Verstappen steals a win for Honda at Spielberg

Coming off a lackluster race at Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix last weekend, fair weathered fans were beginning to write off this year’s Formula 1 season in favor of the team from Brackley.

Fans yawning at dragging processions craved for more exciting wheel to wheel racing.

Austria, with its rather short circuit layout, has always been a toss up in terms of race strategies. But this weekend, most teams believed that whatever compound Pirelli had, would last long distances without a huge drop in performance.

Max Verstappen, who got promoted to P2 after a penalty was slapped by the stewards on Lewis Hamilton for blocking Kimi Raikkonen in Q1, was poised to take back-to-back wins at the Red Bull ring.
It was only Charles Leclerc, who stood on pole, left standing in his way.

Fitted with the Pirelli mediums, Verstappen was looking at running longer than Charles, who was on the Pirelli softs. This would be the better strategy for the Dutchman, as he could undercut Leclerc come pit stop time. But, as the lights went off, the #33 Red Bull’s anti-stall kicked in, momentarily keeping Verstappen stationary on the line as his rivals swept past, dropping Max down to P6. At that point, all seemed lost for the Dutchman as the top five had just enough pace to keep him at bay.

But after the requisite stops, Red Bull found the much needed grip from the Pirelli hard compound tires, and the horsepower from its Honda power unit to keep the frontrunners within sight. Then with just over 15 laps to go Max went after his rivals, who were now nursing their tires.

Red Bull had no such problems, and quickly dispatched of Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel in the dying laps.

Max was on a charge, and with Charles Leclerc the only remaining challenger, Verstappen, aided by DRS, hounded the Monegasque driver, trying to pass him at every chance he could get. This went on for a few laps, then with just three laps to go, Verstappen made his move, edging Leclerc wide at turn 1. This prompted the stewards to investigate the maneuver. FIA rules dictate that a car should always leave enough space when overtaking, but, after deliberations, the FIA made no further action.

This handed Max Verstappen his first win of the year, and more importantly, gave its engine supplier Honda, their first win since Hungary 2006 (Jenson Button). It was a long and trying wait for the Japanese manufacturer, a period when they endured lows with other F1 teams, but are now reaping the rewards of perseverance.

At the post race interviews, Verstappen said: “After that start I thought the race was over. But we just kept pushing hard. Quite quickly I saw the pace was actually not too bad, but I had quite a bad flat spot on my first [set of] tyres. And then after the pit stop we were flying. You can see it now on the straight we had good pace, as well so we could make the pass. Of course extremely happy for the whole team and also for Honda. We just started working together this year but to win here is incredible. ”

When asked about when he felt that he stood a chance to win the race, Verstappen said: “Difficult to say. I think once I got past Valtteri, with the pace we had, I could definitely have a go at it. But you never know. I just kept pushing really hard – but we did it with a few laps to go so, of course, extremely happy but also to the team. I think all weekend we’ve been working really well and the upgrades we bought, they’ve worked really well, so a big thank you to Red Bull Racing themselves, all the boys there – but also to Honda because it’s not been easy for them in the past but today it’s been incredible, so I’m very happy for them”