Max Verstappen entered a period of prosperity, and he doesn’t seem to drop any form.
The Dutchman dominated the weekend, which he coronated with a grand slam.
Valtteri Bottas and the surprise top performer Lando Norris, gained themselves a podium.
Max Verstappen – 10
Verstappen is in the form of his life. He led every single lap of both races at the Red Bull Ring and enjoys an advantage of 32 points on Lewis Hamilton.
It wasn’t perfect on qualifying, with the Dutchman being unhappy with his track position, but he still managed pole position.
He then flew away with victory in the race, completing a superb triple header: three poles and three wins.
Embed from Getty ImagesValtteri Bottas – 9
After nine races, Bottas finally manages to outscore Hamilton on the weekend.
The Finn kept error free and benefitted from the misfortunes of the drivers ahead.
With Hamilton struggling, it was his chance to be the lead Mercedes car and, with Verstappen untouchable, second was the best he could do.
Lando Norris – 9.5
He misses a perfect score just because of the penalty that denied him second place and compromised Sergio Perez’s race. Aside that, the Brit was stupendous.
He missed pole by 48 milliseconds and was in contention all the way with the two Mercedes cars for the podium.
He already scored more points than he did last year and Austria was another superb performance.
Embed from Getty ImagesLewis Hamilton – 6
Hamilton picked up damage to his car and completed one of the toughest weekends of his recent history.
He did outqualify Bottas, but the Finn caught up and moved past on the second stint, as he also gave way to Norris to finish in P4.
Carlos Sainz – 8
Almost anonymously, Carlos Sainz gets 10 points in the bag. The Ferrari struggled on Saturday, with the Spaniard qualifying 11th.
However, this gave him the option to start on the hardest tyre and follow his rivals in the first stint.
Once fitted with the medium tyre, he made up ground to move past Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez.
Embed from Getty ImagesSergio Perez – 5.5
The Mexican will be unhappy looking back at this result. A P3 grid slot looked promising, so did the pace of the Red Bull car.
However, after running off when fighting Norris, he rejoined in the middle of the field and failed to make up ground.
Only once the two-stoppers cleared, did Perez move ahead. However, even though he passed Ricciardo, two penalties for forcing off Leclerc limited him to sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo – 6.5
Even though his teammate Norris fought with the Mercedes cars, Ricciardo would probably have accepted a P7 finish.
He gained a few places at the start and ran as high as P5 for most of the race. Only the late charge of Carlos Sainz, on softer tyres, cost him a potential fifth.
He settled to six points, which is fair considering his struggles.
Charles Leclerc – 6
Now that Sainz is looking more comfortable with the car, Leclerc is having to fight hard to keep ahead of the Spaniard.
The Monegasque was quite active and potentially could have achieved more had he not been blocked by Perez.
However, it’s an eighth place finish, three places lower down that Sainz.
Embed from Getty ImagesPierre Gasly – 7
For the eighth time in nine races, Pierre Gasly failed to finish in front of his grid slot.
The Frenchman was impressive in qualifying, with another stunning sixth place. However, the Alpha Tauri committed to a two-stop strategy which didn’t pay off.
As a consequence, Gasly dropped back and lost the places to Ricciardo and the Ferraris.
Fernando Alonso – 7.5
Fernando Alonso felt he could have achieved so much more in qualifying.
He was set to complete a lap which could be valid for a P6 start, but traffic on the last corner meant he was knocked out in Q2. It was game over.
His scintillating pace demonstrated in Q1 was made vain and only a late recovery helped him to still finish in the points.
Embed from Getty ImagesGeorge Russell – 8
A poor start probably condemned George Russell to another race out of the points.
He qualified a brilliant P9, entering Q3 on medium tyres.
His strategy paid off as he moved past most of the two-stoppers, before the late charge of Alonso cut short his hope for points.
Yuki Tsunoda – 5
For a fraction of time, Yuki Tsunoda’s weekend was the best so far in Formula 1.
The Alpha Tauri driver was solid all throughout qualifying and started 7th. However, a poor strategy, plus two silly errors compromised everything.
He ran across the pit entry lane more than once and collected two penalties.
Lance Stroll – 5.5
Lance Stroll was another unfortunate driver who committed to a two-stop strategy.
It appeared clear from the beginning that climbing back in the top 10 would have been hard and Stroll dropped back a huge way.
He started the last lap in 15th before a crash gifted him two places.
Antonio Giovinazzi – 5
For some reason, Antonio Giovinazzi is often involved in some contacts or misfortunes in the opening lap.
He collided with Esteban Ocon on the opening lap and was forced to pit, dropping to last place.
His race was practically over and he was only 14th to the flag.
Kimi Raikkonen – 5
Kimi Raikkonen suffered yet another qualifying disappointment, but the race was going pretty well. As per usual this season, he fought just out of the top 10 and was making a late charge.
However, just on the last lap his manoeuvre caused a crash with his former teammate Sebastian Vettel.
It provoked a dangerous crash which put an anticipated end, albeit by few seconds, to his race.
Embed from Getty ImagesNicholas Latifi – 4
Nicholas Latifi had another struggle in Austria.
He was a long way off his teammate on Saturday, only starting 18th, and featured a long way back in the race.
Eventually, he also picked up a penalty for ignoring double yellow flags on the last lap.
Sebastian Vettel – 5.5
His race was partially compromised due to an error on Saturday, as he held up Fernando Alonso.
It was more of the team’s responsibility than his, but it lost him time. Once he moved past Lance Stroll, he was still committed to an inefficient strategy.
He recovered up to P12, before a collision which Raikkonen crashed him out on the last lap.
Mick Schumacher – 7
With a struggling car, Mick Schumacher keeps doing all he can.
Once again, he was a good way in front of Nikita Mazepin in both qualifying and the race, keeping error free.
It’s unfortunate that all of this was for a lone P18.
Nikita Mazepin – 4.5
He was outqualified by more than half a second on the shortest track of the F1 calendar.
He then finished the race 70 seconds behind his teammate, even picking up a penalty on the last lap.
Nikita Mazepin’s weekend is one that he will soon want to forget.
Esteban Ocon – 4
Since he renewed his contract, Ocon hasn’t been the same.
His teammate comfortably finished Q1 in P3, only needing to use one set of tyres, whilst Ocon finished 17th despite using two.
His race was also immediately over, as a contact with Giovinazzi on the first lap caused him to retire.
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