2022 Austrian Grand Prix

I think we've now got a legit "big three" teams in F1. Mercedes is probasbly not quite ready to win, but the other two had better not stumble. Mercedes demise has been greatly exaggerated.

Right now it's win or bust for Hamilton. He is not out of this championship yet, but as we saw last year, anything can happen. If nothing else, the championship shackles are off and lewis will only consern himself with wins and not points. Again, Iexpect to see something pretty close to magical from Hamilton this weekend.

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Verstappen tops Leclerc in first Austrian GP practice

Max Verstappen led a disrupted first practice session at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of qualifying later today. Verstappen looked comfortable at the head of the field for much of the crucial hour…
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At least the Mercedes drivers can now push hard enough to crash.

The worst news is that Lewis starts right behind Alonso, so he's going to have a long day.

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Austrian GP pole to Verstappen as both Mercedes crash out

Max Verstappen will start the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race from pole after pipping Charles Leclerc to top spot by just 0.029s. British Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz qualified third and just 0.0…
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Pretty shocking day for Mercedes, but better to have it happen on a sprint weekend than any other. Russell didn’t lose any spots anyways. Sounds as though Hamilton experienced a sudden gust of wind like Verstappen and Sainz did in Spain.

Great qualifying for Haas again, hopefully they have similar race pace the next two days.
 
Verstappen is turning out to be a worthy champion. He has won all his races clean and fair, and there's been no controversy. Max is running away with it though, which is not good for the championship. Checo seems to drive a great race every weekend, doesn't he?

We do have a legitimate bit three teams now, though Mercedes needs to find a little more speed. George started fourth and finished there, and the 13 seconds he as behind represents a little more than 1/2 second per lap. Hamilton didn't really make up a place because he only moved up with Alonso not starting. His collision with Gasly was just too many cars fighting for the same space, and it certainly didn't help things. Mercedes looked good, but they need to find some speed if they want to challenge for the win.

Charles is still a little bit better than Carlos though. Maybe if they had spent the early laps attacking Max instead of each other they would have had a better chance.

Both Haas cars legitimately in the top 10, and even a little better. Mick seems to be finding his feet a bit better too.

None of the cars seemed to be purpoising, so that's more good news.

It's going to be a long day for everyone tomorrow. I don't think anyone is going to catch Max and now Checo has a decent starting sport too. Checo could be the guy to watch tomorrow.



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Great defensive drive by Mick against Hamilton, best battle of the day. Otherwise another sprint that shows this format has no competitive value. It just makes qualifying less important and sets the grid into one already sorted by race pace, and has no strategy besides starting tire choice. It does a good job of filling the stands all three days though.
 
Why not pit the Ferrari's again? They have the gap.... cover off any chance of Max coming back up on his fresh tires
 
Max is just chewing through tires, and his closing stint will have to be longer than his last stint. Wonder if RB just missed the setup for long runs.
 
Glad Leclerc finally managed to grab another win to reel in Max a little bit, but Ferrari still have reliability issues to sort out unfortunately. And wtf was that marshall response to Carlos?

Awesome to see Mick coming into his own now, another great double points day for Haas.

McLaren and Alpine is a sneaky good fight for 4th in the WCC.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Glad Leclerc finally managed to grab another win to reel in Max a little bit, but Ferrari still have reliability issues to sort out unfortunately. And wtf was that marshall response to Carlos?

Awesome to see Mick coming into his own now, another great double points day for Haas.

McLaren and Alpine is a sneaky good fight for 4th in the WCC.
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Never doubted Mick for a second. Just when it comes to adjusting to racing in the mid-field it can be a bit of an adjustment. Not to mention, Haas is very supportive of him and Mick himself works hard at his craft.

Having K-Mag as a teammate has been huge for him and Vettel being in his corner helps as well.
 
Congrats to Charles on the win. Things got pretty dramatic there towards the end, and though I have nothing against Max (or anyone else - still way too early for that), I'm glad he finished the job without incident. Tough break for my boys Perez and Sainz, but that's racin'. Thangs happen.

Now that I'm an early riser, I like watching these F1 races. Even at a place like Monaco, the commentators do their best to keep you engaged and interested. I can sit down for an hour and a half or so after breakfast, check it out, and then enjoy the rest of my day. I'm really not a fan of the 3 p.m. and later Sunday NASCAR start times at all. This is a nice alternative.
 
Mr. Gregory said:
Congrats to Charles on the win. Things got pretty dramatic there towards the end, and though I have nothing against Max (or anyone else - still way too early for that), I'm glad he finished the job without incident. Tough break for my boys Perez and Sainz, but that's racin'. Thangs happen.

Now that I'm an early riser, I like watching these F1 races. Even at a place like Monaco, the commentators do their best to keep you engaged and interested. I can sit down for an hour and a half or so after breakfast, check it out, and then enjoy the rest of my day. I'm really not a fan of the 3 p.m. and later Sunday NASCAR start times at all. This is a nice alternative.
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Mimosas and F1.

Great combo.👍🏾
 
Yes, it was a great race. Lots of passing/racing. The endless warnings and penalties for the track limit nonsense was annoying. I felt bad for the announcers trying to keep us informed but they are very good at their job.
 
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