Max Verstappen says “Auf Wiedersehen” to his Competition at the Red Bull Ring

Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on July 02, 2023 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Clive Rose | Getty Images)

SPIELBERG, Austria – While the top of the running order made things look completely normal, the race itself was not as it mirrored the controversy that plagued Friday’s pair of sessions; the same thing happened Sunday. And while that may have been the biggest story of the day, there was still a race run.

While rain was the climate of the Sprint Race Day Saturday, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful day in the hills of Austria. Tire choices went back to the standard outlook, as while there was the possibility of rain by the end of the race, dry tires and a normal strategy option were in play Sunday. A majority of runners started the race on the Medium compound tires, with three drivers (Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen) going with the Hard compound tires. Another change was that both Magnussen and AlphaTauri’s Nyck De Vries started on the pit lane after making changes to their cars under Parc Ferme conditions.

With the tire strategy set, anticipation was in the air, and questions of if Ferrari would be able to challenge the formidable Red Bull and Max Verstappen or if he will once again lead every lap, and if Sergio Perez will make his way up the field to his teammate will be answered. And thus, with the anthem played and the grid cleared, the cars were sent out on their formation lap.

The lights went out, and away they went. Unlike Saturday, Verstappen was able to get off the line quickly and cleared the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. With him clearing both of them easily, all he had to do was defend through turns 3 and 4 before he was able to easily set off and grow a lead. But there was more chaos behind them. The AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda got put into a little bit of a race-car sandwich in Turn 1 and scattered a lot of debris everywhere after contact with Esteban Ocon’s Alpine and Bottas. Tsunoda so out braked himself and went off at Turn 4, but thankfully he was able to make it to the escape road with little issue. However, the Safety Car was deployed.

After a short SC period, Verstappen lead the field back to the restart and from there he set off once again to get further and further ahead of his challengers in Ferrari Red. But while Verstappen was cruising away, Sainz was catching Leclerc believing he was faster than his teammate. With that, the Spaniard started pleading with his team to let him through, but that didn’t occur. A little bit behind that, Lando Norris in his new McLaren was hanging tight with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, and the first sign of track limits controversy popped up when Norris started pointing out every time Hamilton was going out on track almost every lap.

Further back, the other Mercedes of George Russell and Perez were marching their way back up the field with Perez making multiple moves to make it to where his car should be. But then the field was neutralized when the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg failed him with a puff of smoke up the hill causing a Virtual Safety Car to be deployed.

While the VSC deployed, teams decided to take advantage of the cut-down pit stop times to take advantage of the strategy. On the first lap of the VSC, Hamilton, Norris, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Russell, Ocon, McLaren’s Piastri, and Williams’ Logan Sargeant took the chance to pit. A lap later, the Ferrari pair of Leclerc and Sainz double-stacked down the pit lane and so did the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll double-stacked as well. However, the Red Bull pair of Verstappen and Perez stayed out.

With the stricken Haas cleared, the VSC was lifted and Verstappen was sent off leading Leclerc and Perez. Sainz actually lost out in the pit sequence falling behind the Britons of Hamilton and Norris due to the double-stack Ferrari did during the VSC. With that, he was put on a mission so he could take back the spots that he lost. And thankfully for him, he was able to make quick work on Norris while Hamilton was given the first-time penalty of the day for track limits. And soon afterward, Sainz powered his Ferrari past Hamilton then Perez.

Due to staying out during the VSC, Verstappen needed to make his pit stop and swap onto the Hard compound tires (while the Ferrari pair stuck with a second set of Mediums during the middle tire stint). While Leclerc was closing in on Verstappen, Red Bull called him in, thus ending his 249-lap leading streak that has been consistent since lap 48 of the Miami Grand Prix. He soon fell behind the Ferrari pair as Red Bull called Perez in as well for his stop.

After his stop, Verstappen was now on a mission on a new set of tires to make his way back up to the lead. He came back onto the track right behind Sainz, and while it took a little bit before getting past, he cleared into second and set his sights on race leader Leclerc. Shortly afterwards after getting into DRS range, Verstappen made the winning move of the race to get back into the lead between turns 1 and 3 and set sail.

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA – JULY 02: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on July 02, 2023 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Behind, scraps all along the pack were picking up. Norris got himself around Hamilton and made his way toward Sainz, who just became the most recent driver to find himself with a time penalty for track limits. Further back, Piastri in a scrap in the mid-field and got himself some damage, but kept going on.

In a bit of a continuation of the previous race, de Vries and Magnussen once again got into scrap that saw the Haas go off track a bit, which caught the sights of the stewards while more and more drivers all around the track were facing possible penalties due to track limits with continuous calls to not go too wide in turns 9 and 10.

Shortly later, the pit cycle returned as some drivers who have received time penalties served their 5 seconds such as Sainz and Hamilton. Ferrari brought down Leclerc ahead of Red Bull bringing down Verstappen, so he was able to hold the lead. Perez soon pitted and fell back to 5th, chasing down Norris and Sainz.

Perez was shortly chasing down Norris and Sainz. He was able to make quick work of Norris in the McLaren but it was a bit of extra work trying to get past Sainz. When he finally made it into DRS range, he took a few laps trying to get him into 3, but Sainz would get DRS up to 4th. But Perez was soon able to get through and set off in the hopes to get to 2nd to make it a Red Bull 1-2.

The pace of the Red Bull was shown in full force as he was able to pull up to a 20+ second lead he then radioed his team looking for what he could do to get the fastest lap while the Red Bull team said that it would be a bit too risky to pit again, Verstappen was able to convince his team to pit for a set of used soft tires to grab the fastest lap. And that he did. He was able to rejoin the track ahead of Leclerc.

The white flag flew and Verstappen set off to grab his fifth win in a row and another fastest lap. A minute and seven seconds later, Verstappen picked up another win on the season and the fastest lap to extend his championship lead. Leclerc followed a tad over five seconds behind. Sainz crossed the line fourth and Norris followed in fifth. The Aston Martins of Alonso followed in sixth with the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell followed in seventh and eighth, respectively. Rounding out the points-paying finishes unofficially came the Alpine of Gasly and the other Aston Martin of Stroll finished 10th.

But the race wasn’t over. The FIA announced that they had over 1200 instances of track limit violations. And thus, the finishing order was soon to be changed. After review, the FIA announced that there would be 12 instances of time penalties handed out. 4th place finisher Sainz received a 10-second penalty, putting him behind Norris and Alonso. Hamilton, who had been having a subpar day, received his own 10-second penalty, putting him behind his teammate Russell. Gasly received a 10-second penalty dropping him behind Stroll. Albon received a 10-second penalty but didn’t lose any spots. Ocon received the most amount of penalties totaling up to 30 seconds of race time added. Logan Sargeant who had a good day going for him got himself a 10-second penalty. Finally, both AlphaTauri drivers of Tsunoda and de Vries received 5 seconds and 15 seconds in their race times, respectively.

With all of those penalties, the FIA mentioned in their penalty report that “[T]he Stewards very strongly recommend that a solution be found to the track limits situation at this circuit.” Hopefully, in the future, track limits won’t be the story of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

Formula 1 leaves Austria and heads to Silverstone next week for the British Grand Prix. The questions heading into the next race will be if Red Bull and Verstappen can continue their form or if the rest of the field can continue to catch up. Those questions and probably more will be asked and hopefully answered when F1 returns next week.