Grandprix Austria – the Race
Okay, 14:34 CET Time ..... 36 minutes to go ..... Ready for the race. Max had a little less power than the competitive Mercedes' cars. The start is going to be different. Interesting fact: Max is the ONLY driver in the top 10 who has Medium Tires at the start .... The rest has soft tires what means: Max can stay on the track a little longer as the soft tires wear out faster. Hopefully this makes a difference, but I doubt this is going to make a difference, as Mercedes looks very strong and the tire cannot make up for this ! ! !
As you can see, the medium is slower per lap, but lasts longer. The track temperature is 57 degrees Celsius REALLY WARM, this will impact the tires, so let's see what is going to happen.
Interesting fact, Hamilton got a penalty because he neglected to slow down during qualifications yesterday, so he drops three places. This means Verstappen starts number 2,
GO GO GO
So we are starting with a warm up lap. Fact, Verstappen is going to go to the pit-box later than his fellow drivers, let's see what is going to happen
We are starting:
Bottas the fastest, but Norris cannot keep up with Max
Good start for Bottas, got away
Little hustle but all cars came through the first turn
No chance of rain, what would be an advantage for Hamilton and Verstappen, they are rain drivers ! ! !
Meanwhile we are in lap 8 of 71 and all drivers are still in the race. Albon, Max' partner has a strategy to keep Hamilton behind him and slow him down, but at the moment I am writing this:
Hamilton is passing Albon and he is gone ......
And then ..... AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
Verstappen slows down, problem with the car !!!!!!!
So the pictures above show a Verstappen making it to the box, the team had seconds to look at the car, but no chance ..... the car is done ! ! ! In my opinion an electronic problem, those are the toughest to fix, IF fixable during a race.
So Mercedes has all the power, position 1 and 2 and some space. Are they going for the double today or can Albon do something about it.
Ricciardo also has problems now ... in the 19th lap. He is in the box and takes his time ... Might be the second out of the race ...... and yes, there is confirmation, OUT ! ! ! Last year all 20 cars finished, 20 laps done this year, two cars out... who is next ! ! !
Lance Stroll, the Canadian, number 3 out of the race ... No more power. The 3 cars out mean the following picture .... all cars on the track:
Next is a nice spin by Grosjean. He made a full 360, so able to stay in the race ! ! !
Nice there are interesting situation, not nice that Max is not there anymore ! ! !
Next up Magnussen, breaking problems
You can see the track on the right, with Ocon taking the turn ....too bad Magnussen....
This gives the race a yellow flag meaning you are not allowed to pass cars, pace car will come out ....
Next up, little box incident. Always difficult to five each other some space:
Perez and Norris are REALLY close, look at those tires...
This is the view we have the moment:
Next incident, collision, Sebastian Vettel, with Carlos Sainz .....
Interesting fact, Vettel is leaving Ferrari after the season and his successor ..... Carlos Sainz ! ! !
Vettel is able to keep the car on the track but has to continue the race from position 14, a loss of 6 places ! ! !
Currently we are in round number 38, and this is the top 10:
Bottas, Hamilton, Albon, Perez, Norris, Leclerc, Sainz, Gasly, Kvyat, and Ocon. Mercedes makes sense, 1 RedBull, make sense, no Ferrari doesn't make sense ! ! !
Bottas is going very fast, Hamilton is having a tough race:
Lewis' view............ somebody is not close to overtake
Interesting fact:
Antonio Giovinazzi shared he MUST finish in front of teammate Raikonen; if he does not do so, his career will be over... at the moment he is still doing okay.
Next two cars leaving the track, Grosjean and Russell making the American team Haas the first team to NOT have any car in the race anymore (every team has 2 cars)
................. Grosjean is out
Source Bye Bye Russell
Once again, last year ALL cars finished the race, this year: 6 cars ..... and counting ....
Some Finish fans made it to Austria, they are high up, probably see the cars as little dots, but ..... they have been there:
So, we are in lap 54, 17 to go, I am really not in a good mood, Max is out, but will cover the whole race. Next one out: Kimi Raikonen, loosing his tire; which will give the team a penalty .... something probably went wrong during the last box time:
Serious pictures ! ! !
Seven cars out .... knowing that 10 cars get point, 3 cars will NOT get points .....
Next incident, Albon and Hamilton:
Hamilton got a 5 second penalty for this for not giving room to Albon. Albon dropped to the last place ! ! !
And ..... next car having problems Kvyat, his left back tire blew out, always a scary moment as your car is very difficult to control.
Albon did NOT finish.
This race is absolutely mad .... soooooo many cars dropping out. Last year all cars finished, this year only 11; horrible if your name is Latifi, the only racer without points.
The 5 seconds penalty Hamilton got for the incident with Albon, is specifically painful, because he finished second, but dropped to fourth place because of this penalty....
So these are the three winning cars:
And the three podium guys + winning team constructor (Mercedes)
Top 10:
Good finish from Norris, good job ! ! !
And all the drivers NOT finishing:
Too bad the race was short for Max, but that is how races go, you win some, you loose some. If you are a Verstappen fan, like me, and you stopped watching the race after him leaving the race, you missed a great race.
I definitely had a lot of fun, hopefully you did also....
Stay SAFE ! ! !
Wordless Wednesday: 07-01 Talking walls Part I
