Austrian GP 2018 F1: Verstappen wins at home and Vettel regains the lead

The Formula 1 World Championship arrived in Austria, Red Bull’s home, which, however, had been Mercedes territory. Although the German team could not celebrate what would have been its fifth consecutive victory at the circuit known as the Red Bull Ring, for advertising reasons, it suffered a debacle that handed the race win to Max Verstappen, and Sebastian Vettel took advantage to regain the lead.

Mercedes arrived at a circuit that suited them well, and with upgrades on top, so they were the clear favourites. They showed it on Saturday, with both their cars on the front row of the starting grid, but on Sunday in the race things went very differently: on lap thirteen the pole-sitter, Valtteri Bottas, retired, and with six laps to go it was Lewis Hamilton who did so, having already lost the race lead some time earlier due to a couple of strategy errors from the pit wall.

Of all this, the biggest beneficiary was Max Verstappen, who secured his first win of 2018. The Dutchman had been running strongly after his podiums in the two previous races, France and Canada, and with this victory he adds a point in his particular battle with Daniel Ricciardo inside the team, a battle that had a new episode on Saturday and which further distances the Australian driver from staying with the Red Bull team.

Of course, Sebastian Vettel is the other driver who leaves Austria very happy. He arrived at this race 14 points behind Lewis Hamilton and hoping that the British driver’s advantage would grow as little as possible, yet he leaves as leader of the championship, one point ahead, without doing much. The weekend did not look promising for Ferrari, but in the end he was saved by second place for Kimi and third for Seb.

Spain’s performance in Austria was a mixed bag. The good news was for Fernando Alonso, who started the race from the pit lane after changing parts and fought back to finish eighth, scoring points after three races without doing so. The bad news went to Carlos Sainz, who, despite starting ninth, had problems with his tyres and did not finish in the top ten, something that had only happened to him this season at the Bahrain GP.

Although we are already in summer, the World Championship does not rest, and in a few days we have the next date on the calendar: the 2018 British GP. The drivers and all the members of their teams are already heading for British territory, because on 6, 7 and 8 July they must already be on track at Silverstone Circuit.