F1 | GP AUSTRIA, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “LECLERC, SCHUMACHER AND ALONSO. WHAT A SHOW”

It was a wonderful Austrian grand prix on all fronts, in both the positions at the top as well as in the back. The turning points were not lacking starting with the flames that stopped Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari that was firmly in second position up to that moment, to the problem of the accelerator pedal on the sister car driven by Charles Leclerc who however managed to take home the win ahead of his direct rival Max Verstappen.

Ferrari took home its second straight win putting a patch on the criticism of the last few days; they were perfect across the board. Unfortunately the reliability partially ruined the celebrations. This was not a positive sign for the men in Maranello. They were major breakages that negatively affect the planned development.

For his part, Leclerc was fantastic. He made no mistakes overtaking Verstappen three times and this time he could do nothing against Ferrari’s superiority. On the other hand the Dutchman was very good in Saturday’s sprint race. The “domestic” tussle between Leclerc and Sainz did not affect the final result. In that part of the race Red Bull was superior.

Mercedes went onto the podium with Lewis Hamilton who crossed the finish line ahead of George Russell, however paying a wide gap. We are back to the pre-Silverstone gap but they were able to exploit the misadventures of others. It was an excellent fifth place for Ocon but Mick Schumacher was superb, in clear growth and he probably managed to “unlock” himself. I hope that this is a good omen for a second part of the season on the rise.

Fernando Alonso’s tenth place is also to be applauded. For part of the race he even held sixth place after starting in twentieth place. Once again he played a role in bringing points to Alpine.

Finally, there was no lack of penalties for having exceeded the track limits. The Red Bull Ring is equipped with sensors that promptly highlight non-compliance. It is a technology that should be used in all the circuits so as to “free” the marshals.

So now we wait two weeks for the Grand Prix in France and then the one in Hungary.

Gian Carlo Minardi