Austria: post-race analysis 2018
Well, the bet on Sainz
didn’t come off (bad luck, would you believe?) but the race itself
was enthralling from end to end. Fantastic to watch, it was. I’ll
do my best to recount it, but so much happened I may well miss small
details.
Off the line, Raikkonen
(surprisingly) had a flyer and Bottas went backwards at a rate of
knots, at one point descending to around 5th. Hamilton got
the lead, and Verstappen did well, with Bottas fighting back very
well to regain 2nd. Meanwhile, Sainz lost many places and
Vettel dropped one or two, with Stroll enjoying his usual first lap
skill and gaining a place.
The cars were all able
to stay pretty close together, suggesting good racing in prospect,
which came to pass.
Vettel set about slowly
climbing the field, and the two Mercedes began to ease away from
Verstappen.
Hulkenberg, who had
been running solidly in the points, was forced to retire when his
engine burst into flames. The German sensibly drove his Renault far
off the track to avoid inconveniencing the other drivers.
Shortly thereafter,
Bottas suffered a DNF due to a reliability problem. Not sure if it
was the engine or not, but I did hedge an early win bet, and feel
quite relieved about that (he and Hamilton seemed set fair for a
straightforward 1-2).
The Virtual Safety Car
emerged and numerous cars (Red Bulls, Ferraris, Grosjean, some
others) dove into the pits. Hamilton did not. When he was forced to
pit due to tyre wear (which was greater than expected, perhaps due to
higher temperatures than previously experienced this weekend) he
emerged behind the other top dogs, except for Vettel (who, it will be
recalled, started 6th and went backwards off the line).
He was disgruntled, and
Mercedes’ race strategy chap got on the wireless in very apologetic
fashion.
At the front,
Verstappen was in the lead, ahead of Ricciardo and Raikkonen (who
were having a good old tussle). Ricciardo had to pit a second time
and later suffered a reliability problem, and also DNFed.
Hamilton was only a
short distance ahead of Vettel, and the German managed to pass him on
track, which must have rubbed salt into the wound. The Mercedes was
chewing up its tyres a lot and he came into the pits for fresh
rubber. Could he close the gap, and/or take advantage of others
suffering tyre wear?
Further back, Sainz was
in 8th when he had rear tyre blistering and had to pit
again. Unfortunately for him, it was a terribly slow stop and put him
well out of the points. The Haas cars (who, like the Renaults,
started in the top 10) were cruising around serenely, picking up
places as faster cars burst into flames around them.
Hamilton was only
marginally faster than the Ferraris, which were taking chunks out of
Verstappen’s lead, despite his fresh rubber. Power seemed to be a
slight problem, from one MGU or other. He was an unhappy chap, which
is fair enough, and it seems doubtful his mood was improved when he
also suffered a DNF due to a reliability failure.
Raikkonen got close to
Verstappen but couldn’t pass him. Like everyone else, I was
expecting Ferrari to switch the drivers, but they did not. Verstappen
got the win, second went to the Finn, and Vettel got 3rd.
Once again, the title lead switched, but it could’ve done so by 3
more points.
Behind them came
Grosjean, who finally avoided bad luck, and Magnussen, for a
fantastic and much deserved result for the Haas team.
Ocon and Perez came
next, a strong finish for the Force Indias, who have not had the best
start to a season. Alonso rose all the way from the pit lane to 8th
place, another impressive performance.
Perhaps the happiest
team (maybe after Haas) will be Sauber. Ericsson and Leclerc got the
final points positions, earning valuable points for the team.
Hartley also failed to
finish when his car broke down.
All in all, an exciting
race from start to finish.
Drivers:
Vettel 146
Hamilton 145
Raikkonen 101
Ricciardo 96
Verstappen 93
Bottas 92
Once again, the title
lead switches. I’m mildly surprised Ferrari didn’t swap their
cars, but there we are. I do feel sympathy for Bottas, who has lost
around 60 points or so due to misfortune (Baku puncture, French
collision, today’s DNF). He should be right in the title fight.
Ricciardo has had a few DNFs too. Anyway, very tight between the top
two and slightly difficult to see anyone else getting close to them.
However, the sudden absence of Mercedes’ reliability (new engine
woe?) could prove decisive if this is repeated rather than a one-off.
Constructors:
Ferrari 247
Mercedes 237
Red Bull 189
Renault 62
Haas 49
McLaren 44
Force India 42
Toro Rosso 19
Sauber 16
Williams 4
I don’t think it’ll
last, but the Prancing Horse took the lead from the Silver Arrows.
Red Bull gained ground on Mercedes but lost a little to Ferrari.
Further back, Haas leapt from 27 points to 49, leapfrogging both
Force India and McLaren. Although Alonso scored, McLaren lost a lot
of ground to Force India, and are barely ahead now. At the lower end,
Sauber not only extended their lead over Williams, but they’re only
3 points adrift of Toro Rosso now.
All in all, that may
well be the most exciting race of the season so far. The British
Grand Prix is the very next weekend.
Morris Dancer
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