2021 F1 Austrian Grand Grand Prix: Winners And Losers

Formula One’s return to the Red Bull Ring in Austria for the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix was nowhere near as calm compared to what happened last week. It may have been another dominant win by championship leader Max Verstappen in his Red Bull Racing Honda, but behind him there was lots of wheel-to-wheel racing. Here are the winners and losers from the 9th round of the 2021 Formula One season:

Winners

Max Verstappen 

Max Verstappen pretty much replicated what he did last week, by qualifying on pole position, and then absolutely crushing the competition in the race to score his fifth win of the season. The Dutchman further extended his lead in the drivers’ standings to 32 points over Lewis Hamiton’s Mercedes. Red Bull Racing Honda now leads Mercedes in the constructors’ standings by 44 points.

Lando Norris

Undoubtedly the driver of the day, McLaren’s Lando Norris put in arguably the best performance of his F1 career at the Austrian Grand Prix. He qualified a career-best second on the grid, just four hundredths of a second behind Verstappen. In the race, he was more than a match for Mercedes, keeping them honest throughout the race to finish in third position. In fact, it could’ve been second were it not for a 5-second time penalty incurred on a borderline racing incident with the Red Bull Honda of Sergio Perez early on the race. Nonetheless, a fine drive from the young Brit. 

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Ferrari

As was the case last week, Ferrari bounced back from a poor qualifying to a strong race, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finishing fifth and eighth. Sainz yet again opted for an unconventional one-stop strategy by going long in the first stint, and had fresher tyres to attack in the end. With Sergio Perez’s post-race 10-second time penalty, the Spaniard was promoted to fifth after finishing sixth. But with McLaren’s decent haul of points thanks to Norris’ podium, Ferrari still has some way to go to overcome its 19-point deficit to McLaren for third place in the constructors standings.

Honourable Mention- George Russell

Another strong opportunity for Williams and George Russell to score points presented itself, with the Brit qualifying a career-best ninth. In the race, Russell had managed to recover from a slow start, and was valiantly trying to hold onto 10th place against the Alpine of Fernando Alonso. But defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory, as Alonso managed to pass Russell for the final points-paying position with just three laps to go. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic drive from Russell who is tipped to grab the second Mercedes seat for 2022.

Losers

Mercedes

Mercedes simply didn’t have an answer to Max Verstappen for the second weekend in a row and that too on the same track. This time, they had the McLaren of Lando Norris to fight in the race. It was Valtteri Bottas who was the top Mercedes driver, just about holding off Norris for second place. As for teammate Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time champion suffered some damage mid-race, and fell back to fourth in the end. It was another damaging race for the reigning world champions in both drivers’ and constructors’ standings, with Hamilton now 32 points behind Verstappen, and Mercedes 44 points behind Red Bull Honda.

 

Sergio Perez 

A scruffy race from the sister Red Bull Honda, that was already on the back foot after a borderline racing incident with Norris on Lap 4, saw him drop from third to 10th place. The Mexican did manage to recover to fifth and only a second behind Hamilton, but on the way he incurred a 10-second time penalty over two incidents with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. That saw Perez drop down to sixth in the end. Still, his finish did contribute to the team stretching the gap to Mercedes in the constructors’ standings. 

Aston Martin

Qualifying on the soft tyres for Q3 proved to be a major mistake for the Aston Martin squad, as they were both forced onto a two-stop strategy, which was slower in the end. Lance Stroll finished a lowly 13th, whereas Sebastian Vettel was taken out of the race by the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikonnen in the battle for 12th on the final lap of the race.

With the first set of triple header races now over, Formula One will head to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, scheduled for July 18.  It will also see the debut of the sprint qualifying format in the sport.