“Nice statement” in Spielberg
Verstappen destroys all doubts
29.06.2024, 18:32
First the victory in the sprint, followed just hours later by the one in qualifying: Max Verstappen underlines why he is number 1 in Formula 1. Although his performance sowed doubts for weeks. The Red Bull driver is very relieved.
Max Verstappen had to fight hard for weeks to maintain his supremacy, publicly doubting his status as number one before the Red Bull home game – and then gave the assembled competition in Spielberg a real blow. After his victory in the sprint, the world champion also raced to pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday, his superiority reminiscent of times supposedly past.
“That was a nice statement,” said Verstappen to the cheers of thousands of fans from the Netherlands, “I really enjoyed it. It’s been a while since the last pole.” Red Bull has not taken first place on the grid three times in a row – this time even Lando Norris, who has been so strong recently, could not keep up: the second-placed McLaren driver was four tenths of a second behind. Mercedes and Ferrari follow in alternation: George Russell and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) take third and fifth places on the grid, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc start the race on Sunday from fourth and sixth. (3 p.m./Sky and in the ntv.de live ticker).
Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren was initially in third place, but his best time was cancelled for exceeding the track limits. In the end he only finished seventh. Nico Hülkenberg in the Haas made it into Q3 and secured ninth place on the grid.
Norris: “Defends like an amateur”
In the midday sprint, it initially looked as if Verstappen would not be able to hold off the McLaren duo for long. Starting the short race from first place, he was driven around the track by Norris and Piastri for several laps. After five laps, Norris then overtook him quite brutally – but left too much space on the inside lane at the end of the subsequent straight, and Verstappen immediately countered.
“I left the door open and defended like an amateur,” said Norris later. Especially since Piastri took the opportunity and also overtook him. As a result, he stood in the way of his actually faster teammate, and only then was Verstappen able to pull away and take the sprint victory.
In qualifying, Verstappen only didn’t look like a dominant driver in the very close Q1, where Sainz and Piastri were ahead of him. In the second part, the world champion turned things up a notch, and this impression was confirmed in Q3.
The race could still be a closer affair after the impressions from the sprint. “The Grand Prix will be long and hot, which is completely different,” said Verstappen. The heat this weekend in Spielberg is an important factor: the air temperature was 31 degrees on Saturday, and the asphalt heated up to 45 degrees. The tires suffer much sooner in such conditions, and at least the impressions from the season so far suggest that McLaren is the most gentle with its tires.