Cloudy. Dry. Air +22…23С, route +32С
In 2023, Max Verstappen arrived with an overwhelming lead and without feeling the pressure on the team’s home stage. Since the anti-COVID restrictions were lifted, the stands in Spielberg have always been full and painted orange. They waited for their idol to win, and Max answered them in return, setting the best time in practice, winning the Friday and Saturday qualifiers and the sprint – just like last year.
His partner and closest rival in the championship, Sergio Perez, started only 15th – in the second part of qualifying his laps were canceled for going beyond the limits of the track, and in total the stewards canceled 67 laps over the weekend, making could not but affect the balance of power.
The weather was changeable, but the rain on Saturday didn’t change much and on Sunday morning it was sunny.
Verstappen and Leclerc started the race from the front row of the grid, Sainz and Norris from second, Hamilton and Stroll from third.
Nick de Vries and Kevin Magnussen left the pit lane for violating the conditions of the closed park.
Before the start there was a minute’s silence in memory of the young Dutch driver Dilano van’t Hoff, who was killed on the track in Spa on Saturday.
Pirelli brought the softest compositions to the stage – C3, C4 and C5 in the role of Hard, Medium and Soft. Alonso, Bottas and Magnussen chose Hard for the first stint of the race, the others started on Medium.
Verstappen kept the lead at the start. Hamilton beat Norris for fourth.
Tsunoda and Bottas did not share the track in the first corner, but continued. Tsunoda flew into the gravel. The safety car drove away – it was necessary to clear the debris from the cars in the first corner. The stewards did not investigate the incident.
Magnussen lost speed due to problems with ERS. Magnussen and Tsunoda drove into the pits.
Top ten in the second round: Verstappen – Leclerc – Sainz – Hamilton – Norris – Alonso – Hulkenberg – Stroll – Gasley – Albon.
In the 4th round, a restart was announced. The top ten held their position.
On lap 6, the race direction allowed the use of DRS.
By lap 8, Stroll was ahead of Hulkenberg.
On lap 9, Zhou changed tires.
On lap 10, Stroll overtook Hulkenberg for seventh position. Perez attacked Russell, not without contact – and on the second attempt he took the lead.
On lap 12 Gasly was ahead of Hulkenberg in the battle for eighth – and Niko pitted to change tyres.
Hamilton was shown a black and white flag for repeatedly breaching the track.
On lap 13, Pérez moved ahead of Elbon and moved up to ninth. De Vries has changed tires.
On lap 14, the engine in Hulkenberg’s car lost power – and he pulled the car to the side of the road.
The virtual safety car mode has been announced. Hamilton, Norris, Gasley, Albon, Russell, Ocon, Piastri and Sargent switched tires.
Tsunode was shown a black and white flag for repeatedly crossing the course boundaries.
On lap 16, Leclerc, Sainz, Alonso and Stroll changed tyres. There was a breakdown during the maintenance of Ferrari cars.
Top ten in round 17: Verstappen – Leclerc – Perez – Hamilton – Norris – Sainz – Alonso – Tsunoda – Magnussen – Gasly.
Hamilton and Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty for breaking the track.
On lap 17, Russell was ahead of Bottas and Sainz ahead of Norris.
On lap 18, Ocon overtook Bottas for 13th.
On lap 19, Sainz overtook Hamilton at turn 4 for fourth.
On lap 20, Sainz overtook Perez for third. Albon and Okon overtook Magnussen.
Sainz was shown a black and white flag for repeatedly crossing the track boundaries.
On lap 22, Bottas changed tires. Stroll, Tsunoda and Piastri caught up with Magnussen.
Piastri pitted on lap 23, Tsunoda on lap 24 and Verstappen on lap 25. Leclerc took the lead with Max third, 6.8 seconds behind the leader.
Ocon received a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit lane entry.
On lap 26, Perez changed tires. Verstappen passed Sainz and moved into second place.
On lap 27, Pérez was ahead of Elbon for 9th.
By lap 28, Norris was ahead of Hamilton, who was having problems with the brakes.
Sainz received a five-second time penalty for crossing the track boundaries.
On lap 30, Pérez was ahead of Russell for eighth.
Top ten in round 30: Leclerc – Verstappen – Sainz – Norris – Hamilton – Alonso – Gasly – Perez – Russell – Albon.
Gasly and Stroll were shown a black and white flag for repeatedly violating the track.
On lap 35, Verstappen was ahead of Leclerc to retake the race lead.
Albon received a five-second time penalty for exceeding the track limits.
De Vries pushed Magnussen off the track in a battle for position, Kevin pitted to change tyres, Nick received a 5 second penalty.
Stroll pitted on lap 37, de Vries on lap 39, Zhou on lap 40, Bottas, Norris, Russell and Albon on lap 42 and Piastri on lap 43.
Perez stayed ahead of Alonso in the battle for fifth place.
On lap 43, Hamilton served the penalty and changed tires.
On lap 44, Russell passed Sargent for ninth.
Gasly received a five-second time penalty for crossing the track boundaries.
On lap 45, Norris was ahead of Gasly. Sargent, Tsunoda, Alonso and Gasly switched tires.
On lap 46, Sainz pitted, served the penalty and pulled close behind Norris. Carlos immediately rushed to attack and stepped forward.
On lap 48 Leclerc changed tyres, on lap 50 Verstappen and on lap 52 Perez.
Tsunoda received a 10-second penalty for crossing the track’s boundaries.
On lap 55, Stroll changed tires.
On lap 56, Perez overtook Norris for fourth.
Top ten in round 57: Verstappen – Leclerc – Sainz – Perez – Norris – Alonso – Hamilton – Russell – Gasley – Albon.
On lap 60 Perez attacked Sainz several times, Carlos managed to fight back for a long time, but on lap 62 Sergio took the lead.
The window was shown a black and white flag for repeatedly crossing the boundaries of the track.
On lap 64, Stroll overtook Elbon for 10th.
Sargent and Magnussen received a five-second time penalty for exceeding the track limits.
On lap 68, Tsunoda passed Magnussen for 17th.
On lap 70, Verstappen changed tires to keep the best lap of the race behind him – the lead over Leclerc meant he couldn’t lose a position.
Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix with his seventh win of the season, his 42nd in his career and his fifth on the Austrian circuit.
Charles Leclerc finished second, earning Ferrari its 800th podium in team history. Sergio Perez, who had played 12 positions during the race, moved up to the third step.
Next week the battle continues at Silverstone.
After the finish, Aston Martin protested the results – in their opinion, not all drivers who overstepped the boundaries of the track during the race were fined. The stewards accepted the protest. The FIA has investigated more than 1,200 off-track reports, including several that were not reported to the stewards. The results are refined.
As a result, eight riders received additional fines a few hours after the finish.
| Pilot | Team | Fine |
| 1.K Sainz | Ferrari | + 10 seconds |
| 2. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | + 10 seconds |
| 3.P Gasly | Alps | + 10 seconds |
| 4. A. Albon | Willems | + 10 seconds |
| 5. E. Okon | Alps | + 5 seconds |
| 6. E. Okon | Alps | + 10 seconds |
| 7. E. Okon | Alps | + 5 seconds |
| 8. E. Okon | Alps | + 10 seconds |
| 9. L. Sargent | Willems | + 10 seconds |
| 10.N. deVries | AlphaTauri | + 10 seconds |
| 11.N. deVries | AlphaTauri | + 5 seconds |
| 12. Y. Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 5 seconds |
Following the application of penalties, the race’s final protocol has been changed. Carlos Sainz moved from 4th to 6th, Lewis Hamilton from 7th to 8th, Pierre Gasly from 9th to 10th, Esteban Ocon from 12th to 14th, Nick de Vries from 15th to 17th, Yuki Tsunoda from the 18th to the 19th. Sargent after punishments have not changed.
Final protocol Match results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:25:33.607 | 214,902 | 3 |
| 2. Sch. Leclerc | Ferrari | +5.155 | 214,687 | 2 |
| 3. C. Perez | Red Bull | +17,188 | 214,185 | 2 |
| 4. L. Norris | McLaren | +26,327 | 213,806 | 2 |
| 5. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | +30,317 | 213,641 | 2 |
| 6. C. Sainz** | Ferrari | +31,377 | 213,597 | 2 |
| 7.D Russell | Mercedes | +48,403 | 212,895 | 2 |
| 8. L. Hamilton** | Mercedes | +49,196 | 212,863 | 2 |
| 9. L. Walk | Aston Martin | +59.043 | 212,459 | 3 |
| 10.P Gasley** | Alps | +67,677 | 212.107 | 2 |
| 11. A. Albon** | Willems | +79,767 | 211,614 | 2 |
| 12. G Zhou | Alfa Romeo | +1 circle | 210,863 | 2 |
| 13. L. Sargent * | Willems | +1 circle | 210,587 | 2 |
| 14.E.Okon*** | Alps | +1 circle | 210,149 | 2 |
| 15. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +1 circle | 210.123 | 2 |
| 16. O. Piastri | McLaren | +1 circle | 209,970 | 3 |
| 17. N. de Vries *** | AlphaTauri | +1 circle | 209,843 | 2 |
| 18. K. Magnussen * | hare | +1 circle | 209,562 | 2 |
| 19. Yu.Tsunoda*** | AlphaTauri | +1 circle | 209,432 | 3 |
* after the finish, the rider received a penalty of five seconds
** after the finish the rider received a penalty of ten seconds
* ** After the finish, Nick de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda received both a five-second penalty and a ten-second penalty, and Esteban Ocon received two five-second and ten-second penalties each
best round: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – 1:07.012 (71 laps, 231.970 km/h)
Reasons for leaving
| Pilot | Team | circles | Cause |
| N. Hulkenberg | Haas F1 | 13 | engine |
Championship position : Individual
Championship Position: Constructors’ Championship
| Team | engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing | Honda RBPT | 377 |
| = | 2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team | Mercedes | 178 |
| = | 3. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | Mercedes | 175 |
| = | 4 Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 154 |
| = | 5. BWT Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 47 |
| = | 6 McLaren F1 team | Mercedes | 29 |
 |
7. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | eleven |
 |
8. Alfa Romeo F1 team commitment | Ferrari | 9 |
| = | 9Williams Racing | Mercedes | 7 |
| = | 10 Scuderia Alpha Tauri | Honda RBPT | 2 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
