: he has made good progress, although he has to start from the back tomorrow, having changed the powertrain at the beginning of the weekend. Zhou put in a remarkable performance, fighting his way from the pit lane to the checkered flag in 14th place, showing really good speed. It was a really good comeback following a difficult Saturday: if we’re able to repeat today’s speed tomorrow, he’ll be good to fight for the points. I’m confident that we can still play a role with both cars in tomorrow’s race and I’m looking forward to seeing how the race develops.”
Valtteri Bottas (10.): “It was a good ride with some nice fights but we ran out of rounds to go beyond tenth place – it’s a shame there are only points for the top eight. In the beginning we struggled with a bit of an engine problem, but in the end we had better pace than the Haas, although we were still a bit slow on the straights – probably because of the wing. Tomorrow should be a very different day starting from the back: it’s going to be a longer race but I’m confident we can make up ground. The pace is there and I firmly believe that we can make it into the points: you never know what can happen.
Guanyu Zhou (14.): “At the end of the warm-up lap, just before the last corner, my engine suddenly cut out. This was very strange and the first time this has happened to me. I had to go through the entire shutdown procedure, which took a little longer, but luckily we were able to get going once more. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the race. It was a good comeback from last week’s crash and I was able to attack with confidence and move up the grid. We showed very strong pace overall and I’m very happy with how the car performed today. I’m happy with my grid position for tomorrow’s race because that’s what we were aiming for following qualifying. We have to find out what happened on the formation lap today, but I’m confident for tomorrow, I think we have a good chance of fighting for points.”
Vettel fined
hp In the evening more than half the field had to compete at the FIA (mainly because of some offenses during the second formation lap). The new German race director Wittich says hello.
So he fined Vettel with 25,000 euros on probation because the German left the drivers’ meeting on Friday without permission and had already complained regarding it beforehand!
