'Breakthrough' as Leclerc steers fragile Ferrari to 2022 Austrian GP win: race report

The pace from the Red Bull had been solid but not spectacular on hard tyres, and Leclerc reeled Verstappen in before taking the lead at Turn 3 with relative ease. Sainz was next to close in, but the Red Bull driver made an earlier second stop before the Spaniard cleared him.

As track limits warnings racked up — Norris and Pierre Gasly becoming the first two drivers to pick up five-second time penalties for multiple indiscretions — the racing remained close. Haas let Schumacher pass Magnussen to chase after Esteban Ocon in fifth, but Russell was also making progress after his earlier issues.

Any expectation that Ferrari was going to try and cruise to the end on a one-stop soon went out of the window, though, with Leclerc coming in with 23 laps remaining and Sainz a lap later, handing the lead to Verstappen once again.

Leclerc had to overtake the championship leader for a third time but duly did so after switching back on the exit of Turn 3 just four laps after his stop, and it looked a matter of time until Sainz followed him through.

And then the Ferrari moment came. After seeing cars retire from the lead in two of the past five races, Sainz suddenly slowed when in Verstappen’s slipstream, with smoke emerging from his car. He parked on the exit of Turn 4 and the Ferrari burst into flames, with Sainz smartly turning the wheel so that it rolled back against a barrier as he jumped out.

“There was no feedback coming from the engine that this was about to happen,” Sainz said. “It was very sudden. I’m lost for words because it’s a big loss on points, on a huge result for the team. I think it would have been an easy 1-2 today.”

The virtual safety car was needed to clear the Ferrari and that allowed both Leclerc and Verstappen to pit for fresh medium tyres,. Suddenly on the same compound of the same age, the race was reset and Leclerc soon started complaining of throttle issues as Verstappen started to edge closer.

“It was more or less at the same time [as Sainz retired],” Leclerc said. “So of course, I had it in my mind. I knew it was not a problem with the engine, because it was really the pedal that was feeling weird. First at pick up and then at the end it would not come back to zero.

“It was not only a little bit stressful, very stressful! The throttle was really inconsistent and in the middle of the corner it would get stuck to whatever percentage, so in Turn 3 it was very, very tricky because that’s where you don’t want any more speed in mid-corner.”

But Leclerc had just enough to hold on by 1.5 seconds, taking his first win since Australia and moving up to second in the championship.

“I definitely needed it. Of course whenever I get to a new race, since five races [ago] I have a smile on my face and I kept being optimistic but obviously hard races after hard races it felt like everything was against me. Finally we had a breakthrough, a good race today. and it feels great to have the win again.”

Verstappen was philosophical to only lose five points over the course of the weekend after his Sprint victory, as he benefitted from Sainz’s retirement.

The same could be said for Hamilton, who went from a heavy qualifying crash to securing his third podium in a row once Sainz was out of the race.

“Massively satisfying,” Hamilton said. “I was a bit lonely once I got [into third]. These guys were like 30-something seconds ahead of me, so I was just watching their race on the TV – down the straights I was just watching where they were. I could see them coming through like Turn 6 as I was coming out Turn 1.

“So I was getting a bit of a fan view of what was happening. I saw some of the overtakes they were having. I think they did replays and stuff. But after such a difficult weekend, with the crash, with a monumental effort from the team to rebuild the car, this is a really great result. So I’m very grateful.”

Russell was similarly in recovery mode as he responded to his penalty and damage to finish a strong fourth, ensuring Mercedes actually left Austria with the most points from Sunday’s running.

Ocon came home a comfortable fifth after pulling away from the exciting midfield battle, but Driver of the Day went to Schumacher for his first top six and second point-scoring result in a row. It was a highly impressive drive from the German who appears to be finding the consistency needed to match team-mate Magnussen, allowing Haas to celebrate another double-points finish with the Dane in eighth.

Magnussen split the McLarens of Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, the former battling regularly but the latter enduring a lonely run just off the back of all the action. He still had enough in hand to keep Alonso at bay as the Spaniard picked up the final point at the end of a race in which he wagged a finger at Yuki Tsunoda for putting him on the grass at 200mph, and then survived a post-race investigation for a wheel coming lose immediately following a pit stop under the VSC.

Alonso’s problem didn’t prove terminal but his countryman’s did, and Sainz’s failure serves as a reminder of Ferrari’s fragility, even if Leclerc was finally able to deliver on its potential.

2022 Austrian Grand Prix results

*Includes additional point for fastest lap