On Sunday, July 1, 2018 will take place the Austrian Grand Prix, the ninth race of the Formula 1 World Championship, in the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg bei Knittelfeld. We're close to the first half of the championship and Mercedes shows up with Lewis Hamilton as the leader of the Drivers’ World Championship with 145 points, against the 131 of the German driver, and with 237 points in the Constructors' World Championship against Scuderia Ferrari's 214 points. Therefore, the goal is to maintain the first place in both standings taking advantage of the characteristics of the Red Bull Ring, that could favour the qualities of the Anglo-German cars. But it will be necessary to pay attention to Red Bull, that recently won in Monte Carlo and is very clearly getting back to the top. Unsurprisingly, from this grand prix on, Red Bull gives up the new MGU-K provided by Renault. The Anglo-Austrian team, in case of substitution of this component of the power unit, would have been penalised. The two drivers of the French team and Stoffel Vandoorne, in McLaren, have instead decided to use this new component. From this race on, Mercedes debuts an evolution in the aerodynamics of the car. The changes mainly concern the sidepods of the car and the bulkhead of the rear wing. The shape of the rear diffuser has been modified too. Pirelli, the sole provider of the tyres, brings for this grand prix Soft, Supersoft and Ultrasoft compounds, confirming the 2017 choice. The FIA, on the other hand, decided upon three zones where the driver can activate the Drag Reduction System: the first one, and that's new, is between the Castrol and the Remus turns, with the detection point between the drivers placed before the turn one; the second is between the Remus and the Schlossgold turns (the detection point is placed before the Remus turn), while the third zone is on the straight line alongside the garages, with the detection point placed before the Red Bull Mobile. Going to Spielberg, the location of the next Austrian Grand Prix, is a Daniel Ricciardo who's aware of his abilities. And it could be his last grand prix there, between the hills in Spielberg, while driving the Anglo-Austrian car. As a matter of fact, different teams, as McLaren, have been courting him, but it seems that Ferrari's interest in him has died down; the Italian teams now seems more likely to promote Charles Leclerc if Kimi Räikkönen were to decide to end his career.
"I've been saying this since the beginning, the priority now is to try and get a car that can win the world title because I really believe I can do it. Therefore, this is the first thing on my mind. If there's no chance, instead, I'll consider other aspects. However, as a driver, I think I have done enough… even Lewis (Hamilton) mentioned this and he probably didn't even need to say it, but your worth as a driver isn't a certain amount of money, it's just what you think is your ability and what you bring to the sport. I feel that I have a certain worth, so I would like it if it matched my expectations and what people think I can do".
Red Bull's recent switch to the Honda engines could represent an ulterior risk factor in the climb to success in 2019.
"If I don't win the championship and end up fifth or third, it won't change anything. My career would suffer if I stopped putting the same effort in or if, after winning three championships, I went to a team that ended up fifth. This would probably be a setback. For me, the hardest thing was leaving Australia and coming to Europe when I still didn't know what my talent was. I didn't believe I was good enough so that was probably the hardest decision ever".
Daniel, in addition, points out:
"To be short, I think it won't influence my decision. It gives me a little bit more clarity regarding the direction of the team. Now all the cards are on the table and it's up to me to understand what I think about this. I see advantages in starting a new path with Honda, but I still need to reflect. On one hand, it's positive that they took the decision, I hope I can announce it within a couple of weeks. To be honest, everything regarding my negotiations is reserved, I've proved my level ever since I've been with the team, especially this year. The win in Monte Carlo was a big success for me. The results can help me in negotiations for the rest of my career too. From the economic point of view, we keep everything a secret, but I'm happy about the situation I'm in and what I can offer to the team. Personally, I want to put pen to paper before the summer break. This way, I can go on holiday with nothing on my mind. Red Bull now has taken this commitment with Honda, all the cards are on the table, I know what I can have and I hope I can announce something very soon".
And the questions during the official press conference of the Austrian Grand Prix focus precisely on the drivers’ market. Kimi Räikkönen was asked his opinion on the rumours about McLaren being interested in him:
"I really don't know. I had already left Ferrari years ago, I didn't think I would come back and it happened instead. You never know what will happen in the future, we'll see. As always, there's a lot of rumours and I'm never happy to comment on them. At some point, we'll see what happens and I will find out too. So, there's not a lot to add".
The questions coming from the journalists in the room become more and more insistent and they ask him if he's already met with somebody from McLaren. Räikkönen at first jokes:
"Of course I've spoken with them, but in the past when I was racing for the team".
Then he harshly criticises the media's behaviour:
"I have no interest in being involved in these pointless rumours. You'd like to know if I've already spoken with them? Take it as you want, I don't think your opinions can change anything or what I say will influence you. You decide what's true and what isn't, regardless of what I say".
There's no deadline for the decisions about his future anyway:
"I think I've already been in this situation a lot of times. We'll definitely know before next year. But it's quite a normal situation for me".
Going back to the current moment, the Finnish driver doesn't hide the fact that he needs to improve his qualifying:
"I think we need to get better results, for sure we need to start from the front because then it's easier on Sunday. Especially because in many races it's been hard to overtake. The last one was different from this point of view and this made it more fun. We've always had a decent performance until qualifying, we've often made mistakes in the last try. And that's where we need to improve and fix things".
Räikkönen had a convincing race in Le Castellet, with an attack strategy. He's then asked if his competitiveness depended on the fact that he didn't need to take into consideration team orders. The Finnish driver rejects any insinuations:
"I don't know what you're trying to ask me. It depended on the structure of the track and the fact that it was possible to overtake. In the previous races it wasn't possible to do so and everybody kept their position. In Paul Ricard, we were able to fight and it was much more fun compared to the last few races. But what happened depended on this, it's something normal, there was not a different plan for me and my teammate. I don't care whether he's in front of me or behind".
Talking about the world championship, instead, getting to the ninth race of the season makes it possible to assess the situation, with Mercedes and Ferrari alternating on top of the standings. About that, Sebastian Vettel explains:
"There have been many different tracks and I wouldn't know how to explain the differences between us and our rivals. Especially when it comes to Mercedes, it's difficult to understand why sometimes they were in front of us and in other situations they were behind us. Red Bull have been a little bit more constant, instead, because we've raced on tracks that suited their characteristics. In the end, however, you can never tell what will happen. We've had races in which we've been very strong and others in which we've not done well, for a number of reasons. But we've always managed to improve in the sectors in which we were weaker… If we don't consider the first lap in France and we look at the entire weekend, I think the last one was much more positive than Barcelona, regardless of the similar tarmac and the same kind of tyres. Therefore, we were in a better situation. I can't tell, however, why Mercedes sometimes is really competitive and other times it's much less competitive".
And, in the meantime, a little bit more than five days after the contact in the first turn at Paul Ricard, peace is back between Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.
"I think critics are normal in situations like this one. But we're always trying to push ourselves to the limit. Sometimes it goes well and everything's amazing, others unfortunately things don't go how they're supposed to".
No controversy in the aftermath with the colleague, who received a direct apology from the German driver mere minutes after the checkered flag. Valtteri Bottas says:
"Sebastian came to me immediately after the end of the race and apologised. It was a nice gesture, but there wasn't a lot I could say considering that I lost some points and I couldn't do anything to avoid it. He said it was his mistake and the fact that he owned up to it was positive. From my point of view, I know that we all make mistakes and I have nothing against him. It happened and now we move forward".
A clarifying meeting during which, however, the Finnish driver didn't talk a lot:
"If I'm being honest, I think he did all the talking. I didn't say anything, but it's something us Finnish people have, the ability to communicate without opening our mouth. He apologised and I simply had nothing to add".
Lastly, Bottas analyses the World Championship standings, in which he slides back to the fourth position, 53 points behind Lewis Hamilton:
"The World Championship? Never say never… I really don't see myself giving up in the race for the title. Of course, I know that the gap now is quite big, but in Formula 1 nothing is impossible. And, by the way, we still haven't reached the first half of the season".
On Friday, June 29, 2018, during the first free practice session, Lewis Hamilton marks the best time. The world champion is a little more than 0.1 seconds in front of his teammate, Valtteri Bottas. Max Verstappen marks the third best time, while Sebastian Vettel follows him and is therefore fourth. The two Mercedes drivers are the only ones to complete a lap in under 1'05''0. Scuderia Ferrari is also forced to switch the wooden skid block under Sebastian Vettel's car, while Daniel Ricciardo loses part of the session because the techs needed to replace the steering rod, that bent when he passed over a curb. Kimi Räikkönen prefers to replace the front sway bar, to improve the set-up of his car. At the end of the first session of practice, McLaren receives a 10.000-euros fine for unsafe release of Stoffel Vandoorne's car, when Sebastian Vettel was approaching. The Belgian driver damages the front wing passing over a curb.
In addition, during the first free practice session, Robert Kubica takes Sergej Sirotkin's place in Williams. Lewis Hamilton marks the best time on a lap during the afternoon session too, and he does so while using the soft tyres, that is the hardest compound Pirelli brought. The use of softer compounds is actually a disadvantage given the low temperature of the tarmac. The English driver is in front of his teammate Valtteri Bottas yet again, while Sebastian Vettel comes in third. The session is interrupted by a red flag because of Pierre Gasly getting out of the track; this also causes him to break the left front suspension on a curb. Fernando Alonso only does a few laps, because of a problem to the floor of his car that is damaged during the session. A similar problem involves Max Verstappen's car. Despite the result of the practice sessions not being really good, Sebastian Vettel states he's satisfied with the work put in during this first day:
"There's always a little margin for improvement, but I can say I'm happy about today".
Considering that Ferrari usually improves on Saturday, the Maranello team's driver can be hopeful:
"The front row here is always important because it's difficult to overtake the other cars. Our speed today was good and we're usually stronger on Saturday. So, I hope tomorrow will be the same. The front row is always very important".
The German driver minimises the problem of the curbs, that caused the front suspension on Pierre Gasly's car to break:
"If you don't get on the curbs, you won't have any problems. But it's difficult, because when you really push it can happen. Today we didn't have this kind of problem and I hope it will be the same tomorrow and on Sunday".
Kimi Räikkönen has different feelings and he says:
"It was neither a perfect day nor a disaster. It was a normal Friday, where I did normal things for tomorrow. We tried a lot of things and to learn how everything works, today is only Friday".
And his comment regarding the curbs is laconic:
"Everybody goes a little wider because you can do it. When we reach the yellow part, there can be a bit of problems. There it's a personal choice, it depends on us. We obviously can't go too wide, otherwise we'd have to get 10 metres out to gain speed".
In these past hours, the rumours about Charles Leclerc taking Kimi Räikkönen's place in Ferrari for 2019 have been growing. To the point that some people are talking about Sergio Marchionne hypothetically thinking about an exchange in drivers between Sauber and Ferrari already during the summer break, with the Monegasque joining the Maranello team in Belgium and the Finnish going back where his Formula 1 career started. Frédéric Vasseur, team principal of Sauber, denies this idea:
"We have a contract until the end of the season, and we haven’t talked about that further in the future. I can understand that there are some rumours in the press, but they have nothing to do with reality. We are focused on our work and Charles is 100% focused on Sauber, the future will be discussed later. We haven’t received any offers yet. I think that the best for him is to finish this season with the team and not hasten too much. It’s not a walk in the park. After China, it looked like he was in proper shit, the following race (with his sixth place in Azerbaijan) he had become a World Champion".
And he adds:
"We need to let him work peacefully, he’s doing a good job for sure, he’s growing up, but he’s not a World Champion. If he were to have problems in the next races, and it will surely happen because things can’t always go well, I don’t want Charles to become a target. He’s on a very good learning curve and he’s taking off, I’m really happy and proud of the work he’s put in but, again, he’s not a world champion yet. Six months ago, he was in the Formula 2 paddock and very few people knew his name, there’s a big difference between the end of November in Abu Dhabi and now, with his name being on everybody’s mouth. In any case, I’m impressed by how calm he’s been".
Back to today’s free practice Lewis Hamilton, who was first both in the morning and the afternoon, makes an assessment about his day:
"A good start, rather easy and with no real problems. There aren’t many turns here, it’s a very fast track and the different compounds are all very close, but the Softs seem to be the best for me".
The British driver seems particularly satisfied with Mercedes’ updates:
"It’s really nice to see the updates: the people at the factory worked really hard to bring quality components. The car feels better in some parts of the track, which is a step forward compared to last week, and it immediately improved getting out of the garage both in FP1 and FP2. During the afternoon session, then, it got worse, we’ll need to understand why during the debriefing, but the car is good overall, so I’m confident we’ll be able to fix it".
His teammate, Valtteri Bottas, is second in both sessions and compliments his team:
"We tried our updates today and the first impression we had is that they work well. Everything worked exactly as expected, which is thanks to the hard work behind the scenes. The rear part of the car was especially stable. Last year I suffered a lot from blistering in the rear tyres and it could potentially be a problem again, since it will be hotter on Sunday, so that’s a good thing that today I had this stability".
Mercedes’ chief engineer, Andrew Shovlin, adds:
"We arrived here with a rather complete aerodynamic package and luckily it looks like everything works as expected. FP2 was harder, the balancing wasn’t perfect and it looks like we weren’t able to maximise the Ultrasofts' potential, especially Lewis who was instead feeling better with the Softs. Ferrari usually takes a big step forward between Friday and Sunday, so we’re not paying too much attention to the lap times, we’ll rather start to work on the problems that both drivers highlighted".
The mirrors Mercedes put on the car had initially been modified in France, with an extension in the external part, but in Austria they added a vertical element that supports the fairing. Some controversies emerged at the Red Bull Ring about the functioning of this bracket that could be useful to direct the air flux in the superior section of the sidepods and towards the rear part of the car. According to some people, though, this solution is illegal because it seems like Ferrari’s precedent, with the mirrors on the halo linked with a rod in the external section, functioning as an aerodynamic device. Among the people who think it’s illegal there’s also Ferrari’s technical director Mattia Binotto, who states:
"This is illegal".
On Friday, the FIA seemed to take some time before announcing their decision and the Federation technical delegate Jo Bauer’s words are proof of this:
"We’re waiting for qualifying, but they can drive as they want in free practice".
However, the matter sparks - as always - from an interpretation of the rules that don’t establish standard mirrors, but generally talk about struts and their link to the mirror. The FIA seems to have approved Mercedes’ solution this time, so they’ll be able to keep using it both in qualifying and during the race. Something that created a precedent, considering race director Charlie Whiting’s words about the decision to declare illegal the ones brought by Ferrari in Barcelona:
"The problem derives from the interpretation of the word ‘mounting’. I doubt that kind of struts would be there if it wasn’t some sort of aerodynamic advantage".
Undoubtedly, this device won’t ensure a great performance but because of how the FIA made this decision it creates the risk to spark new controversy. Speaking about other things, based on the qualifying simulation and the race pace seen in Spielberg, Red Bull Racing seems to be struggling downwards compared to Ferrari and Mercedes - in their home race. In particular, Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t able to go under the 1’05’’0 limit with the Ultrasofts, and on the long runs with the Ultrasofts and the Supersofts he didn’t seem competitive.
"It was a fun day. And the short lap makes it so that all the times are close. This morning, we were a little bit stronger than during the afternoon and we still need to find some tenths. We made some changes in between the sessions, but I think that tomorrow we’ll be able to opt for a middle ground between the two set-ups. This morning I felt better with the Softs compared to the Ultrasofts and this afternoon I marked a better time with the Supersofts compared to the Ultrasofts. And I can see why Lewis was the fastest on the Softs. It’s surprising, but the tyres are all very close, so it will be really interesting to understand what strategies will be chosen for tomorrow".
Max Verstappen didn’t seem really competitive either. The Dutch driver, though, reveals the reason why he had so many difficulties; there was a problem on the flat floor of his RB14:
"We damaged the floor. Something on the inside broke and I drove in the FP2 with a damaged floor. It must have happened because of the vibrations; we will put a new one tomorrow. That’s why today it wasn’t a good Friday, but there’s space for improvement. We lost some time in the turns, and we knew we’d struggle on the straights. We need to improve the car a bit".
Finally, talking about the curbs, the Red Bull Racing driver says:
"They’re very aggressive. It’s not ideal, but we’re all trying to avoid them because they can damage the front wing. But if they put a wall instead of the curbs, you’d hit a wall. So that’s simple, you just need to avoid them".
On Saturday, June 30, 2018, during the third and last session of free practice, Sebastian Vettel marks his best time and manages to stay in front of the two Mercedes. The German now detains the new record for this track, using Ultrasoft tyres. The first three drivers are all in a little more than 0.1 seconds window, while Kimi Räikkönen - fourth - has a 0.4 gap from his teammate. The Red Bulls have problems, instead, with Max Verstappen forced to end his session in advance for a power unit problem.
Charles Leclerc finishes prematurely too, after having a problem to the gear. Brendon Hartley damages the front wing passing on a curb. At the end of the qualifying session, Leclerc is forced to replace the gear, damaged by the breaking of a suspension; this causes him to receive a five-place penalty on the starting grid. A few hours later, in Q1 Esteban Ocon is the first driver who geta a significant time, but it is then improved by Lewis Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel are behind the Brit. The fight for the first place is close: first Bottas, then Vettel get the first place. Then, Lewis Hamilton improves his time once again and finds himself first. Charles Leclerc damages the front wing and is forced to replace it in the garage. The Monegasque driver, in the final part of the session, gets out of the track. This causes a yellow flag, which limits the drivers’ possibilities to improve their times. Stoffel Vandoorne, Sergio Pérez, Sergej Sirotkin, Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson get knocked out. Ericsson, who detains the last time, has a gap from the first of less than 1.5 seconds. In Q2, the Mercedes drivers decide to use the Supersofts, that will be used at the beginning of the race too. The choice is rewarded with the new track record, still by Lewis Hamilton. The Red Bulls are slower, with a gap - based on Ricciardo - of almost a second from the first. Vettel improves again the track’s record, though using the Ultrasofts.
Esteban Ocon, provisionally one of the drivers who are going to be eliminated, is penalised by a Williams that is getting out of the pitlane. Esteban Ocon is one of the drivers who get knocked out, alongside Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, who broke the front wing in the last try, and Lance Stroll. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel is investigated by the stewards for impeding Carlos Sainz Jr. In Q3, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton aren’t immediately the fastest drivers and, in fact, the fastest time is marked by Valtteri Bottas. Kimi Räikkönen tries the two out laps strategy and on the fast lap he reaches the second place while Romain Grosjean manages to get the fourth position, behind Mercedes and Ferrari. The two Red Bulls aren’t able to overtake the French at the end of their first try. In the last minutes, Valtteri Bottas improves his time again, while Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel manage to mark times even better than Kimi Räikkönen. Amongst the Red Bull drivers, only Max Verstappen is able to overtake Romain Grosjean – who ends up sixth. Valtteri Bottas gains his fifth pole position, the second in a row on the Austrian track. At the end of qualifying, Sebastian Vettel is given a penalty of three positions on the starting grid and a point on his Super Licence for impeding Carlos Sainz Jr. in Q2. Mercedes repeats the first row of Paul Ricard, with Valtteri Bottas’ fifth pole position; the Finn had a gap of 0.019 seconds from his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, at the Red Bull Ring. At the end of qualifying, he says:
"I feel really good about getting my first pole position this season. I like this track a lot: last year, I had a nice weekend here and this year it started well again. It’s a complicated track; there are only seven real turns, but you can make mistakes really easily and lose a lot of time. For me, it was a lot of help that my first lap in Q3 was really good, so I could take advantage of that in my second run. I will analyse the data in detail to see where there’s more margin for improvement. Today the car was well balanced, so I can’t imagine why tomorrow it shouldn’t be like this. Lately, we’ve had very contrasting races, so I hope I can start well and fight for the win. We showed we are fast here and we have a strong package, so we need a nice and clean race to transform our results in points. It’s nice to have a good result, but this was just qualifying and it’s the Grand Prix that counts".
In the deciding lap, even the world championship’s leader had an excellent performance, that wasn’t enough to gain the pole position though, more so because Hamilton didn’t want to risk ruining the qualifying with another mistake:
"In the first try, I went long at turn three and when you don’t bring home a clean first lap, in the second it’s difficult to risk 100% because there’s the chance to compromise the final result. Bottas did a fabulous job and he deserved the pole position. It’s still a great result for the team because we got the front row as in France".
The English driver confesses that, as regards the set-up, the two Mercedes drivers were on two different strategies:
"Bottas was clearly right, we’ll see if during the race with the three DRS zones there will be more overtakes than usual. The Ferraris start on the Ultrasofts, while the Red Bulls decided for the Supersofts as us for the first stint. We’ll see how the race will evolve".
The Austrian Grand Prix’s qualifying highlighted Mercedes' superiority. But, as if it wasn’t enough, Sebastian Vettel’s third place becomes a sixth place because he impeded Carlos Sainz Jr. during Q2. The German driver explains he didn’t realise the Spanish driver was approaching:
"The team usually notifies me through the radio, this time it didn’t happen. They probably didn’t realise it either, I’m sorry for Carlos: clearly, I’ll speak with him, it wasn’t my intention to slow him down. It’s obvious that often you can’t see well behind, I looked and didn’t see him, then in turn 1 I looked again but didn’t see him until he was behind me".
Vettel then started Q3 with a lap that wasn’t perfect. But the Ferrari driver rules out the possibility that the mistake in turn 3 was a consequence of the previous episode:
"It didn’t have an impact on my concentration, I was obviously angry about the fact that nobody had warned me, it’s something we’ll have to discuss later. Regarding Q3, I knew we’d have to push as much as possible because Mercedes had something more, by the way I saw they chose the Supersofts for Q2. I tried to push, I made a mistake and lost a lap. In the last try, I knew I had to attack and get close to the first ones and I did it, I’m third. Maybe I could lose another tenth, but it wouldn’t have changed anything anyway".
This time around Ferrari decided again to use a different compound compared to Mercedes in qualifying, Ultrasoft versus Supersoft:
"It’s not like they’ll let us by because we have different tyres. Maybe there will be this chance at the start, during the first lap, but last week with Kimi it went well, while I had some problems in the first lap. It’s a different track, different conditions, but I think it should work".
As for him, Carlos Sainz Jr. says:
"Luckily, that lap wasn’t decisive for my access to Q3, there’s a rule and I was penalised in Hockenheim two years ago for a similar episode, but I’m sure that Vettel wasn’t notified in a team radio that I was arriving at high speed. In that spot there weren’t any alternatives, I lost some downforce and I chose to go wide to avoid a rear-end collision".
The disappointment for the fifth and seventh place after Q3 risks to leave a lot of space for the internal controversies in Red Bull Racing. Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were the protagonists of a rather disappointing Saturday and with big gaps compared to all their rivals. Daniel Ricciardo accuses the team’s strategy that, during all the qualifying session, sent him on the track first so that his teammate could benefit from slipstream. The Australian says:
"In the heat of the moment, I thought the pit wall had screwed me over. Then I discussed it with Christian (Horner, the team principal, editor’s note) and my engineer. I had some worries about this from the beginning, but I took it for granted and didn’t talk about it before qualifying. Maybe I thought it was more obvious than it really was and I should have raised the issue before getting out on the track. I talked about it with my engineer, but then I understood it hadn’t been considered by the team".
And he adds:
"So, from their point of view, I imagine they must have thought: What’s happening? when they saw us on the track playing cat and mouse. From my side, what happened was fairly clear… Give me at least one run where I can take advantage of the slipstream, instead of always being forced to be in the front".
No problem, instead, on Max Verstappen’s part:
"We both knew what was happening, but the competitive part that is inside of us didn’t want to give the advantage to the other. I’m not angry with him, it’s simply how things went. Would I have voluntarily given the position, had I been in his shoes? I don’t think so, but it was the team that was supposed to intervene. I thought something like: Ok, couldn’t the team switch place for at least one try and send him out on the track first? That’s why I was a bit frustrated, since I knew that as long as I was the one getting out first things were not going to change. What was obvious for me, though, seems to have created some chaos on the pit wall. Why was qualifying so bad? I don’t know, it seems that we are really slow… We lose more than we thought on the straights, and we don’t really gain in the turns".
According to Max Verstappen, there’s no reason to dispute since this kind of tactic is normal for the Anglo-Austrian team.
"Every weekend we alternate regarding who gets out in the front in qualifying. Last weekend, for example, I got out first and Daniel could use the slipstream. This time it was his turn, it’s very simple and easy to understand. The team always tells us how to act, I can understand that it might have been frustrating for him, but on the next occasion I will be in front of him".
Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing’s team principal, replied too:
"The drivers are aware of the situation, there’s not a lot to say. We have a simple policy, that we’ve been using for the last seven years, which is to alternate every weekend the driver that gets out of the garage first. We think it’s the only way to be correct with everybody. And, this time around, it was Daniel’s turn. The drivers explicitly know that every Saturday they need to alternate. In France, Max got out first and it will happen during the next grand prix too in Great Britain. We also alternate the driver who speaks first during the debriefing, it’s our way to ensure that we’re always as correct as possible".
Back to the qualifying and the race, Verstappen doesn’t hide a bit of understandable disappointment for the fifth place:
"In Q1 and Q2 we honestly thought we’d be closer, but the balancing wasn’t great, I wasn’t feeling normal on the track. In the end, being so far back was the natural consequence… Ferrari and Mercedes are a bit too fast, we hope we don’t need to watch our back from the cars behind too".
During the afternoon, in Austria there’s also talks about the chance that Porsche might come back to Formula 1 from 2021. Not for anything, some members of the German factory have started to take part in the meetings about the new power unit that should replace the actual one starting from the next rules cycle. Porsche would come back to F1 as an engine supplier and its name has been associated to Williams, who’s looking for a top partner to improve after a difficult period, alongside Red Bull Racing, that recently started a partnership with Honda but only for 2019 and 2020.
Speaking about this, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he’ll be happy if Porsche will in fact decide to come back to Formula 1:
"The more we can fight inside our little amusement park, the more fun we have. I imagine Porsche might be interested, but I see their involvement isn’t clear. Now, they are present at the discussions’ table, and they are giving their contribution".
And, talking about the 2021 engines, Wolff says that despite the FIA being ready to publish a first draft of the rules, some topics still need to be discussed and clarified.
"It’s not set in stone, but I suppose next week we’ll know something more about it during the meeting with the Strategy Group. There are still aspects we need to agree that haven’t been defined at the table between all the engine constructors during the previous sessions. For us, the important thing is still the technological message: that efficiency needs to be at the centre of the discussion since the world moves towards green engines and towards the electric. We don’t need to simply go back to 20 years ago because we gave into nostalgia".
Talking about the Austrian Grand Prix instead, Toto Wolff says he’s definitely satisfied with the W09 performance with the updated package.
"I like the upgrade because we waited a bit to have something that works well. But in Formula 1 there’s not one thing that changes everything. That’s why the package seems really good, but we’ll see what will happen on the track".
The Austrian manager, about the reliability of the power unit that gave more worries than necessary between Canada and France, states:
"It’s always about the balance we need to have between reliability and performance. It’s not an easy feat, we tried to push a lot, but as a consequence we obviously have some reliability problems".
Lastly, regarding the contract renewals between Mercedes and its drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, Toto Wolff concludes:
"Soon, we’re in the last phases of the discussion".
On Sunday July 1, 2018, at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen pass Valtteri Bottas. The Finnish driver goes long in the run-off area at turn 3 and is then passed again by the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo, the two Haas and the teammate Sebastian Vettel follow. The German, in a couple of laps, overtakes the two Haas drivers. During the eleventh lap, Nico Hülkenberg retires the car and three laps later Valtteri Bottas is forced to retire too for a problem to the gear shift. The race direction calls for a safety car. The two Ferrari drivers and the Red Bull Racing drivers take advantage of the situation to make a pit stop, while the race leader Lewis Hamilton stays out. The standings don’t change. During lap 28, a driving mistake by Räikkönen allows Ricciardo to take the third place. Then, during lap 26, Hamilton makes a pit stop: the British gets back on the track as fourth, behind the two Red Bulls and Räikkönen. A little later, Daniel Ricciardo is slowed by tyre degradation problems, while Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel reduce their gap from Kimi Räikkönen. During lap 38 Räikkönen, taking advantage of Ricciardo’s problems, overtakes the Australian, who immediately stops to change the tyres. During the following lap, Vettel overtakes Hamilton (who’s having tyre problems too) gaining the third place. The British, though, doesn’t give in and tries to get closer to Vettel again.
During lap 52, Lewis Hamilton stops for the second time. During the following lap, Daniel Ricciardo is forced to retire: this allows the World Champion to get the fourth place back. During lap 54, Brendon Hartley is forced to stop because of a hydraulic problem. In the final part of the race, the two Ferrari drivers try to close the gap to Max Verstappen. During lap 63, Lewis Hamilton has to retire the car too because of the lack of pressure in the circuit that supplies the fuel to the engine. For Mercedes, this is the first double retirement for technical problems since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix (the last time both cars had to retire was in the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix for a collision). The British driver ends like this a streak of 33 consecutive ended races (that began in the Japanese Grand Prix in 2016), a record he shared with Nick Heidfeld - who gained it between 2007 and 2009. For Hamilton it’s also a stop in the record streak of 33 consecutive placements in the top ten. Romain Grosjean gets the fourth position, while the two Sauber cars manage to enter the points zone passing Pierre Gasly. Max Verstappen wins the Austrian Grand Prix, resisting the return and the attacks of the Ferrari drivers. Romain Grosjean’s fourth place is the best result in F1 for Haas - a team that gets the engine from Ferrari - while Sauber hadn’t gotten points since the Chinese Grand Prix in 2015. This means that there are six cars with Ferrari engines in the top ten. Kimi Räikkönen gets the fastest lap. With this incredible result, Sebastian Vettel gets the first position in the World Championship, with a point more than Lewis Hamilton. After the first laps, Sebastian Vettel probably would’ve never believed he might get on the podium and even less to be back to leading the general standings. And yet, the German driver isn’t able to be completely pleased by today’s result:
"I wasn’t expecting to be back to leading the championship. At the start, I lost a few positions, then the first stint was difficult because I was trying to get back behind the leader’s pack. I think today’s third place is good, but without the penalty it would’ve been a different race. Now it’s like this, I’m happy for the points and the podium, but it’s not amazing because as I said without the penalty it would’ve been possible to win today".
Vettel’s race had started with some difficulties given that, to avoid worse problems, he had lost some positions from the sixth he had started in:
"I was aggressive at turn 1, but I think Grosjean tried something and then I lost my speed. In turn 3 it was almost the same, I lost other positions. Then it was important to pass quickly the two Haas. From then, the race was very long: with the Softs, the car was very strong, no problem with the tyres. It was way better than in Barcelona, the car was really fast. The race was good, but I’m not 100% satisfied because I think that with our speed we might’ve won today, without Saturday’s penalty. You never know, but the race would have been a bit different".
In Austria, the tyres chosen were Pirellis with traditional tread and Ferrari was the car that managed to take advantage of them better than anyone else, without the blistering problems others had:
"After Barcelona there was a lot to do, and I think today we were good with the tyres. More than 50 laps on the Softs, you can’t know how the tyres will react. I tried to manage them, I think we were good to get back to the top, but the emotions are contrasting: we probably might’ve won in other circumstances, we had great pace, probably the same as Mercedes. We need to keep improving, because in qualifying we’re losing ground, so there’s still a lot of work".
At the end of qualifying, with the fifth place, it didn’t seem possible to include Max Verstappen between the favoured for the win. Yet, the Virtual safety car then gave him the win, thanks to the lucky pit stop that guaranteed the success to him, aided by Lewis Hamilton not pitting and having blistering problems on the tyres he put on his car.
Right about the Pirelli tyres management compared to his teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s, Max explains:
"I think there are always little differences in the car. The tyres are really sensitive. If you’re aggressive in the first 5 laps, the tyres start degrading and once this happens, the damage is done. I don’t know what happened exactly, but this stuff happens. It’s unlucky, we were both going to finish on the podium, but sometimes it goes like this. Seeing him retire isn’t positive for the team, it would’ve been way better if we’d gotten points with both cars. I tried to cope with the tyres’ problems, trying to keep them in the right window. And we managed them pretty well, especially in the last laps. Ferrari could push until the end, I had to be more cautious".
Max managed to control the gap with Kimi Räikkönen, dropping it from 7 to 2.5 seconds without ever risking to find himself in the DRS zone.
"Since Friday, we made one of the biggest changes ever on our car. It helped us get this result".
From around 7.5 seconds, in the final part of the race Kimi Räikkönen slowly eroded the Dutch’s advantage, stopping to 1.5 seconds at the finish line, thanks to the fastest lap he gained right in the last lap.
"I don’t know if it would have been possible to catch Max, the laps I had were those, so it’s useless to keep thinking about whether this or that could’ve happened. The positive thing is that we had good speed, particularly in that phase, while the first part of the second stint was a bit complicated. When the tyres started to work really well, we were good".
Talking about the beginning of the race, Kimi Räikkönen had taken advantaged well of the Ultrasoft tyres, getting in between the two Mercedes and at least managing to overtake Valtteri Bottas:
"I think I had a good sprint, then I had to slow down to find some space, because I tried to overtake on the inside. Without that I would’ve been first. I had to fight a lot in the first lap and afterwards I calmed down a little bit: it was an insidious start but then things went better".
According to the Finnish driver, in the first lap even a wheel-to-wheel contact with Verstappen that allowed the Dutch to overtake him, was decisive for the final result:
"We had different laps, the contact didn’t help, we lost a bit of speed but these things sometimes happen".
The race was conditioned by the Virtual safety car that led all the top drivers, aside from Lewis Hamilton, to take advantage of the situation to do an early pit stop replacing the old tyres with new Softs:
"After the Virtual Safety car, the beginning of the stint was a bit complicated, but then things gradually got better and I managed to do a series of good laps. I would’ve wanted to get a better result because the speed was there".
For the Finn, there’s still the disappointment for not attacking Verstappen from the beginning more ruthlessly, giving too much attention to avoiding the blistering problem that affected many drivers:
"The tyres surely had an important role today. We had good tyres at the end, maybe we should’ve pushed a bit more before, but nobody can know how much the tyres will last. Ours at the end were very good, maybe with some more laps we might’ve done it. Even if it’s a good result for the team, with a lot of points brought home compared to the team we’ll probably fight for the Constructor title with, it’s disappointing because we wanted to win given all the speed we proved to have, but today it didn’t work".
At the end of the race, Ferrari’s team principal Maurizio Arrivabene finally speaks up about something that bothered him and says:
"When you talk too much, in Formula 1, there’s always the risk of making mistakes, there’s been a lot of talk about Mercedes’ aerodynamic package but it happened that they overheated and they stopped on the right. The Ferrari engines, instead, are all in the top ten and proved to be strong".
After that, the Italian manager defends his drivers:
"I heard that one of them can’t do it anymore, let Leclerc have fun and let Räikkönen who’s a world champion drive. We didn’t give team orders, we let them race, they both fought during the race and given how things had gotten we were forced to attack when it came to the strategy too".
People are already thinking about the next Grand Prix, but Maurizio Arrivabene dampens the enthusiasms:
"In Great Britain, aerodynamic will be very important and it will be difficult for us, we’ll have to stay focused".
On his part, Lewis Hamilton analyses a race to be quickly forgotten:
"We need to get our strength back, analyse the car and understand what went wrong to start again, but I’m sure the guys will do it. We hadn’t had such a sour weekend in a long time, we also need to review the strategies because today we made mistakes about that too. The tyres degraded, then I tried to stay behind the Ferraris but I didn’t manage to overtake them. For the fans, the fact that we can’t manage to stay in the slipstream is negative, but it is what it is and we can’t do anything".
A potential Mercedes 1-2 soon became a nightmare Sunday, with Valtteri Bottas betrayed by the gearbox and the strategy mistake that made Lewis Hamilton sink to the fourth place. The Finnish driver, at the end of the race, explains:
"It seems that luck this year is playing with me. The start wasn’t the best, I made the back wheels spin and found less grip than I was expecting, so I fell behind".
The nice move against Kimi Räikkönen in turn 3, though, improved the Mercedes driver’s chances:
"I gained two places in that braking, finding myself second again".
At that point things suddenly started going wrong:
"After a few laps, I started feeling that something was wrong. I still managed to be fast, but then I suddenly had a lack of pressure in the hydraulic system. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to avoid retiring the car. Now we need to investigate to understand the causes of the problem, but I’m sure we’ll get back after this result. I think today things weren’t going to go well, but next time it’ll happen".
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff adds:
"For me and the team, it’s the most heartbreaking day of the last six years. Losing a possible 1-2 this way, because of our mistakes and the lack of reliability hurts way too much. We had a great first lap, with Lewis’ brilliant start and Valtteri immediately being able to get back to the second place. For the first 13 laps, it seemed that everything was going well, since the pace was great and both drivers were controlling the situation".
Then the disaster:
"The first blow was Bottas retiring because of a loss of hydraulic pressure. This caused the Virtual safety car, followed by our decision to let Hamilton out for the first stint, since we thought we would have had more time to have the green flags and we wanted to react to our rivals in the following lap. We actually went back to racing quicker than we were expecting and we simply made the wrong call. This forced Lewis to be in the middle of the fight again, but his tyres were quickly affected by blistering. We started losing ground, Vettel overtook us and then we decided to stop again since there was nothing to lose anymore. Immediately after, there was a loss of fuel pressure on Lewis’ car and this forced us to retire him. A double retirement is hard to swallow, but we also know that it’s in the hardest days that we learn the most. We’ll start again from our mistakes and we’ll go to Silverstone with our head held high. It will be the home race for many of the people that work in Brackley and Brixworth. Our wish is to get back even stronger, learning from today’s defeat".
No worries, finally, for the new power units that made their debut in Le Castellet:
"The two retirements were for two different reasons, but it still was nothing to do with the power unit. You always need to balance reliability and performance. Today we saw that we can be really fast, but if then we don’t finish the races then it’s for nothing. We lost 43 points".
The head of engineer Andrew Shovlin’s analysis is rather harsh as well:
"There are no excuses for what happened yesterday during the race. We weren’t reliable enough, we didn’t make the right strategic decisions, our starts weren’t fast enough and we didn’t manage the tyres as well as we should have. There are many things we need to improve looking at Silverstone. We need to focus all our strength on the resolution of the problems we had today. It was one of the toughest days ever, but it definitely wasn’t the only complicated day we’ve had in our history. We know how to fix things and, usually, we’ve always come back stronger. We have a few days to collect our strength and solve the problems. In Silverstone, I’m sure our performance will be again at the level we’re capable of".
Daniel Ricciardo, protagonist of a start of the weekend that wasn’t exactly positive, ended his Austrian Grand Prix in the run-off area.
"I didn’t understand anything about what happened and it was all very strange. It was a negative day for Mercedes too, with Valtteri having some problems and Lewis that at first didn’t pit with the Virtual safety car and then lost speed. It was a rather strange Sunday. Clearly, there’s a lot of chaos in the team for Max’s win, but for everybody else it was a strange day".
The Australian driver adds:
"I’m very disappointed about how things went, especially because at a certain point it seemed possible to have a 1-2. Honestly, though, as soon as I put the Softs on, I immediately realised that I didn’t have good pace. I was able to get Räikkönen, but I never felt that I could run away. Then, I saw the tyre tearing in half too and so we decided to do a pit-stop. Finally, an exhaust breaking ended my race. In any case, I’m happy for the team, for the brand, for the people who work for me and Max, that had a lot of fans here. It wasn’t my day, but from the team’s point of view it was amazing to win in Austria".
After being asked once again about the contract renewal, Ricciardo confirms he’s very close to signing the extension of his collaboration with Red Bull, especially after chatting with the patron Dietrich Mateschitz:
"I spoke today with the big boss. I really like him, but it’s a shame he doesn’t take decisions alone about the team! With him, everything’s easier, talking is easier. In any case, there’s still a bit of time to understand what we need to do. We’ll see how things evolve".
So, it ends an incredible Austrian Grand Prix, in which Mercedes stopped for the first time for technical problems since it got back into Formula 1, and Ferrari took half advantage of the situation, making up for Sebastian Vettel’s penalty with a great third place that projects him towards the first place in the World Championship. On the other hand, though, Ferrari also missed a great opportunity to win the Austrian Grand Prix, that saw Max Verstappen win for the fourth time in his career. Anyway, with this result Ferrari gains the first place in the Constructor Championship too and, since we’re almost halfway through the season, we can only wait for the next races to see how the fight between the Maranello team and the Anglo-German team will unravel. On Sunday, July 8, 2018 the circus will move to Silverstone, location of the British Grand Prix. That already promises to be very interesting.