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Charles Leclerc in front of the grandstand, which is bathed in orange
Photo: FLORION GOGA / REUTERS
»It sucks!«:
Shortly before the end it got exciting again.
Charles Leclerc, who had dominated the Austrian Grand Prix for many phases, struggled with his accelerator pedal.
First it felt "strange", then it stuck, then there were problems with the circuit.
His engineer instructed him to take his foot off the accelerator whenever possible.
Not a sentence that a Formula 1 driver likes to hear.
The Ferrari driver got nervous, cursed and still made it to the finish ahead of the rapidly approaching Max Verstappen - it's the first Ferrari dash in Spielberg in almost 20 years.
Ironically, on the home track of the Red Bull competition.
The result:
After exactly three months of frustration and breakdowns, Leclerc is back on top of the podium, followed by Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, who started eighth.
1.5 seconds separated Leclerc and Verstappen in the end.
Read the race report here.
The start:
Verstappen initially defended the lead from Leclerc and Sainz, who in turn was attacked by George Russell in the Mercedes.
Pérez was also involved in the fight for third place, after touching Russell he landed first in the gravel and then in the pits, Russell got a five-second penalty.
Because it was so nice, let's do it again:
Leclerc was able to gradually increase the pressure on Verstappen, in the twelfth lap he passed the Dutchman for the first time.
After both had changed tires (Verstappen on lap 14 and Leclerc on lap 26), Leclerc caught up his gap to Verstappen (6.8 seconds) within a short time, on lap 33 he passed again.
Verstappen complained about the lack of grip on the radio and switched to the hard tires (36).
Leclerc's gesture of dominance:
Ferrari changed the strategy and also equipped Leclerc with the hard tires (49).
Leclerc now had to catch up on Verstappen by 3.8 seconds, on lap 53 he attacked him before turn three and, when accelerating out, showed how much the Ferrari was superior to the Red Bull that day.
The Ferrari is on fire:
Sainz's retirement was not for the faint of heart.
On lap 57 he had to park the first smoking and then burning Ferrari at the exit of turn four.
While the flames at the rear of the car were getting higher and higher, Sainz tried to get out of the vehicle, which was rapidly descending.
With the help of the marshals, he finally managed to put out the marshals and Sainz initially stayed on the edge of the track.
The Spaniard was in third place, with the podium and the Verstappen in front within reach.
A one-two would have been possible for Ferrari.
Sainz with criticism:
Afterwards, Sainz criticized Sky for not having come to his aid more quickly: “It was quite strange.
I saw the marshals come to arrest the car.
I saw the fire in the rear-view mirror and was a bit surprised that nobody came faster to help me.
At some point I just had to jump out, even though the car was moving.
It's not ideal and we'll see what we can do in the future.« In the TV repeat, two marshals were seen running towards the Ferrari with fire extinguishers, but one switched off the fire extinguisher and initially ran back.
Both Verstappen and Leclerc used the subsequent virtual safety car phase to switch to the soft tires again, then the problems with the Ferrari began.
Inappropriate behavior in the stands:
Over 300,000 fans attended the Red Bull Ring over the entire weekend.
On race day, orange-colored smoke was already blowing along the 4.318-kilometre track on the formation lap.
The Oranje Party had started, but it was overshadowed by numerous complaints about sexual harassment and homophobic and racist statements in the stands.
Read more here.
Schumacher's best result:
A week ago, Mick Schumacher scored something countable in Formula 1 for the first time in eighth place at Silverstone.
Eight more points were added to the four points.
"We have a run," said Schumacher, who finished sixth - and had been counted by his racing team weeks ago.
Now team boss Günther Steiner was reconciled, Schumacher was "a good young man," he said on Sky.
"Fantastic race, I'm happy for you and the team," he had previously radioed.
Leclerc resumes the pursuit:
It is now half-time in the Drivers' World Championship, eleven of 22 races have been completed.
Leclerc reduced the gap to Verstappen to 38 points and is 19 points ahead of Verstappen's teammate Pérez, who ultimately had to park his Red Bull, which was damaged by the gravel ride.
"I really needed this win," said Lelcerc after the race.