Well finally we’re back almost four months later than planned racing again at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Almost chalk and cheese this race and the one in 2019, with depending on your view 8-10 DNF’s compared to none last year and a couple of surprises on the podium too.
Beginning with Mercedes they’re leaps and bounds ahead of the rest probably but not exclusively due to their DAS steering innovation. However it was Valtteri Bottas not Lweis Hamilton who took advantage in the race with pole and a reasonably controlled win too.
In another universe Bottas could easily have racked up a WDC – maybe two if Hamilton wasn’t around and he is a fairly decent, if perhaps unspectacular driver… not many are. We’ve seen early season from Bottas before but like seasons past will this evaporate into a settled 2nd or 3rd in the championship again? With potentially only 8-10 races on the calendar if this is going to be his time to shine he needs to be decisive, consistent and focused if he has any chance of wresting the WDC from Hamilton. He certainly
can do that but like Alonso, Rosberg and Vettel have all tried – mostly failed to do, it will be a tough task. Also are things set in stone at Mercedes for him to be clearly defined as the number two to Hamilton, regardless of what they hint I think that is so.
An off-sorts weekend for Lewis, perhaps with his mind on other things – I’m not going to debate it’s rights/wrongs here, but regardless he had the potential to certainly win this race. Yes Mercedes could’ve issued orders mid way through to switch him with Bottas and it’s possible Lewis would have gone into the distance with a dominant win. However this is the first race of the season and if Mercedes (yet) don’t have team orders set up with Hamilton and Bottas they should let them race up to the point neither driver does anything stupid which before the second safety car neither really was. Reliability issues raised a concern for Mercedes from the mid point to the end and then the second safety car opened up a opportunity for Alex Albon and Red Bull to attack.
Bad day for Red Bull. Firstly Verstappen’s car dying early in the race highlights some reliability concerns but Albon was doing a great job in the race until the second safety car and as said early he had the strategy and speed to possibly win it ahead of a couple of sick Mercedes. Albon pulled a good move on Hamilton but the contact by both drivers was clumsy IMO. Both could’ve backed off and perhaps in hindsight the penalty applied to Hamilton was harsh but there’s a little history building between them since a similar incident in Brazil last season so perhaps that’s why the penalty got applied. It’s those if only questions if Albon could’ve won (maybe?) but up to that point he was driving well and I feel he will be a winner fairly soon. He certainly deserves his shot at Red Bull right now.
A half decent salvage job for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc’s second place, benefited from Hamilton’s penalty and the DNF attrition during the race. Still Leclerc has a switched on head right now and in a absolute pig of a car he can somehow drag it up to a podium and get a good result. More than his more experienced team mate can. Vettel didn’t seem comfortable with the car all weekend and maybe it’s a combination of the poor car, Ferrari letting him go and the weariness of the last 2-3 seasons which resulted in him getting a very luck 10th in the race. The spin when trying to pass/avoid Sainz wasn’t quite the same as his errors in the past and maybe it could’ve been down to flaws with the car. But it’s a classic Vettel error and certainly could’ve been avoided. Also with the fortune which the race provided to the finishers Seb could have easily made it to the top five if he’d driven a bit more cleverly, a bit more switched on IMHO.
Great result for Lando Norris and McLaren.
Again the podium was maybe a gift from Hamilton’s penalty but Norris would have had a good race in the top five and unlike Ferrari who’ve gone backwards McLaren have maintained the positive momentum they got from 2019. :thumup: A good 5th place for Carlos Sainz too perhaps he’s ruing the decision to join Ferarri now… surely this seasons woes for them is down to perhaps calling time on Vettel and the Covid crisis which badly affected that region of Italy this Spring. But that’s affected other teams – like McLaren, too and they’ve all turned in a good job in comparison. Also perhaps with mechanical woes for Danny Ricciardo's Renault perhaps it's vindicated his move to the team for 2021 too.
A missed opportunity for Racing Point who many consider are near enough running the 2019 spec Mercedes. Again that’s a right or wrong for others to discuss and Perez did manage a good 6th but Stroll’s DNF didn’t bag the points and momentum their testing form promised.
Rounding out the top ten were French duo Gasly and Ocon, but perhaps special mention goes to Antonio Giovinazzi dragging the absolute dog Alfa Romeo to 9th and driving a smart controlled race where he bagged some points and stayed out of trouble. As David Coulthard said on the Channel 4 programme… if Vettel keeps criticising the Ferrari, although he’s not (yet) in Alain Prost ‘Truck’ territory yet could Ferrari consider switching him to them for some/all of the season? He’s as worthy a shot of that right now.
Unlucky for Williams they didn’t make it into the points with debut driver Canadian Nicholas Latifi. Again like Alfa’s Giovinazzi, Latifi’s dragging a dog of a car around so making up the numbers is as good as he can do right now… again if he (and George Russell) are fortunate they may be able to bag the crumbs as the season progresses.
The DNF's apart from Kimi's three-wheeled Alfa weren't really much to report but definitely lost and allowed some opportunities for points in the race.
An alright race if perhaps not spectacular and like everything it all feels weird this sport being back again under closed-doors rules and all that. We go again in Austria next weekend, will Hamilton bounce back, can Red Bull and the chasing pack bring a fight to the dominant Mercs and will Bottas seize his opportunity that he may never get again?