Leclerc’s third win of the season has rekindled his championship hopes
The black cloud of misfortune that hovered over Charles Leclerc since early May finally rose, and he took the opportunity to make a forceful statement as he secured a dominant victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.
For five races, it looked like this would not be Leclerc’s year, despite the dizzying pace he has been showing his Ferrari.
Four times in those five races, Leclerc lost a winning position through no fault of his own: two engine problems and two strategy errors, all while leading. The fifth of these races started from the bottom of the grid as a result of those engine problems.
But in Austria everything came together and Leclerc got one of the most convincing victories of the season. Look what I can do with a clean run, he seemed to be saying.
Even this was not without his anguish, however, a hitch of the accelerator to the Ferrari allowed the title rival Max Verstappen, who until then seemed well defeated, to put Leclerc under pressure in the final laps. But Leclerc endured his first win from Australia in early April.
Then the relief in him was palpable.
“I definitely needed it,” he said. “Of course, when I got to a new race, for five races I have a smile on my face and I have continued to be optimistic.
“But a hard race after a hard race, it seemed like everything was going against me. We finally had a good advanced race today and I feel really good winning.”
Verstappen has no answer to the resurrected Ferraris
Leclerc beat Verstappen three times on the road to victory
Grand Prix victories aren’t much more convincing than this one, especially against a rival as formidable as Verstappen and Red Bull.
Leclerc overtook Verstappen no less than three times on his way to victory as Red Bull struggled with excessive tire degradation and were forced into a suboptimal strategy.
Leclerc’s first pass for the lead was a marvel: he pitched late, but compromised inside the fourth quarter from some distance back, he seemed to catch Verstappen off guard.
Once Ferrari was the leader, Red Bull rolled the strategy dice, facing Verstappen early on for a new set of tires and betting on a two-stop strategy in a race that, before starting, he had looked for strategists at the cusp between that and a single stop.
Maybe they were waiting for Ferrari to take the bait and try to cover Verstappen with at least one of their cars. But showing a composure and a decision that has not always been shown on the wall of the Ferrari box, they clung to their weapons, left out Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and took control of the race.
As the laps passed, it was clear that Verstappen had no answer to the rhythm of the red cars. Leclerc also switched to a two-stop, but with much more conventional times. And despite falling behind Verstappen each time, Leclerc had no trouble getting close and going through again.
Sainz was about to do the same with 14 laps to go and make it the perfect day for Ferrari when his engine failed.
Not only was it a reminder of the team’s vulnerability: it was the third power unit problem in six races for a Ferrari car, but it also ensured that Verstappen could minimize damage. Elevated to second, and with the fastest lap, in addition to the sprint victory, he only lost five points to Leclerc over the weekend despite Ferrari’s superiority.
With a deficit reduced to just 38 points and half of the season, Leclerc still has a mountain to climb. But the manner of this victory has made the mountain not seem as insurmountable as it was just a week ago.
Ferrari did not surprise Leclerc
Leclerc’s victory was his fifth in F1
The magnitude of Ferrari’s superiority around the Red Bull Ring took everyone by surprise, especially Verstappen.
“I expected them to be strong, but I didn’t expect them to be that good,” he said. “I think we were a little underestimated with what we expected.”
Leclerc, however, was calmly confident to enter the race. Verstappen had defeated him in pole position and also lost in Saturday’s speed race. But then he saw signs of what might be possible.
Leclerc and Sainz had allowed Verstappen to escape the first laps of the sprint as they fought among themselves. But Leclerc approached Red Bull towards the end and, after crossing the line, told his team on the radio, “It’s okay. We have them tomorrow.”
“He was pretty confident,” he said after his victory Sunday, explaining that comment. “The pace has been strong in the last five races. I had said it very often on Saturday night, but not just to say it, I believed in all five races. It’s good to finally show it on a Sunday and having a clean weekend.
“Speaking of yesterday, the pace was there and even though at the end of the sprint qualifying it was hard to know how much Max was pushing, I had the feeling we had a little more of an advantage at the end of the sprint, so that’s why I had confidence. “
Verstappen’s problem on Sunday was excessive tire degradation.
“Just a lot of degrees and right now I can’t explain why it was so high,” he said, “because I think we’re usually pretty good with tires. I expected it to be hard, but not like that. But go ahead. A day off or on a bad day, losing just five points in a weekend is good. “
Ferrari had learned from the sprint. In the grand prix, there were no fights between its riders, although it was unclear whether by accident or design.
Leclerc did not start so well, so he did not attack Verstappen in the first corner, which along with Verstappen’s aggressive defense was what had led Sainz to the photo in the sprint.
Instead, Sainz received pressure from George Russell’s Mercedes and ran deflected into the first corner. Therefore, Leclerc was able to concentrate on staying one second from Verstappen, so he had the advantage of DRS overtaking help as soon as he was available on the second lap. He spun the screw harder each lap, pressing Verstappen harder and harder, and in a short time the lead was his and he took control of the race.
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto said: “At pure speed, we are very similar and the rating proved it. I don’t think there is much difference between the two cars. At least it was because of the degradation. of the tires.
“In the sprint, I think we had a little more of an advantage in the tire grade, which today has been even more evident because we started putting pressure on Max from the start and pushing him to have more pace and further degrading the tires.
“I think what we saw yesterday in the sprint today has been more evident because we’ve put more pressure on him.”
Ferrari is back, but have they really left?
It was a mundane explanation of what can be a significant change in the balance of the season.
Judging from the outside, this seemed to be the first grand prix from Melbourne in which Ferrari has had a decisive pace advantage in a race distance compared to Red Bull.
It is true that it is not the easiest to judge. In Barcelona, Leclerc led convincingly before the engine failure, but had only gone a couple of seconds ahead before Verstappen made a mistake and climbed on the fourth lap in the first stage.
The Ferrari was the fastest car in the Monaco standings, but Ferrari’s first wet laps of the race and strategy errors made it difficult to judge the comparative pace.
In Baku, Leclerc was leading again. But the team bought that advantage with a bet on an early stop under a safety car, and wasn’t sure it could hold Verstappen with newer tires towards the end; in fact, computer predictions suggested he would not have done so.
In Canada, where Leclerc started from behind, Sainz was behind Verstappen on the final laps, but again there were tire and car trips involved.
Back then, at Silverstone, Verstappen seemed willing to take control of the race before running over the rubble and falling out of the competition with a damaged car.
In Austria, however, there was no doubt: during a race, the Ferrari was definitely the fastest car.
Leclerc said he “did not completely agree” with the analysis that this was the first time since Melbourne that Ferrari had definitely been faster.
“I think Barcelona was one of those races where we were very strong,” he said. “Monaco were very strong. But since those races, yes, it was the first time we were a little faster.
“It’s not a surprise because we’ve been working really hard. But the surprise probably comes from yesterday to today. Because yesterday Red Bull also seemed very strong, but today seemed to pick up a little more pace than them. It’s a good surprise.” .
Sainz blew up a reality check
Sainz’s car crashed in a fire incident on lap 57
This is the positive of Ferrari. The downside was more reliability issues.
Sainz’s retirement not only gave Verstappen three points, but perhaps ended his own hopes of going to the championship, which the Spaniard had expressed after securing his first victory at Silverstone. It’s now 75 points from Verstappen, almost certainly too much to think about a review.
“It seems like it’s the story of my season,” Sainz said. “As soon as we have some momentum, something is going wrong and it’s hard to keep up with that.”
For Ferrari, this could be a blessing disguised in some way: if they now want to support Leclerc as their main contender for the title, which they have resisted so far, they have a good reason to do so.
The biggest concern, however, is engine durability.
As with Leclerc after Baku’s failure, Sainz now faces an imminent penalty on the grid for excessive engine use, as he has already used his maximum endowment for the season. Although Binotto did not say on Sunday whether this will come to the next race in France.
Not only that, but both riders face at least one more engine penalty beyond that because they will both need at least one more new engine to get to the end of the season.