Austrian GP: Team by team analysis

Formula One F1 – Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria – July 2, 2023 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen celebrates on the podium after winning the race alongside second placed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and third placed Red Bull’s Sergio Perez REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

Here’s a team by team analysis of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring, the ninth race of the 22-round season.

Teams åre listed in current championship order:

RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 3)

Verstappen’s fifth win in a row, seventh of the season and 42nd of his career. He started on pole and pitted on the penultimate lap for soft tyres to take the fastest lap bonus point from Perez. That was his seventh career ‘hat trick’. Verstappen’s run of successive laps led ended at 248, the third most in history. Red Bull have now won all nine races this season and 10 in succession, one short of McLaren’s 1988 record. Perez started 15th but took his first podium in four races.

MERCEDES (George Russell 7, Lewis Hamilton 8)

Hamilton finished seventh on track but had 10 seconds added to his time for exceeding track limits after Aston Martin successfully protested the results, dropping him a place. Hamilton had started fifth, passing McLaren’s Lando Norris at the start, and Russell 11th on medium tyres. Both pitted for hards during an early virtual safety car period. Russell stopped again on lap 42, Hamilton on 43 when he also served a five second penalty. Team boss Toto Wolff said it was a bruising day.

ASTON MARTIN (Fernando Alonso 5, Lance Stroll 9)

Alonso was sixth at the chequered flag and Stroll 10th but they moved up after the protest. Alonso started seventh on the hard tyre and Stroll sixth. The Canadian lost places in the pitstops, coming in during the second lap of the virtual safety car being in force rather than the first and having to stack. Aston are now only three points behind Mercedes.

FERRARI (Charles Leclerc 2, Carlos Sainz 6)

Leclerc secured the 800th podium finish of Ferrari’s history after starting on the front row. Second was the team’s best result yet this year. He challenged Verstappen for the lead on the opening lap and pitted during the virtual safety car while the champion stayed out. He and Sainz were then one-two when Verstappen pitted but it did not last long. Sainz took a five second penalty during the race for exceeding track limits and was then demoted to sixth post-race. The Spaniard delayed Perez long enough to protect Leclerc’s second place.

ALPINE (Pierre Gasly 10, Esteban Ocon 14)

Gasly finished ninth but ended up 10th after a post-race penalty while Ocon dropped from 12th to 14th. Ocon received a total of 30 seconds of penalties for track limits breaches — two initial five second penalties and two more 10 second penalties. He also had a five second penalty for an unsafe release in the pits.

MCLAREN (Lando Norris 4, Oscar Piastri 16)

Norris moved up from fifth post-race for McLaren’s best result so far this season, with the upgraded car showing good pace. He had started fourth but lost out to Hamilton at the start. Piastri’s race was compromised by front wing damage.

HAAS (Kevin Magnussen 18, Nico Hulkenberg retired)

Magnussen started from the pit lane and despite collecting a five second penalty for track limits moved up from 19th at the finish thanks to Yuki Tsunoda getting a bigger sanction. Hulkenberg started eighth but triggered the virtual safety car when he retired on lap 12 with a power unit problem.

ALFA ROMEO (Guanyu Zhou 12, Valtteri Bottas 15)

Bottas suffered front wing damage after contact on the opening lap. Zhou had to pit to remove a visor tear-off strip from a rear brake duct. No points but also no penalties.

WILLIAMS (Alex Albon 11, Logan Sargeant 13)

Albon was handed a five second penalty for track limits, Sargeant got 10 seconds added.

ALPHATAURI (Nyck de Vries 17, Yuki Tsunoda 19)

De Vries, who appears to be running out of time to save his seat, started from the pit lane and was given a five second penalty for forcing Magnussen off track as well as 10 seconds for track limits. Tsunoda damaged the car in a turn one clash and went off at turn four on the opening lap, then pitting. He ended up with 15 seconds worth of penalties in the Austrian Grand Prix.

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