Austrian Grand Prix: Relief for George Russell as he secures second win of season
Russell’s victory hinged on what happened at the end of qualifying. In fact, the fates of the three drivers who took victory were effectively sealed as they intertwined at Turn Nine in the final seconds of Saturday’s final session.
Red Bull said Max Verstappen crashed due to an aerodynamic problem at the rear of his car.
Antonelli misread the illuminated signs at the side of the track and thought he had to get off his lap for the double yellow flag.
Russell read them correctly and only removed as much as he needed. This, combined with the quality of the lap up to that point, took him to pole position, with Antonelli and Verstappen in fourth and fifth.
If each had fulfilled their potential, they would probably have lined up for the Russell-Antonelli-Verstappen grand prix and been fighting from the start. Instead, Russell had some breathing room as Verstappen and Antonelli passed the Ferraris, and that was enough.
This does not mean that the outcome will necessarily be different. Mercedes calculated that the pace of the top three finishers was about the same; In the end, when Verstappen approached Russell and Antonelli approached both of them, the difference was simply due to their different tire life.
But this is the situation. Antonelli spent a crazy amount of time off the track in the first few laps, dropping to fifth. Verstappen had to find a way to pass the Ferraris.
Even then the race was based on pit stops and strategy.
The decisive point when battling for Russell and Verstappen was the timing of the second pit stop. When Mercedes brought Russell on lap 43, Verstappen had completed the race in 1.3 seconds.
It was still early and Russell knew he was expecting a lot from his tires for the remaining 28 laps. But he retained track position, allowing Red Bull to run Verstappen longer to create tire balancing so they could get back to Russell in the remaining laps.
If Red Bull had taken Verstappen on that lap, the positions would have been reversed and Verstappen would probably have won.
Likewise Antonelli. He ran longer to both the first and second stops. Luckily, if Mercedes had waited one more lap before the first stop, they could have caught the virtual safety car called for Carlos Sainz’s troubled Williams. And that would probably make him the winner.
