Charles Leclerc ensured that the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship is far from over, after an emphatic victory at Oracle Red Bull Racing’s home race the Austrian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen had no answer to the Monegasque driver’s pace and had to settle for second, thirty-six seconds ahead of third-placed Lewis Hamilton at the Red Bull Ring.
Leclerc’s victory means he now sits thirty-eight points behind the reigning World Champion, as the season reached it’s halfway point. Driver of the Day went to Mick Schumacher, who made it back-to-back races in the points, after an excellent sixth-place finish. There were shock retirements for Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz Jr, with the latter suffering from yet another power unit failure.
Leclerc takes the fight to Verstappen
After three months without claiming a victory, Leclerc finally stepped back onto the top step of the podium. The Scuderia Ferrari driver, who started from second, dropped a couple seconds behind Verstappen early-on, before closing down the Dutch driver. Once closed down, Verstappen put up less of a fight than Leclerc may have expected, the Dutchman radioed in to his team to complain of traction problems.
This resulted in Verstappen completing an early pit-stop, resulting in an early one-two for Ferrari. Once Leclerc pitted, he again found himself behind the Dutchman. For the second time of the race though, Leclerc eased past the Red Bull driver, who continued to complain. The same happened once again following the pair’s second stop.
It was the first-time this season that Leclerc has taken the fight to Verstappen, and crucially won. It wasn’t without it’s worries though, with the Monegasque driver complaining of throttle problems in the final few laps. To the jubilation of Leclerc and his Ferrari team, he managed to bring his F1-75 home for a crucial victory.
It was mixed-emotions though for Ferrari, who saw a probable one-two vanish due to a dramatic PU failure for Sainz, whilst trying to overtake Verstappen. Sainz’ F1-75 quickly went up in flames, as did Sainz’ hopes of winning the title.
Verstappen settles for second best
The championship leader had no answer to Leclerc’s pace at the team’s home race, after clearly suffering from tyre wear for the vast majority of the race. Verstappen made a strong start to the race just as he did in Saturday’s Sprint race, but was unable to convert his early pace into victory.
The Dutchman complained of poor traction multiple times in the race, and failed to put up any real defence to Leclerc’s attack. Some may say it was an intelligent drive from the 2021 World Champion, who could’ve pushed over the limit to close the gap, but instead opted for a safe second-place following Sainz’ retirement.
The team’s home race wasn’t helped by Pérez’ early retirement, following a collision with George Russell. The Mexican went around the outside of Russell on the opening lap at Turn Four, but was hit by the British driver and span into the gravel. Despite trying to continue, the damage to Pérez’ RB18 was too severe to continue. Russell was awarded with a five-second time penalty for causing the collision.
Hamilton recovers from disappointing Sprint
It was a great afternoon for Hamilton, with the seven-time World Champion making up five-places during the race to claim his third podium in a row. The British driver opted to run his opening stint longer than those around him, after having superior pace over both Haas F1 Team drivers and Esteban Ocon.
This saw Hamilton jump both Haas drivers when completing an over-cut, before quickly getting past Ocon. Hamilton ran alone for the majority of the race, after having much stronger pace than those behind, but not enough to challenge the top two.
It meant that Hamilton completed his recovery from his Qualifying crash, which saw him start yesterday’s Sprint race from ninth.
Russell brought home a well-deserved three-four finish for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, something Team Principal Toto Wolff probably couldn’t imagine after the team’s double Qualifying crash.
What happened elsewhere?
Schumacher claimed Driver of the Day, after claiming his best-ever finish in the sport, he was followed closely by Lando Norris and team-mate Kevin Magnussen in seventh and eighth. Ocon secured a strong fifth-place finish, with Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso rounding-off the points places. Alonso did incredibly to recover from his last-place start, following his DNS from the Sprint race.
Valtteri Bottas, who started from the pits, recovered to eleventh-place and narrowly missed out on a points finish, as did Alex Albon in twelfth. Sebastian Vettel was another driver to spin into the gravel at Turn Four, after being hit during the race by Pierre Gasly at the corner. The Frenchman was awarded the same penalty as Russell.
The race directors were incredibly strict during the race on track limits, with warnings and time penalties being awarded throughout the race. Many drivers complained of the stewards being too strict when it came to the limits of the circuit.
2022 Austrian Grand Prix Full Results:
| POS | DRIVER | NAT. | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari | 71 Laps |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | NED | Oracle Red Bull Racing | + 1.532s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team | + 41.217s |
| 4 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team | + 58.972s |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | BWT Alpine F1 Team | + 68.436s |
| 6 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Haas F1 Team | + 1 Lap |
| 7 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | + 1 Lap |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | DEN | Haas F1 Team | + 1 Lap |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | + 1 Lap |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | BWT Alpine F1 Team | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Alexander Albon | THA | Williams Racing | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | CHN | Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Scuderia AlphaTauri | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team | + 1 Lap |
| Carlos Sainz Jr | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari | DNF | |
| Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | DNF | |
| Sergio Pérez | MEX | Oracle Bull Racing | DNF |
