The 2022 Austrian Grand Prix was an action-packed affair with some thrilling midfield battles, strategy and a bit of late-race drama into the mix. When the dust settled at the Red Bull Ring, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari took on the top step of the podium after a three month wait with the defending champion Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton filling in the podium places. Here are the winners and losers of the 2022 Austrian GP:
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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc did well to hold off world champion Max Verstappen to win the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday and reboot his hopes for a world championship. This race win marked Leclerc’s third win of the year and Ferrari’s first at the Red Bull Ring since Michael Schumacher won it back in 2003. It was also Leclerc’s first win when not starting on pole which proves the point that Ferrari actually have the pace required to chase the Bulls down. After a series of disappointing results, Leclerc was thrilled to get another win under his belt.
He simply has to retain his composure if he wants to keep his championship dreams on!
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Mercedes are always there to pick up the scraps if things go wrong with the top two teams and that was the case in the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton recovered from a crash in the qualifying to score his third consecutive podium. As for his teammate George Russell, he dropped to P19 after the first lap incident with Perez but recovered well to take P4. This result means that Mercedes have a much stronger hold as the third best team in the constructors’ championship.
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After bagging decent points at Silverstone last weekend, the Haas F1 team picked up yeat another double point finish in Austria. Mick Schumacher is finally looking like he’s getting hold of his Haas as he picked up a P6 finish after some intense battles with Lewis Hamilton. K-Mag too was looking to finish alongside his teammate but an engine issue brought him down to P8. With back-to-back race points finish, Haas moved up to P7 in the constructors championship.
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Esteban Ocon had an incredible ride on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring. Starting sixth on the grid, the Alpine driver moved up to P4 by Lap 12. From that point he battled at the back end of the leaders the rest of the race, having battles with Lewis Hamilton and others. Ocon ended up finishing P5 and marked his first finish in the Top 5 this season as we head into his home race – The French Grand Prix, next weekend.
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After being a Formula 1 race winner last weekend Carlos Sainz ended up picking his 4th DNF of the season at the Austrian GP. The Ferrari driver looked set to overtake Max Verstappen to take P2 during the race but smoke was seen coming from the back of his Ferrari. The Spainard’s car began rolling backwards while he was stuck inside before he jumped out of his car that caught fire.
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It wasn’t a good weekend for Sergio Perez as he was penalized for exceeding track limits in Qualifying and had to start from P13 in the Sprint Race. He fought his way back upto P5 and proved that he had good race pace for the main race. On Lap 1 of race day, Perez tried to make a move on George Russel but a collision between the two caused Perez his race. Later the Mexican driver was also fined 300 Euros for speeding in the pit lane.
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McLaren’s poor run of form continued for yet another weekend as neither Lando Norris nor Daniel Ricciardo looked set for points finish heading into the race. But somehow, the two managed to keep things going with not the best cars on the grid, thanks to their strategy calls helping them finish P7 and P9 respectively. With Ocon finishing P5, means that McLaren are still P5 in the constructors’ tied on points with Alpine.
[Featured Image Credit: F1]
Shashank Iyer