Don Kennedy on Formula One
A third of the season has already gone and Max Verstappen and Red Bull are beginning to assert their authority on both championships, following their latest victory in the Styrian GP at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Verstappen has now won three of the last four races, while his teammate Sergio Perez was successful in Baku. You have to go back to 2013 to find a season when Mercedes went four races without a win.
A year ago in the Styrian GP, which was actually held the weekend after the Austrian GP, Lewis Hamilton won by over 13 seconds from his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
What a difference a year can make. The Covid pandemic may still be around, although there a reasonable number of fans allowed to attend this year's race. But Verstappen, after finishing 33 seconds behind Hamilton in 2020, this time was 17 seconds ahead when Hamilton pitted with two laps to go so he could collect an extra point for fastest lap. While Verstappen's winning margin of 35 seconds over Hamilton, with Bottas third, may flatter the Dutchman, the reality is his 14th grand prix victory was probably his most emphatic win yet.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner was ecstatic while his counterpart at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, is beginning to sound desperate. As Verstappen was speeding to victory, Horner was on the team radio telling his driver to "keep turning the screw".
"I think the whole team's just working tremendously well at the moment," Horner told Sky F1. "The only hiccup we had in the race was the pit stop for Checo. But other than that, it was an immaculate performance, particularly by Max who just managed the race so well. He controlled the race fantastically well and it was a masterclass."
Horner though is aware there are still 15 races to go so he is not getting ahead of himself by thinking about championship glory.
"You've got to take it one day at a time in this championship. It's such a long route and we'll enjoy today, take the lessons from today and try to apply them next week. It all fell right for us today and we've just got to keep the momentum going."
In contrast to Horner, Wolff sounded a little despondent as he not used to Mercedes trailing another team in the Constructors' championship or seeing Hamilton being soundly defeated by a driver from a rival team.
"It's not a bad result indeed, but what's tough is that it's been the first race, really, in eight years where you're just lacking the pace," Wolff told Sky F1.
"You see we have stopped developing for this year because we believe that the next years are so important to get it right. And [Red Bull] keep adding bits with aero parts. You feel like their eking away and their new power unit has been consolidating their performance."
As you would expect from someone who has led his team to seven consecutive Constructor's and Drivers' title, Wolff will not allow his team to give up.
"So, we've got to put our heads up together and do the best out of the package that we have. This is far from over," he emphasised.
"We are totally fired up. This is not a fait accompli., we were lacking pace today. It was the Sunday of the first Austrian race, there's 15 to go and we will be doing the best we can. We will be winning races, we will be on pole position and we will be fighting back."
This was Verstappen's third victory on the circuit owned by the founder of the Red Team team, Dietrich Mateschitz, having won the Austrian GP in 2018 and 2019.
But this was the most comprehensive and important victory, given he has extended his lead in the drivers' championship over Hamilton to 18 points. Prior to the race, he was not buying into Hamilton's suggestion that he now labels himself as a bit of an underdog. "Did Lewis say we were a lot faster in the long runs on Friday?" Max asked. "That's not true. He tries to play the underdog a bit, but you see it is very close. It has always been like that so far this season. You see that they have been better on Sunday than on Saturday, partly because they are good on tyres. That's something we need to work on."
It seems they did work on it, based on the way Verstappen drove his race and his margin of 17 seconds over Hamilton before the latter pitted for a second stop. Red Bull had done their homework on not just tyres and strategy, but straight-line speed. After taking his first pole position at the Red Bull Ring, the race went better than Verstappen thought it might.
"Our car was on fire. Straight away I felt good balance in the car," he said. "It was good to manage the tyres basically from the start. We just kept on going, trying to hit our lap times and that worked really well."
Verstappen did complain of a possible brake issue during the race, saying it "quickly just fell a bit to the floor between Turn 9 and Turn 10 while braking." But it didn't stop him winning in the dominant way we have seen Hamilton do in some of his 98 wins so far. The latter said he had a "bit of a lonely race" unable to stay with Verstappen, yet comfortably ahead of Bottas who was battling with Perez.
"I was trying to keep with those guys but the speed they have, they've obviously made some big improvements over the last couple of races and impossible to keep up.
"We need to find some performance, we need an upgrade of some sort, we need to push," Hamilton lamented, apparently oblivious to Wolff's comment that development on the car has stopped.
Hamilton won't like to think the team may not be as committed to an 8th title as much as he is. He will be aware that next year in theory every team starts from the same drawing board, so will be desperate to win an 8th title in case the opportunities dry up after this year. Bottas was still smarting at the end of the race because of his three-place grid penalty for spinning in the pitlane during practice, following a complaint from the McLaren team, who thought it was dangerous and the FIA agreed.
Perez, who stopped twice, nearly caught Bottas on the last lap, but his 4th placing, along with Verstappen's win, meant Red Bull gained 3 points on Mercedes in the Constructors' championship. Behind Perez came Lando Norris in the McLaren, who had qualified 4th but was promoted to 3rd with Bottas's grid penalty. In the race he couldn't keep Bottas or Perez behind him but was best of the rest.
"I remember last year when we had a P5 it was like 'wow', its like a win. But every time you get into that position and get comfortable with it you want to achieve a little bit more," Norris explained.
Driver of the race went to Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. He clashed with Pierre Gasly in the Alpha Tauri exiting the first corner at the start of the race. Gasly ended up with three wheels and had to retire, while Leclerc pitted for a new nosecone. From basically last he climbed back through the field to finish 7th, just behind his teammate Carlos Sainz. It was a much better showing for the two Ferraris but considering everyone up to Perez were lapped by the race winner, the gap between Red Bull and Mercedes from the other eight teams, remains significant. Nonetheless, Leclerc was a lot happier. "It is really a pity for the first lap because apart from that, maybe one of my best performances," Leclerc said. "But anyway, it must be said that today the car was a great car and it's been a really positive day."
One advantage in having another race this weekend is that the teams won't need to pack up like they normally do as soon as the chequered flag is waved. If Hamilton is hopeful of his team finding something to challenge Verstappen, it is unlikely they will do so in one week, but Wolff is as usual, optimistic.
"Its very interesting, I'm really looking forward to analyse and see if, in a week's time, we can do a better job," Wolff said.
If Verstappen wins another Austrian GP this weekend, he will have to think carefully about how he celebrates. As he crossed the finish line last Sunday, he moved over to the pit wall and did a burn-out in front of ecstatic team members on the pit wall. Michael Masi, the FIA Race Director, warned Verstappen's team that he had endangered others.
"It was not an ideal situation, which is why I spoke to the team immediately and told them accordingly that was something that would not be tolerated in future," a rather dour Masi said.
There is a good chance Verstappen can repeat last week's victory, and probably every chance he will find a safer way to celebrate if he does, even if Masi's concern has a PC look about it.