The policy of small steps does not pay off at Ferrari. There was a small improvement, but not even enough to make the jump on the Super Max weekend. The color of the weekend is orange, not red. That of Max and the McLarens (even if Piastri was punished by a somewhat fiscal track limit).
He was starting to run out of poles. Three races in a row without starting in front of everyone was becoming too much. In Austria, on Red Bull’s home track, Max Verstappen didn’t want to leave any hope to his opponents. He took it all. Mini pole, sprint race and pole number forty of his career.
The McLarens tried, both in the mini race and then in qualifying, but Norris remained at 0.444 in the end, which on a 64-second track is a huge gap. Lando had had his chance in the morning during the sprint race when on the fifth lap he jumped in front of him at turn 3, but then he had sensationally made a mistake at the next corner (“I made a mess, I left the door open like an amateur”), ending up losing position on both Max and Piastri.
The Austrian weekend, with the soundtrack of Ricchi e Poveri played at full blast, confirms that McLaren is now the second force in the championship (Piastri was demoted for exceeding the limits, but was third) and Mercedes always manages to put at least one car ahead of Ferrari. The Scuderia is in crisis. It can no longer find the performance.
Sainz and Leclerc were good at the start of the sprint, they gained positions, but then they had to deal with a car that was too slow and strangely still bouncy, especially in the fast corners of the last sector. Sainz fourth and Leclerc sixth take away the smile, even if a small, very small, step forward has been made compared to Friday. We worked on the SF-24 between the sprint race and qualifying (“We have to invent something”, said Charles) and a small step forward was achieved even if then in the last run in Q3, Charles Leclerc made a mistake while he was improving his time. Verstappen was uncatchable, Norris too (0.133s behind Carlos), but Mercedes was within reach (only 11 thousandths between Russell and Sainz).
“It was a positive qualifying, we did our best. We have always been in the top five. It will be a tight race”, commented Sainz, the first red tip this weekend. “I always want to try. Today it was too much. He didn’t pay. Turns one and three I was fast, faster, turn four I braked late at turn six I did banzai but I went into the gravel… too bad because the feeling had improved. Today I made a mistake. Still better than third place… still better than seventh.” Leclerc’s admission.
The race seems like a private conversation between Verstappen and Norris, with some chances for Lando if he is perfect and dares in the first laps. For Ferrari the maximum objective is the podium, but it is necessary not to miss the DRS train, and therefore stay glued at least to Russell and Hamilton. Hard times. How beautiful are the 24 hour long races.
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