Verstappen, Bottas, Norris. Good for Red Bull, very good for McLaren, still a deep crisis for Mercedes while the series of successes for the “drinkers” does not seem to stop. Flat race: little history, no serious event influenced the result of the protagonists. In short, very little to say, except for a slightly “incorrect” episode by Perez on Leclerc and the regret of having seen two world champions “hooking up” badly at the end: Raikkonen, in fact, destroys his and Vettel’s race for a misjudgment while taking a pass where the Aston Martin colleague was making regular turns around his curve and there was ample room for both of them. But the most beautiful thing was to see a feverish audience, a real “stadium cheer” of many Max supporters. Screaming, singing, drinking and sticking stickers everywhere like in the nineties.
Returning to today’s outcome, we saw an arrival at the Austrian Grand Prix with an increasingly sharp and effective Verstappen, a Bottas in serious delay but still second and two positions ahead of his once invincible captain. And Norris still so “close” to the two top teams, waiting for Ricciardo to get familiar with his car: something seen not too many times, a sign of a Formula 1 that is slowly changing. And if, always in the classification in hand, we note the detachment of Hamilton (now fourth) from the podium area, in the order of magnitude of 25 seconds late (and over 46 from the leader), we can no longer suspect that it is ” only ”of a Red Bull domain. Here is a Mercedes crisis never seen in the hybrid era and, in particular, of Hamilton. Never so low since the beginning of his winning parable under the three-pointed star.
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Heavy victory
Celebrate a long step forward in the world rankings. A really heavy victory. This is the third success in a row for the Dutchman. And the podium number 50 when, in an all-time comparison looking at his same age as today, Hamilton is in second place, but well behind, at an altitude of “only” 21. And this time it is also a hat trick, a “Hat-trick” of pole, fastest lap in the race and victory that Max had missed on other occasions only for the “game” of those who, behind, having nothing else to lose, had decided to take away the record and the extra point for the world championship with cunning. Today it was his turn. Verstappen’s lead he had accumulated before lap 70 was so great that he had enough time to pit a second and aim for his own point bonus goal for the fastest lap.
On the second and last Sunday of the Red Bull Ring, the extraordinarily positive phase of Norris’s career is also confirmed, who in this 2021 is collecting a series of arrivals in the first half of the decidedly encouraging points zone.
Bottas’ second “shifts” little in the balance of the championship and his contract: he remains fifth in the classic, definitely behind Perez and Norris. Speaking of Norris again: he too, in addition to Russell, could aspire to replace the Finn in Mercedes in 2022.
Hamilton fourth, today was certainly penalized by problems at the bottom of the car. There are many “excuses”, but morale is still low. Mercedes must regain competitiveness in the face of the arrembante Red Bull and no longer shoot themselves in the foot, even wasting time in the pits.