It was heading for the closest to a flat stage of the Tour de France, with Max Verstappen leading the way for another easy victory, without giving his rivals any options. But this time, in the 2023 F1 Austrian GP, the three-time champion and Red Bull entered the lion’s den with two inappropriate mistakes for them, giving wings to a Lando Norris who, despite the effort, everything seems to be lost. . But the Dutchman made another final, blundering and decisive error, where he ended up throwing the victory away when he collided with Norris and handed the victory to Russell.
Max lost it on a day when everything seemed to be written for him to win unopposed. And the Dutchman was too aggressive in a defense with Norris that he didn’t have to because Lando had a 5 second penalty. They both held, punctured and gave the victory to George Russell, who won ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz who in the process found an unexpected podium 3rd against Hamilton (4th).
Norris-Verstappen chaos
The race looked doomed as Lando Norris was unable to put pressure on Verstappen at the start. Max better get out and not give Lando a chance to attack him. He escaped quickly and even prevented the English from getting into the DRS position. From there, the race was supposed to be Max’s and the movie seemed to repeat itself again. But this time, the Austrian feature film took an unexpected final script twist due to the accumulation of errors that Max does not usually make.
It all started on lap 51. The first ‘X’ file at Red Bull took place in the pits, an area where they are the best. At Verstappen’s last stop, the left rear tire locked up. Before that stops, Max has a 7 second lead over Lando. But Norris made a better pit stop at the same time, only 2.9. This cuts the deficit by almost half. Despite this, Max still seems to be able to control everything. And then came the strangest thing. Something rarely seen: a major mistake by Verstappen. When overtaking one lap after hitting the track, he overbraked, locked the tires and scraped the gravel. He developed a flat on the right front tire which made it complicated for him because he couldn’t push as he wanted. You are slower than Lando, who is already attached to his rear wing.
So, On lap 55, Norris began his attack. An all out fight started between two young people with great hunger and pride. And that last factor may be why they lost everything. In life, you have to know when to give up, and sometimes take one step back to take two steps forward. The two of them, great friends, should have learned this before this race.
Lando tried several times, showed the car to Max and complained about Verstappen’s defense being too stiff for moving the car under the brakes. Norris asked for a sanction for the champion, meanwhile, he forgot the main thing: focus on his driving. In the heat of battle, Nerves get Lando again: when he should not make a mistake and complete the overtake with a faster car, they got his attention for exceeding the track limits on 3 occasions. And VHe did it again when he tried to pass Max again. He made it clear that he left because Verstappen didn’t leave him space. It doesn’t matter, They will punish him.
Crash and disaster for Norris and Verstappen
At that point, someone needs to warn Max that he might let himself get caught because Lando will take the punishment. With 10 laps to go and to win, Norris needed to gain a 5-second cushion on Max. But Verstappen did not want to lose even the marbles and that ambition, now too much, to win the race on the track and the battle against Norris made him lose everything. The fight is tense, aggressive, with many complaints from Lando about Max’s changes of direction under braking. The tragedy is gnawing. And it happened.
On lap 64, Norris tried on the outside and Verstappen extended his braking. Norris grabbed Max’s left rear wheel. there, Verstappen forgot to trace the curve and stretched his line out, without letting Norris pass, holding Max again with the Dutchman’s car in front. Verstappen didn’t miss him. And the result was the worst for both: a hole that left them with no options.
Norris got the worst of it, because he had to leave. Max was penalized for that defense for 10 seconds and managed to finish 5th before Hülkenberg (6th), Pérez (7th), Magnussen (8th), Ricciardo (9th) and Gasly (10th).
Russell found victory over Piastri and Sainz
like that Russell From thinking about the podium to winning the race, which was his second victory in his F1 career after the one achieved in Brazil 2022. The British driver handled the situation perfectly to finish 3rd with Sainz and Piastri roam. He took advantage of the Australian’s touches Leclerc and Pérez at the start, losing time to Oscar from 7th. And he handled the rhythm fight with well Carloswhich he did Hamilton. And when he was on the third step of the podium, he saw how the doors of victory opened wide for him.
For his part, Carlos Sainz was overtaken in the final laps with a Piastri that, with its strategy of prolonging its stops, with younger tires and a better car, had no rival to the Spaniard’s Ferrari. Sainz was thus 3rd and back on the podium after three races. On a track where Ferrari expected more, with Leclerc 11th after a hit at the start, he defended the pride of the reds and fished through turbulent waters to save the tools in a difficult finish of the week for Italians.
Alonso, 18
Fernando Alonso was 18th. He suffered at the wheel of his Aston Martin, with an engine badly affected by the accumulated mileage, in its final stages, and a car with a lot of room for improvement, with no chance of entering the points throughout the race .
In a car that lacked rhythm and high degradation, he went three stops and ended up setting a fast lap that was useless because he was not among the 10 best scorers of that point. Alonso left Austria empty-handed, a track where he already knew he would suffer, just as he expected at Silverstone. As Alonso said, “these are difficult times”, waiting for the long-awaited improvements that should come to Hungary. Until then, it’s time to row against the tide and away from the points.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
