Max’s sprint, Leclerc and Sainz chase. Mercedes unknown
An hour of tactics, little thrills (Verstappen grounded by the engine shutdown, then he managed to restart) and many unknowns. In Austria a very tight challenge between several teams is expected, like in Barcelona, at 16:30 the first act will begin with the Sprint qualifications. Then on Saturday Sprint and qualifying for Sunday’s GP. In short, a lot of irons in the fire, Ferrari started chasing again: little of the potential was seen, but Leclerc and Sainz they asked for changes in the setup and this indicates that the basic solutions were not perfect.
But then again, Verstappen, who has won here five times, did the same: the advantage of two tenths on Piastri and three on Leclerc seems too big to be true. If it were true, it would be a problem for anyone chasing. It’s hard to say who the three-time world champion’s main rival is: Norris made a mistake on his flying lap but the strength of the McLaren is evident in Piastri’s second half. Hamilton and Russell were very fast on race pace (they tried hard tyres the whole time) without revealing their qualifying potential.
Ferrari is in this limbo dancing between the first and third row, the only certainty is that Charles and Carlos cannot afford mistakes. Vasseur asked for a change of pace, from them and from the whole team. Mercedes is coming back, one more competitor and also a very uncomfortable one. The sprint qualifications will serve to take measurements for the traditional ones.
