'Breakthrough' as Leclerc steers fragile Ferrari to 2022 Austrian GP win: race report

F1

Charles Leclerc was relieved to win the Austrian Grand Prix after a run of disappointments. But, on a day when Ferrari was fastest, it lost a likely 1-2 finish when Carlos Sainz's engine burst into flames

Lewis Hamilton sprays Charles Leclerc with champagne on the podium after the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

'I needed this win', said Leclerc after the race

Antonin Vincent / DPPI

There’s still plenty of life in this drivers’ championship, but so much of it depends on Ferrari’s ability to execute on a consistent basis.

The hints of a threat to Max Verstappen’s dominance of the Red Bull Ring were there on Saturday, when Charles Leclerc closed in during the final few laps of the sprint and ended his race with a radio message stating: “We are quick. We can get them tomorrow.”

It turned out to be a premonition, when coupled with the start of Verstappen’s own radio message at the time: “Not bad, not bad. Tricky with the tyres…”

2022 Austrian GP start

Verstappen led from the start as Sainz tussled with Russell

If there were any concerns that the sprint had shown we could be in for a processional race, with teams having learned how to combat any tyre issues, they were allayed pretty quickly.

Verstappen got off the line clearly to lead and Ferrari avoided a repeat of the scrap between its drivers as Carlos Sainz became more preoccupied with fighting George Russell. The Mercedes had taken third place at Turn 1 but Sainz ran wide and carried more momentum up the hill, holding on at Turn 3 to regain his starting spot.

Carlos Sainz ahead of George Russell and Sergio Perez at the start of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

Perez looked to go around the outside at Turn 3 in 2022

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George Russell pushes Sergio PErez off track at the 2022 Austrian GP

Contact on lap 1 was bad news for Russell, as well as Perez

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That opened the door for Sergio Perez to attack round the outside of Russell into Turn 4, and a familiar site followed as a Mercedes on the inside tapped a Red Bull into a spin. Perez ended up in the gravel and limped round to the pits with a puncture, but the floor damage would soon cause him to retire.

Russell was handed a five-second time penalty for the collision and also damaged his front wing, leading him to hold up a train of cars including Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Mick Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, with the son of the seven-time world champion overtaking the only driver who can match Michael’s tally as Haas started strongly.

The slow pace from Russell let the top three pull well clear, but unlike many races this season the leader was unable to break away. It was more reminiscent of Miami, where the car in second – on this occasion Leclerc – could stay in touch and use DRS to keep the pressure on. That was a sign of Verstappen’s tyres degrading, and after a few failed attempts the Ferrari driver pulled a beautiful move under braking down the inside into Turn 4 to assume the lead on Lap 12.

Charles Leclerc overtakes Max Verstappen in the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

Leclerc hits the front, passing a tyre-troubled Verstappen

Antonin Vincent / DPPI

“It was a bit more difficult than I expected it to be,” Verstappen said. “Basically on any tyre I was just struggling a lot for pace after a few laps, just a lot of deg. It’s something I cannot really explain right now, why it was so high, because I think normally we are quite okay on the tyres. And I expected it to be tough today, but I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

By then, some drivers had already started to make their first pitstops despite Pirelli’s expectation that a one-stop was in store. Verstappen had warned “I can’t hold this long” two laps before being overtaken, and he made his first stop a lap after losing the lead, switching to hards and clearly two-stopping.

Ferrari didn’t respond, with both Leclerc and Sainz able to run at a good pace for much longer, heading into one-stop territory.

While the strategies played out, there was much more immediate action unfolding in the midfield as Zhou Guanyu — yet to stop — held back Fernando Alonso, Magnussen, Lando Norris and Schumacher. At one stage all five piled into Turn 3 as one, with Alonso going from being the lead challenger to Zhou to emerging behind Magnussen and Norris.

Midfield battle between five cars in the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

Five into one does go: Magnussen, Alonso, Norris, Zhou and Schumacher

Xavi Bonilla/DPPI

Hamilton was no longer part of that battle after a beautiful move on Schumacher at Turn 7, and he too could run long in the first stint. After Leclerc stopped on lap 26, Sainz and Hamilton followed on each of the next two laps, with Hamilton needing to clear Ocon to regain fourth as the Ferraris set off after Verstappen again.

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The pace from the Red Bull had been solid but not spectacular on hard tyres, and Leclerc reeled Verstappen in before taking the lead at Turn 3 with relative ease. Sainz was next to close in, but the Red Bull driver made an earlier second stop before the Spaniard cleared him.

As track limits warnings racked up — Norris and Pierre Gasly becoming the first two drivers to pick up five-second time penalties for multiple indiscretions — the racing remained close. Haas let Schumacher pass Magnussen to chase after Esteban Ocon in fifth, but Russell was also making progress after his earlier issues.

Any expectation that Ferrari was going to try and cruise to the end on a one-stop soon went out of the window, though, with Leclerc coming in with 23 laps remaining and Sainz a lap later, handing the lead to Verstappen once again.

Charles Leclerc lines up a pass on Max Verstappen in the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

Leclerc passed Verstappen three times on track

Xavi Bonilla / DPPI

Leclerc had to overtake the championship leader for a third time but duly did so after switching back on the exit of Turn 3 just four laps after his stop, and it looked a matter of time until Sainz followed him through.

And then the Ferrari moment came. After seeing cars retire from the lead in two of the past five races, Sainz suddenly slowed when in Verstappen’s slipstream, with smoke emerging from his car. He parked on the exit of Turn 4 and the Ferrari burst into flames, with Sainz smartly turning the wheel so that it rolled back against a barrier as he jumped out.

“There was no feedback coming from the engine that this was about to happen,” Sainz said. “It was very sudden. I’m lost for words because it’s a big loss on points, on a huge result for the team. I think it would have been an easy 1-2 today.”

Carlos Sainz jumps out of his burning Ferrari in the 2022 Austrian GP

Sainz leaps to safety, moments after preparing to fight for second

Antonin Vincent / DPPI

The virtual safety car was needed to clear the Ferrari and that allowed both Leclerc and Verstappen to pit for fresh medium tyres,. Suddenly on the same compound of the same age, the race was reset and Leclerc soon started complaining of throttle issues as Verstappen started to edge closer.

“It was more or less at the same time [as Sainz retired],” Leclerc said. “So of course, I had it in my mind. I knew it was not a problem with the engine, because it was really the pedal that was feeling weird. First at pick up and then at the end it would not come back to zero.

“It was not only a little bit stressful, very stressful! The throttle was really inconsistent and in the middle of the corner it would get stuck to whatever percentage, so in Turn 3 it was very, very tricky because that’s where you don’t want any more speed in mid-corner.”

But Leclerc had just enough to hold on by 1.5 seconds, taking his first win since Australia and moving up to second in the championship.

Charles Leclerc pumps his fist on the podium at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

Leclerc celebrates his first win in eight races

Antonin Vincent / DPPI

“I definitely needed it. Of course whenever I get to a new race, since five races [ago] I have a smile on my face and I kept being optimistic but obviously hard races after hard races it felt like everything was against me. Finally we had a breakthrough, a good race today. and it feels great to have the win again.”

Verstappen was philosophical to only lose five points over the course of the weekend after his Sprint victory, as he benefitted from Sainz’s retirement.

The same could be said for Hamilton, who went from a heavy qualifying crash to securing his third podium in a row once Sainz was out of the race.

Lewis Hamilton sprays champagne on the podium after the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

Hamilton finished third for the third time in three races

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“Massively satisfying,” Hamilton said. “I was a bit lonely once I got [into third]. These guys were like 30-something seconds ahead of me, so I was just watching their race on the TV – down the straights I was just watching where they were. I could see them coming through like Turn 6 as I was coming out Turn 1.

“So I was getting a bit of a fan view of what was happening. I saw some of the overtakes they were having. I think they did replays and stuff. But after such a difficult weekend, with the crash, with a monumental effort from the team to rebuild the car, this is a really great result. So I’m very grateful.”

Russell was similarly in recovery mode as he responded to his penalty and damage to finish a strong fourth, ensuring Mercedes actually left Austria with the most points from Sunday’s running.

Haas of Mick Schumacher drives past the ornage army in the Red Bull Ring grandstands

Schumacher impressed as he recorded his second points finish

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Ocon came home a comfortable fifth after pulling away from the exciting midfield battle, but Driver of the Day went to Schumacher for his first top six and second point-scoring result in a row. It was a highly impressive drive from the German who appears to be finding the consistency needed to match team-mate Magnussen, allowing Haas to celebrate another double-points finish with the Dane in eighth.

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Magnussen split the McLarens of Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, the former battling regularly but the latter enduring a lonely run just off the back of all the action. He still had enough in hand to keep Alonso at bay as the Spaniard picked up the final point at the end of a race in which he wagged a finger at Yuki Tsunoda for putting him on the grass at 200mph, and then survived a post-race investigation for a wheel coming lose immediately following a pit stop under the VSC.

Alonso’s problem didn’t prove terminal but his countryman’s did, and Sainz’s failure serves as a reminder of Ferrari’s fragility, even if Leclerc was finally able to deliver on its potential.

 

2022 Austrian Grand Prix results

Position Driver Team Time Points
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 laps 25
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +1.532sec 19*
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +41.217sec 15
4 George Russell Mercedes +58.972sec 12
5 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1min 08.436sec 10
6 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap 8
7 Lando Norris McLaren +1 lap 6
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap 4
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1 lap 2
10 Fernando Alonso Alpine +1 lap 1
11 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
12 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
15 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 lap
17 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1 lap
Carlos Sainz Ferrari DNF
Nicholas Latifi Williams DNF
Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF

*Includes additional point for fastest lap