Verstappen sticks out his chest for ‘his’ audience

Date:

The Dutchman took pole for today’s sprint race, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, with Alonso in eighth

Of all those beaten at Silverstone, one of them was Max Verstappen. The first race of the year to finish without winning or finishing on the podium made him come home with a bad taste in his mouth that has been cleared, at least for now. The qualifying session for the Austrian GP, ​​which will be held under the sprint format this weekend, ended with him at the front.

As always with this type of Grand Prix, the usual standings will be contested on Friday, which will determine pole position for Saturday’s short race (24 laps in this case). Verstappen was fastest ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who both wanted (for different reasons) to be right after what happened in Britain. The most repeated trio on Saturdays in 2022 showed once again that they are one step ahead in a session that saw two great defeats: the Mercedes.

The classification had started with problems for everyone. The track’s controversial limits (something that would be as easy to fix as laying gravel and narrower shoulders) meant many couldn’t push the limit without seeing the laps being eliminated. In fact, Sergio Pérez was investigated afterwards precisely because he did not respect the limits in Q2 and they took all the times out of Q3. After seeing how much their lap times had been taken away, Verstappen bit his teeth at the end of Q3 to prevent Leclerc from setting the fastest time, as he looked set to achieve. It only improved 28 thousandths, but it was enough. Sainz, although he was not yet tenth, dropped to third.

His laps were contested at a ‘superpole’ with just 2:45 minutes to go as it was contested after a red flag, the second of which was in Q3. In both cases, the protagonists were the pilots of the Silver Arrows. First Lewis Hamilton went long and ended up embedded against the safeties. Amid the buzz of the local crowd, many of them Dutch who do not forget or forgive what happened in 2021, the seven-time champion’s retirement hurt less physically than morally. The setbacks for Mercedes didn’t stop there: after the restart, George Russell spun in an area very close to his teammate’s and also crashed. These two red flags led to that ‘sprint’ finish of the standings, although some drivers already knew they would have a hard time. Case of Fernando Alonso.

The difficulty of the Red Bull Ring is notable as it is a short and very winding route, making any mistake even more penalized. Leaving the track on the high curbs also means that the car is noticeably affected, either in its balance or because it can even break parts. This is what happened to Alonso.

The Spaniard set the ninth fastest time in qualifying (he will start eighth due to the suspension of Sergio Perez), having crossed Q1 with relative ease and Q2 with slightly less. He got no further than that, and although his partner had a more than acceptable sixth, he only got past the penultimate of that lap. He himself explained why: the floor had been broken for more than half an hour.

“The car felt very competitive today and it was good to be back in Q3. However, I was on a broken floor after going wide on my first lap in Q3, so we lost some performance due to the damage. I think before that damage was done we were in a position to get into the top five or six which would have been great for the sprint. From ninth position, our goal is to conquer a number of positions, which I am sure to achieve,” Alonso analyzed with satisfaction.

Today there are two sessions, but only one will be trained. The so-called ‘FP2’, which will really be a ‘warm-up’, will be held a few hours before the sprint, that invention of the short race over 24 laps that runs 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point in reverse order from first to eighth. The result will serve to configure the grid for Sunday, which will be the real and usual race. Will there be surprises?

Source: La Verdad

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

Early start of the season: asparagus as competition for wild garlic

This year the vegetation in Upper Austria is two...

Endrick’s amazing week

Brutal attack: driver shot in the shoulder and robbed

Wild scenes took place on Höchsterstrasse in Dornbirn on...