Formula 1 visited arguably the most picturesque race setting on the F1 calendar this weekend, as a quick turn around from the British Grand Prix saw the travelling F1 circus pitch camp in the midst of the Eastern Alps near Salzburg to battle it out at the Red Bull Ring. 

It was an extended weekend format with qualifying on Friday evening that saw Max Verstappen grab pole, followed by a short sprint race on Saturday that was won by the Dutchman again. On Sunday at the main race though, Ferrari came out fighting, with Charles Leclerc sealing a dominant win on the home turf of their rivals Red Bull. 

Also read: Austrian Grand Prix sees Leclerc revival, Verstappen book second place

Let’s take a look at the winners and losers from this weekend of F1 action. 

WINNERS

Charles Leclerc

It’s shocking to think that the pacy Monegasque had been without a win since early April. A mixture of reliability issues, strategic own-goals and perhaps a mistake or two thrown in between had left Leclerc trailing Verstappen by a mile in the WDC. 

However, he put those demons to rest in style, as the Ferrari always seemed to have the measure of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull on Sunday right from the off. Leclerc overtook Verstappen with a slick overtake catching the Dutchman off-guard at the Turn 4 hairpin on Lap 12. 

Thereafter, Red Bull threw everything at the Ferrari in terms of strategy, but the team in red seemed to have all the answers, as Charles overtook Verstappen two more times following pit stops and the only time he looked in trouble was when his own car seemed to be misbehaving towards the end, but thankfully for him he got over the line smoothly enough. 

Only time will tell if this win will prove to be the start of a comeback in the larger scheme of things for the Italian team, but judging by this weekend’s command over its rivals, Ferrari seems ready to revitalise its flailing championship hopes at least in terms of pace if not reliability yet, and Leclerc could just be the perfect man to actualise that.

Mercedes

What a marked difference from Friday evening to Sunday for the silver arrows! Friday had seen Mercedes lose both their cars in Q3 as both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell slam into the barriers after losing control of their cars in qualifying. 

Sunday started in equally disheartening fashion as Russell was handed a 5-second penalty for sending Perez’s Red Bull for a spin in the first lap, and Hamilton was overtaken by the Haas of the flying Mick Schumacher early on. 

But both drivers kept their heads down and made headway through the race. And after Perez’s misfortune, as well as Sainz’s late engine burnout, the two were in the right place at the right time to inherit further points, including a podium for Hamilton and 4th for the ever reliable Russell. 

Mercedes have made it a habit this season of scavenging off the top 2 teams’ woes, and this weekend was another scavenging job well done!

Also read: F1: Lewis Hamilton blasts ‘Max Verstappen fans’ for booing him ahead of Austrian GP

Mick Schumacher

Fresh from banking his first points in Formula One, its safe to say that the shackles are off, the pressure seems to have lifted and we can all now enjoy another young racer flexing his proverbial muscles at last. Gone is the tentativeness and caution that plagued the German in the first phase of this year’s championship. 

In Austria, Schumacher was even more impressive throughout the weekend- he first made it into Q3 on Friday, and his stout defending against Lewis Hamilton was the highlight of the sprint race on Saturday, even if he lost out to the veteran eventually. 

Following the sprint race, Schumacher had appeared miffed at not being allowed to pass his teammate while he was being chased by Hamilton- Mick clearly believed that he had been the faster man, but the team boss Gunther Steiner had expressed his apprehension on that and backed the team’s call to allow Magnussen to lead. 

On Sunday though, Schumacher put the team boss’s opinions to the sword by overtaking Kevin Magnussen with minimum fuss and making a point that he had been right about his sprint speed after all. He finished comfortably ahead of his teammate and came home at a career-high 6th place, marking consecutive point-scoring weekends for the young German.

We are currently witnessing a racer come of age in front of our eyes. 

Also read: After epic Verstappen-Schumi British GP battle, their dads’ old interview resurfaces

Esteban Ocon

Ocon had a quiet but brilliant weekend on his ever-impressive Alpine. He’d had a lonely sprint race coming home in 6th and on a weekend where the fortunes turned completely on his teammate, Ocon went about his business with smoothness, driving away from the rest of the midfield pack and getting ever closer to the Mercedes of George Russell, even unlapping himself in the process to bring his Alpine home to a solid 5th place. 

Alpine looked primed to gain command of 4th position in the constructors at the expense of McLaren with a car package that continues to impress and 2 drivers who seem very capable of maximising the qualities of the car.

LOSERS

Sergio Perez

Perez’s weekend was truly topsy-turvy, but one that ended in heartbreak. After being sent back down the grid to start from P13 after his fastest Q2 qualifying lap was deleted by the stewards, he made brilliant headway in the sprint to plant himself 5th on the grid. He looked ready to join the fight at the front with the Ferraris. 

It was perhaps this eagerness to get back into the action at the top that led him to go for an ambitious Turn 4 overtake on George Russell at the start of the race. He nailed the overtake, in fact, getting ahead of the Mercedes from the outside of Turn 4. 

But Russell did to his Red Bull what Mercedes cars have been doing to Red Bulls frequently over the last few seasons- kissed his front left tyres with Perez’s rear rights and sent the Mexican spinning onto the gravel, with floor damage for good measure. It was almost a carbon copy of what Hamilton had done to Albon a few seasons back, and once again, it ended up ruining the Red Bull’s race. 

Perez could have been patient and surely sealed the inevitable overtake a few corners down the line, but in his overeagerness, he left himself susceptible to the Mercedes, and his spin ended up leaving Red Bull fighting the two Ferraris with just their one car.

He will have to learn from this moving on, particularly if the Ferraris continue to show their dominance like in the last two weekends. 

Carlos Sainz

First-time Grand Prix Winner at the British GP one Sunday earlier, and looking primed to fight his teammate in the championship- a lot can change in a week.

He had looked very competitive this weekend too, coming a close 3rd in qualifying and holding back for the same position in the sprint after some initial squabbling with Leclerc at the start of the sprint. 

On Sunday, he was on the verge of sealing a satisfying overtake on former Torro Rosso teammate Verstappen and making it a Ferrari one-two at the home of their rivals. Instead, the unfortunate Spaniard had to scurry out and save himself from his Ferrari that alarmingly went from a 320 km/hr machine to a fiery ball of flames within a matter of seconds. 

It is a win in a way, that he came out of his car completely unblemished. But from the perspective of the championship, he is now once again far behind Leclerc and the Red Bulls in the points and will be left rueing his misfortune for the next fortnight of F1 inaction. 

Also read: F1: Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari catches fire at Austrian GP, driver safe

Alpha Tauri 

What’s going on at Alpha Tauri? It was a shambolic race for the entire team – right from the drivers Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, to the team strategists. 

Lead driver Gasly who was the team’s best bet for points this weekend ruined his race after he incurred a very avoidable 5-second penalty for bumping into the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, sending him into the gravel- a poor move from the Frenchman whose stock is diminishing in 2022 alarmingly. 

There were words exchanged on the radio as well, as Gasly questioned the team’s weak strategy that never gave him a shot at scoring any points- but after his ill-advised coming together with Vettel, was he even in a position to have that conversation? 

Anyway, 15th place for Pierre then, and his teammate Tsunoda was even slower coming in at 16th on a weekend when their rivals Haas scored big points. Alpha Tauri once looked like a steady midfield team, but now they’re increasingly looking like a straggler at the back. 

Aston Martin

Lawrence Stroll would not have envisaged this. He is overseeing a team that looks slower by the weekend competing at the back end of the grid rather than at the front. 

The Aston Martins once again couldn’t get out of Q1 and they spent their entire race outside the points and never looking to be in a position to threaten. 

Vettel did have an unsavoury trip to the gravel thanks to fellow backmarker Pierre Gasly, but that wasn’t going to make or break his race really- there wasn’t much to make in the first place. 

Lance Stroll tried a different strategy, going in for a longer first stint but even that came undone as there was no safety car to throw him the lifeline he needed to get close to the points. And like Alpha Tauri, in their 3-way fight for 7th in the constructors, they had to watch on as Haas had a blinder of a weekend.