Austrian Grand Prix – Race: Leclerc’s success in relief, ahead of Verstappen

The dark clouds are lurking around the Red Bull Ring, which enjoys a dry track before the start, heated by the gentle Austrian sun at 30°C, all under an ambient temperature of 20°C.

The battle will be tough between Red Bull and Ferrari, with tire management being crucial for the 71 laps to come.

The vast majority of drivers are equipped with medium tires. If a handful of them try to go out on hard tires, the red ones are left aside.

Perez went off track during the first lap.

Trouble-free start for the 20 drivers, but halfway through the race, a contact between Hamilton and Perez sends the Mexican off the track. He comes out of the gravel trap but rejoins in 20th place. He takes advantage of this opportunity to make a pit stop and equip himself with hard tires. No apparent damage.

Directly and in line with the sprint race, Verstappen sets his own pace. Leclerc follows at just under one second while Sainz is falling behind. The gap with Russell, who is in 4th place, is already significant, with the Englishman being relegated to nearly 10 seconds behind the leader.

The latter caught up with his teammate in lap 9, whose slow pace seems to indicate an issue with his Red Bull following the collision.

Leclerc puts pressure on Verstappen and shows up in his rearview mirrors. The battle begins at turns 2 and 3, but the Dutchman doesn’t let anything pass, staying true to his style.

Same attacks launched by the Ferrari driver in the next lap, but Verstappen, struggling, still holds on.

Leclerc overtakes Verstappen.

On lap 12, Leclerc finally overtakes after a big braking move on the inside. He quickly gains a slight advantage, confirming the excellent pace of his Ferrari. The first pit stops are made, including Russell who receives a 5-second penalty for causing a collision.

13th lap and Verstappen, in a slide, also comes into the pits to switch to hard tires. He is thus attempting the undercut, but Ferrari does not fall into the trap and both cars continue at their own pace. The Red Bull driver comes out in 7th place.

Hamilton overtakes Schumacher, moving into 5th place behind the Ferraris, Ocon, and Magnussen.

Lap 18, and Max Verstappen is closely behind Hamilton, who is still on medium tyres, defending his position as much as he can. Just like the Ferraris, he remains on track due to the good durability of his tyres. The reigning World Champion quickly overtakes, assisted by the DRS.

At lap 21, the Ferraris begin to lose pace, conceding nearly a second per lap to Max Verstappen, who is setting the fastest laps. However, the Italians still maintain a comfortable lead of over 17 seconds.

On the French side, Pierre Gasly is in 16th place and seems to be struggling to earn points this Sunday. On the other hand, Esteban Ocon cleanly overtakes Zhou after passing Alonso with a different strategy. The Norman driver is now in 6th place.

Big battle on track in the middle of the pack between Alonso, Zhou, Magnussen, Norris, and Schumacher. The Danish driver comes out as the winner and finishes 8th.

Ferrari’s stoppage, Verstappen takes the lead.

Leclerc finally stops after 26 laps, while Perez is called to the pits to retire due to a damaged floor. The Monegasque comes back out 6 seconds behind Verstappen. Sainz stops on the following lap to come back out in 5th place, behind Hamilton who is still on his starting tires. He stops at the end of the lap at his pit.

In the next lap, Esteban Ocon overtakes the British driver, who complains to his team about not pushing the stint further. With the help of DRS, he regains the 4th position shortly after.

Meanwhile, Leclerc is closing the gap with Verstappen and is coming back into his rearview mirrors.

Leclerc overtakes Verstappen.

On a completely different pace with his fresh tires, Leclerc easily overtakes Verstappen on lap 33. The #1 complains about the unpredictable behavior of his Red Bull.

Penalty of 5 seconds for Norris, after abusing the track limits too much.

Muscular overtake by Alonso, who secures the 16th position with his right tires on the grass, while reprimanding Tsunoda with a hand gesture after gently pushing him off the track.

2nd Red Bull stop

New pit stop for Verstappen in lap 37, coming out in 3rd place, nine seconds behind Sainz. The strategy is based on two pit stops, with Verstappen returning to the track on white compound tires. Leclerc continues his race without covering the Red Bull strategy.

On lap 40, Sebastian Vettel hit Gasly’s wheel while attempting an outside maneuver at turn 4, resulting in Vettel going off into the gravel trap. He manages to rejoin the race in 18th position. Gasly is likely to receive a penalty for causing the incident due to understeer.

Second pit stop for Ocon on lap 46, who continues his great race. He comes out in 6th place behind Alonso, still with only one pit stop to his name.

2nd pit stop for Ferrari heading towards a one-two finish?

Ferrari chose to pit Leclerc on lap 50, who came back out less than 4 seconds behind Verstappen on white tyres. Sainz followed suit on the next lap.

Charles Leclerc quickly catches up to Verstappen, who will once again have to defend his position. Hamilton makes his second pit stop and comes out on medium tires ahead of the Alpines in 4th place.

At lap 53, Leclerc easily overtakes Max Verstappen once again and charges ahead, quickly joined by Sainz towards a possible Ferrari one-two finish.

The ignition of Sainz’s Ferrari.

Approaching Verstappen’s rearview mirrors, Sainz’s Ferrari starts smoking. The Spaniard stops as his car bursts into flames. The Spanish driver urgently escapes from his car.

The virtual safety car is deployed. The two leaders pit to change to medium tires. Alonso, who is doing well, follows suit but then stops again for a third pit stop due to an anomaly noticed during the second stop.

In lap 62, Russell takes 4th place from Ocon, who is ahead of the two Haas cars on track to score good points here in Austria.

Leclerc in pain

More than three seconds behind Verstappen, victory seems promised to Leclerc, but the latter complains about accelerator problems. This information is given to Verstappen, pushed to put pressure on the Ferrari driver. He then confirms that the pedal is having difficulties returning to neutral position.

Red Bull catches up to Ferrari, taking advantage of Leclerc’s troubles.

With two laps to go, Verstappen is getting closer to the Monegasque, within two seconds.

The latter, nevertheless, will manage to resist and go on to claim victory ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton.

The ranking upon the finish of the Austrian F1 Grand Prix 2022.