by Flavio Vanetti
Max Verstappen in Austria becomes Max settebellezze for the 7 GPs won in the season. Leclerc is experiencing a schizophrenic weekend but deserves an 8.5
Stronger even than the penalties that rain down both in the race and above all at the end of the GP, with relative reversal in some points of the standings. Max Verstappen, the Cannibal King, in Austria becomes Max Settebellezze (in the sense of the seasonal successes in the GPs; however, the victories are 8, considering that of Saturday in the sprint race) and reiterates what we have already known for some months: in F1 he stays on one planet, where he does as he pleases, and his colleagues on another. Proposal: let’s give him the third title already (arithmetical certainty is not needed) by proclaiming him the winner by technical knockout, let’s remove him from the World Cup and pretend that the fight for second place counts as if it were first. From this point of view, among Spielberg’s ups and downs, in addition to the orange of the human tide of Flying Dutchman fans (vote 10, provided they haven’t messed up some mess between gulped beers and borderline euphoria), one can glimpse a clearer and more defined, even if Sainz is one of those most severely punished after a vigorous match. Here are the report cards, which take into account the stewards’ decisions in a scenario that leaves more than one perplexity.
Max Verstappen: 42
The 10 is now understood, better to give him the number of his victories as a vote. Success number 42 (on 86 podiums) has in fact arrived after joining Senna in Canada. Dominance and arrogance — the latter used to subtract the additional point of the fastest lap from the competition — are Max’s competitive characteristics. “best lap” will punish him because the error is always lurking, we don’t feel like condemning Verstappen’s will: he applies, neither more nor less, the concept according to which in sport you honor your opponent by winning big and not simply by winning. But it may also be that Max Settebellezze wanted to experience the enjoyable scenario of seeing Leclerc go back up to just 4 seconds behind, knowing that the Monegasque could only have done “peek-a-boo”. The next frontier of The Flying Dutchman will be to return to the garage, change the tyres, devote himself to a session with the callifugo Ciccarelli and then get back on track.
Carlos Sainz: 8.5
From fourth he finds himself sixth, after reviewing the videos and a further penalty compared to the one he had already forfeited and discounted at the pit stop. Despite the mishap, in our opinion it is The best of the rest, also considering the podium in the sprint. In particular, we liked the widespread combativeness of Carlos, author of a great overtaking against Lando Norris. Then he engaged, against Sergio Perez, in the tenacious defense of his very personal Fort Alamo, or rather a podium that he eventually lost (even in true history, the fort was conquered by the Mexicans…) but which the Spaniard would have deserved (and this before the blow of judges). However, we quote the opinion of those who believe that having bitten Leclerc’s heel in the initial phase (going so far as to make the men at the red wall pronounce the always annoying edict to leave his partner alone) led him to attack the track and run into in the traps of the penalties: the first one he had paid for, however losing the podium, the second he slammed even further back. The epilogue is bad, but the weekend is not to be thrown away.
Charles Leclerc: 8,5
Charles’ vaguely schizophrenic weekend — front row on Friday in qualifying for the GP, disastrous sprint race on Saturday — ends in glory and with a second place which is a panacea above all for self-esteem. Leclerc had taken the ball after the horrible Saturday, so let’s say that the best result of the season saves him a trip to the psychologist. After taking sixth place away from Russell, Sainz’s fifth is 16 lengths away. But the fact remains that the number 1 blue car flies and this is always a painful punch to the warrior spirit of the boy from Monte Carlo.
Lando Norris: 8
The judges placed him where Sainz was, i.e. in fourth place. Beyond the verdict at the table, he had been indicated as the best driver by the international press (not always balanced). Perhaps the title of Mvp of the day is excessive, but a confident Lando was seen again in his possibilities thanks to a McLaren (score 7.5) which on the car number 4 brought updates destined from Silverstone also to Piastri, without a reliable vote in Austria because he was forced to drive around with a shitty car.
Ferrari: 800
Also in this case, a vote equal to a “historic” figure: Leclerc in fact gave the Cavallino the 800th podium in Formula 1. The Rossa seems to have overcome the ailments of the GPs: poor race pace and high tire degradation. The indications from Montreal are therefore confirmed on a circuit with different characteristics, even if the important check is coming up on the fast Silverstone circuit: better to stay buttoned and think that this is a soup that has settled the stomach. Waiting for desirable future binges, Red Bull permitting.
Sergio Perez: 7/8
After Christian Horner’s smooth knock (it’s not a good sign if the “pit bull” Helmut Marko didn’t bark but Geri Halliwell’s more calm wife) Checo made a move and, climbing up from fifteenth place, reached the podium. But even for him there is nitpicking: apart from the further slaps remedied by Verstappen, it took him 4 laps to pass Sainz who, with an inferior car, beat him putting himself in a position to exploit the Drs. When he understood what had to be done, Leclerc, potentially attackable, had become a bird in the woods.
Pierre Gasly: 6.5
Discreet race, but he too ends up in the stewards’ review awards: he slips from ninth to tenth place, in any case he had to collect the crumbs from other people’s meals.
Esteban Ocon: 5
In turn stung, it ends up outside the top 10. The truth is that Alpine gets by in the aurea mediocritas without providing clear and convincing signals of an upward turn.
Hamilton, Russell, Mercedes: 5
The judges make Hamilton and Russell swap places in the standings (the 7-time world champion drops to eighth, his partner rises to seventh), but little or nothing changes. The vote is cumulative for drivers and teams after an evident regression and can be summarized with the phrase with which Toto Wolff tried to calm an agitated Hamilton: «It’s not your fault, the car is bad». The second place in the World Championship is still held by the Frecce Nere (already silver: is it the color to change?), but Aston Martin, albeit limping, has dropped to -4 and above all Ferrari is recovering, now at 24 and 20 points difference from the two opponents who are on the podium behind the unattainable Red Bull. George Russell’s reflection is also disturbing: “I’m struggling and I’m going backwards instead of forwards: we need a reset”.
Aston Martin: 5
He made more headlines for the complaint filed (and won) against the GP result, following the way the stewards applied the penalties for track limits, than for what he produced in the race. Regardless of the verdict that brought Alonso to fifth place and Stroll to ninth (from tenth), added that it was right to ask the stewards the question, the fact that the green cars have again watered down the polish of the first races cannot be canceled . And in the family, however, Alonso (7) is always better than Stroll (6 down).
Haas: 4
Magnussen penultimate (although as a partial excuse he has the fact that he ran into the inadequacy of De Vries who pushed him out) and retired Hulkenberg with (perhaps) dead engine. The sprint race had given away 3 points thanks to Hulkenberg, the GP a desolating handful of flies.
I track limits: 3
After Aston Martin’s appeal, the marshals had to view again something like 1200 images of real or potential violations of the track limit: some of these had not been possible to analyze during the race. Campa Cavallo: is it ever possible to get to such a situation? If you decide to race on a track whose characteristics lend themselves to driver errors, given that keeping your eyes open is a must to prevent the mistake from turning into a deliberate trick, a little more flexibility becomes indispensable.
July 2, 2023 (change July 2, 2023 | 22:55)
© breaking latest news