Two years ago, Max Verstappen headed into the Austrian Grand Prix Sunday looking like he was almost certain to win.
He’d taken pole position for the sprint race on Friday, won the sprint race on Saturday and was due to start from pole for the main event on Sunday.
But instead, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari spoiled the party for Verstappen, his team and the many thousands of Dutch fans in attendance by executing a brilliant strategic race to beat the world champion to the chequered flag.
That weekend, Leclerc looked to be lacking the speed to beat Verstappen in a straight fight during the sprint race, only to comfortably match Verstappen’s speed over the course of the race. And in 2024, McLaren have to find a way to emulate Ferrari’s achievement if they are to avoid being beaten into second place for the fifth consecutive race.
But after going toe-to-toe with Verstappen in the sprint race and coming off second-best, then observing the Red Bull’s pace after, Norris is not quite as confident as he might have been in recent rounds.
“From the pace advantage Max had today, that’s probably going to carry into something tomorrow as well,” Norris admitted after qualifying. “Then into quali today, it showed that they were just a pretty good step ahead of us. So we’ll see. It’s another day.”
Weather
Heavy rain is expected to reach the Red Bull Ring on Sunday – but not until well after the chequered flag falls.
However, in Formula 1, it does not always need to rain for weather to play a major factor in the outcome of a race. With sun beating down over the circuit for Saturday’s two sessions, track temperatures rose from the mid-to-high 40s Celsius during the sprint race, which did little to help drivers with their overheating rubber. Sunday’s grand prix will begin two hours later, which could stress tyres even further as the circuit will have more time to bake in the sun.
With drivers having already had to deal with their tyres overheating in the sprint race, warmer temperatures could limit the level of overtaking we see during the grand prix as drivers may be unable to push without losing grip. This could lead to the kind of tactics seen last weekend in Barcelona by McLaren and Lando Norris, where he bided his time and saved his tyres behind George Russell until he was released into clear air and could make use of his extra pace.
The heat will pose challenges for more…
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