Charles Lerclerc got on his Ferrari, showed his fist and ran into the arms of the Ferrari crew, Mick Schumacher loudly uttered “yes” while still in his car and laughed liberally.
As the winner of Leclerc’s third win of the season at Spielberg, the 23-year-old German could have undoubtedly been feeling at the Austrian Grand Prix. “Fantastic race, I’m happy for you and the team,” team principal Gunther Steiner told the sixth-placed driver.
Mick Schumacher finished sixth in Spielberg.
A week ago, Mick Schumacher scored something countable in Formula 1 for the first time in eighth place at Silverstone. Eight more points have been added to the four points. “We are on the right track, we are completely satisfied with the day,” Schumacher confirmed. However, he still preferred to fight at the front. “But we’ll have to wait a little longer for that.”
Leclerc: “I definitely need that”
Leclerc’s Ferrari proved unbeatable, much to the chagrin of the tens of thousands of Dutch who drove there – despite the throttle crowded in the final laps. The jubilant World Cup rival blew up an orange party for Max Verstappen fans at the Red Bull Arena. “I definitely need to,” Leclerc said.
Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz, the victorious winner of Great Britain seven days ago, retired on his way to the podium. It was just so hard that he managed to save himself from rolling back and burning Ferrari. World record champion Lewis Hamilton also benefited surprisingly, climbing to the podium with his Mercedes in third place.
Verstappen is 38 points ahead of Leclerc in the rankings
In the rating, the leader and world champion Verstappen lost only six points. “But second place is a good result on a difficult day,” commented the Dutchman. His superiority over Leclerc, the second-placed, was 38 points. The third is Sergio Perez, who retired for Red Bull’s second Grand Prix at home to billionaire racing team Dietrich Mateschitz.
In the lap of the formation, an orange-colored smoke was blowing along the path that was only 4,318 kilometers long. Mood-makers from the Netherlands have turned the weekend at the Grand Prix in Styria into a non-stop party since Thursday – albeit with very unpleasant background noise. According to reports, especially from fans, there were racist and homophobic insults, Formula 1 wrote about the “comments that are totally unacceptable”.
At the race, Verstappen fans in their orange jerseys had to shiver quickly. On the twelfth lap, Leclerc pressed past for the first time. Two laps later, Verstappen put on the hard tires and backed off a bit at the start. Leclerc and Sainz set the pace up front. The second Red Bull swayed with Perez at the start at the end of the field after colliding with George Russell at the start. The Mercedes driver also received a five-second penalty for this one, which Mick Schumacher also took advantage of.
Confusing Racing Events
It quickly got a little confusing over the short run after new tires were installed on some fields, others not. Since pilots only needed a good minute to roll, smaller groups kept gathering. Schumacher asserted himself superbly there as well, passing on, among other things, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in the Alps, and then teammate Kevin Magnussen, who didn’t necessarily help him the day before – much to the frustration of the German, whose friend he collided with Vettel had his frustrating days in Austria also in a race he could not save the race, with Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Toure in the meantime only falling behind in 17th place.
Leclerc is completely different, he was a team partner in Ferrari’s times. The Monegasque team ended its weeks of frustration due to bankruptcies, bad luck and controversial decisions by the team’s management. In 2019 Leclerc won two races, in 2020 it was absolutely nothing, this year in Bahrain and on April 10 in Melbourne. Within a few laps after changing his tire, he met Verstappen and passed him easily.
However, the race hasn’t become any clearer. Some drivers received warnings and time fines for leaving the circuit, and after 48 laps, even Mick Schumacher, who was eight, was already in. When Ferrari also caught fire, the virtual safety car stage took place in an eventful and fun race. Leclerc has now complained about throttle problems, but he brought his Ferrari to the finish line first.
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