Mercedes’ bounceback among key F1 Austrian Grand Prix storylines

As discussed here, Other locationsLando Norris’ frustration after finishing second at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix wasn’t the story of one race, but the entire 2024 F1 season.

A year ago at Barcelona, ​​the RB19’s strength was evident in the closing stages of the race, as Max Verstappen won by 24 seconds from Lewis Hamilton. After multiple warnings for exceeding track limits, Verstappen had a big advantage on the track and was confident enough to set a fastest lap in the final stages of the race, prompting another legendary request from race engineer Giampietro Lambiase: “OK.” the engineer known as GP joked.“Now, can you bring it back to the finish line within the white lines?”

Things were very different in Barcelona last Sunday. Verstappen had to get past George Russell to take the lead after the Mercedes driver made a spectacular double overtake on the opening lap. The Red Bull champion boasted an eight-second lead over Norris going into the final act of the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, but the McLaren driver not only reduced the gap to two seconds on the final lap, but also felt he was in the quickest car and should have won.

F1 is a whole new game this season.

Teams like McLaren, Ferrari and possibly Mercedes are closing the gap on Red Bull, putting pressure on the defending constructors’ champion – and on Verstappen himself. Of course, it’s one thing to put pressure on Red Bull and Verstappen, but it’s another to let that well-tuned car break down under the stress. On Sunday in Barcelona, ​​Red Bull answered the call and took another win.

But will that be the case this weekend in Austria?

On Sunday night after the Miami Grand Prix, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur told the assembled media: SB NationHe said the team would now be able to put pressure on Red Bull at the front, which could be a “game changer” this season.

“Compared to a year ago, we did a good job putting it all together. We’re there. [Red Bull] “We’re feeling a bit of pressure. We need to be a bit more aggressive in our strategy,” Vasseur said in Miami.

“They are no longer in the comfortable position they were last year, where it didn’t matter what happened after the second lap, they were at the front. I think this is a game changer in terms of race management,” Vasseur added.

“And this is an opportunity for us because if we can take another step, I think we’ll be in a position to compete with them every weekend.”

That battle continues this weekend and is one of many storylines to watch.

Have race organizers really solved the track limit issue?

F1 fans will remember the three most commonly used words during the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix.

“You’ve exceeded your truck limit.”

Consider these numbers from last year:

In qualifying alone, 47 laps were deleted for “exceeding track limits”, leaving confused drivers, teams and fans extremely angry. In the Grand Prix itself, several drivers were penalised for exceeding track limits, leading to a post-race protest from Aston Martin, questioning whether all appropriate penalties had been imposed.

The protest was allowed and more drivers were penalised a few hours after the race finished. A further 12 penalties were issued to eight drivers, with race officials saying they had yet to review all the penalties. 1,200 potential incidents If the truck limit is exceeded.

These figures have left drivers, and even some of the sport’s biggest names, questioning whether changes should be made to the Red Bull Ring: “The problem is that it’s very difficult for the drivers, you can’t see the white lines from the car, so you’re purely going by feel, and the circuit is inviting you to go there,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Speaking before the post-race penalty It was announced last season. “So I think we need to look at it next year to try and deter drivers more from being drawn to that part of the circuit.”

Now, that seems to have added deterrent power.

As reported Race Fan Last year, the FIA ​​urged race organizers to install gravel traps at circuits, with a particular focus on Turns 9 and 10. “We again recommend that circuits add gravel traps at the exit of Turns 9 and 10 to address this issue for future events,” it said. A spokesperson said: From the FIA Race Fan Last season“This is not a simple solution compared to the other series that race here, but it has proven very effective at other corners and circuits with similar issues.”

Images emerged on Tuesday of a new gravel trap being installed near Turn 10 at the circuit.

Would these gravel traps solve the problem? Given the size of the Red Bull Ring, this may be difficult to implement. Just Exceed At 4.3 kilometres long and with just 10 corners, it is one of the smallest circuits on the calendar. Every millisecond counts in F1, and in Austria that is especially true in qualifying. Consider what Logan Sargent told me about track limits earlier this season:

“Yeah, what drives me crazy is[j]Leave it as it is [the track]”Like when we’re talking about track limits,” Sargent said, “and you look at Bahrain, first through 20th place in Q1 was covered by 0.8 seconds.”

“Especially when you’re on the other side of it. [lap]”You’re trying to get through Q1 and you’re always on the edge – imagine that – just leaving a little bit of time, being too safe can cost you two or three places. On top of that, your tyres overheat during the lap, the wind gusts and changes during the lap, even the slightest bit of slipstream from the car can completely change the way the corner plays out,” Sargent added. “There’s a lot more to completing a race than people realise and staying inside the white lines and making the most of it. It’s a lot more complicated than just ‘stay inside the white lines’.”

“There are so many variables and I think people often forget that.”

Traps may be helpful, but you’re going to be hearing those three words a lot this weekend.

Are we witnessing a Mercedes revival?

McLaren made an incredible comeback from a poor start to the season to rocket up the standings a year ago, and in many ways that turnaround began in Austria a year ago when Norris finished fourth, giving the team 12 points.

They went into the Austrian Grand Prix last year with a total of 17 points across eight race weekends.

Could we see something similar happening from Mercedes?

The Silver Arrows got off to a slow start this season but have made solid progress in recent weeks. A series of upgrades that the team began rolling out in Miami have improved on-track performance, with the team finishing with two of its best race weekends of the year. In Montreal, a strong performance from George Russell earned the team its first pole position of the season. Russell’s third place gave the team its first Grand Prix podium of the year; Lewis Hamilton came in fourth. (Hamilton previously made the podium in April with a second-place finish in the F1 sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.)

Last week in Barcelona, ​​the team had another strong weekend, taking the second row in both qualifying and the Grand Prix, with Hamilton finishing third and Russell fourth.

Brackley has certainly made progress and will probably be the next great F1 meme, but can he keep up this momentum on the hilly streets of Austria?

Dissatisfaction with Ferrari

At the other end of the spectrum is the Scuderia.

At the end of May, Ferrari was on a roll. Charles Leclerc finally won his home race, taking the Monaco Grand Prix. With teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. coming in third, plus Sergio Pérez’s retirement and Verstappen’s sixth place, Red Bull only managed to pick up eight points for the weekend. Ferrari is 32 points closer to Red Bull They took the lead in the constructors’ championship standings.

When the grid shifted to Montreal, the Scuderia found itself trailing Red Bull by just 24 points, and talk of a real title fight was on the cards.

Though they remain in the running for the title, Ferrari has struggled in recent weeks: the team suffered a disastrous defeat at the Canadian Grand Prix, failed to score any points despite their efforts leaving Montreal, and Leclerc finishing fifth and Sainz sixth in Barcelona have left Red Bull just a little behind in the standings. Ferrari are currently 60 points behind Red Bull, a gap that has more than doubled in recent weeks.

Ferrari would love to stay in front, but McLaren has more than halved the 68-point gap they had after the Monaco Grand Prix and is now just 33 points behind Ferrari.

This movement can be represented graphically as follows: Formula 1 Points:

If you were to make a list of teams that need to make a comeback in Austria, Ferrari might come top of it.

What about the back of the pack?

Return to your friend Formula 1 Points, If you look at the standings at the back of the F1 field, you might notice something interesting.

Takayama? I have to apologizewe weren’t very familiar with your game.

Well, maybe there’s no need to apologize, but it’s certainly worth noting that the most successful backmarker teams over the past two race weekends have been France-based teams. Visa Cash App RB F1 Team was able to leave Montreal with four points thanks to Daniel Ricciardo’s eighth-place finish, while Alpine’s successive double-points results gave them six points to VCARB’s four.

This moved Alpine up to seventh in the constructors’ championship standings.

Can Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly keep Alpine’s momentum going in Austria? Can VCARB stage a comeback of their own? Can Sauber finally break through and score some points? Can Haas and Williams pull off a shock in the Austrian hills?

Any driver news?

As the grid heads to the Red Bull Ring, here are the final storylines.

Could this be the week we finally (thankfully?) hear some news about Carlos Sainz’s future?

Rumours had been flying around the paddock and across F1 circles that an announcement was imminent about where Sainz would go in 2025. Even drivers like Kevin Magnussen, who faces an uncertain F1 future, pointed to Sainz as the “cork in the bottle” when it came to the 2025 driver market. But there was a snag in those plans in the form of Flavio Briatore, who recently took up an advisory role at Alpine and is reportedly making a final effort to lure Sainz to the French team next season.

Given yesterday’s news that both Mick Schumacher and Jack Doohan are due to test for Alpine in the coming days, it’s highly likely that these talks bore little fruit, meaning we may finally hear from Sainz himself about where his F1 story will be written next.

Watch this space.