Parth Sherla
The first triple-header of the season is now complete with the wrap of the Austrian GP 2021. Quite an engaging race if you ask me. The FIA was handing over the time penalties like some charity! Max Verstappen, on the other hand, was unbothered by all the chaos going on behind him. He went on to take a maiden grand slam victory at the Austrian GP 2021. As easy as it was for Max, some drivers had it rather tricky. After a tedious amount of research and number crunching, I have deduced our other race winners and losers of Austrian GP 2021 who made the best use of the opportunities presented to them and the ones who, well, failed. Let’s start, shall we?
As usual, we will discuss the losers first, as it is better to end things on a good note.
The other losers of the Austrian GP 2021
Sebastian Vettel
Definitely a weekend to forget for the German champ. Although he had his Aston Martin set in a good place during Q3 on Saturday, the late penalty for obstructing Alonso forced him to start the race in P11. That’s a good amount of positions lost, and that is way ahead of race day. The race was not up to the expectations of himself, let alone the team or his fans. The last lap tussle with Kimi Raikkonen crushed what little hope there was for him to at least finish the race with dignity. That’s Sebastian Vettel for you, in P17.
Sergio Perez
Just as a stock price corrects itself after a few days of rallying, Sergio Perez’s Redbull rise seems to have mellowed out after the Austrian GP 2021. A decent qualifying placed Perez on the second row for Sunday’s race. But, it seemed as if Perez couldn’t come to terms with the fact that Norris positioned his Mclaren ahead of the Redbull, despite the Mclaren being the slower of the two cars. It proved critical on race day when Perez was overly aggressive and lost a couple of places on the first lap itself while trying to go round the outside of Norris at Turn 4, a turn where overtaking is quite tricky. The lesson still wasn’t learned as Perez did to Charles what Norris had done to him; push the latter off the track. By the end of the race, Sergio had an overall 10-second time penalty, while his race finish was P6. Not enough from a Red Bull driver. Maybe he could have been on the podium if he hadn’t pushed himself over the limit. But then again, it’s easier said than done. And even easier to comment without knowing the actual situation.
Lewis Hamilton
A P4 race finish might not be a bad result, but what if you’re Lewis Hamilton, in a Mercedes, fighting for your record 8th Championship title against a 23-year old comparatively inexperienced challenger. Suddenly, that P4 result brings you here, in the ‘Loser’ section of some article. It’s not the case of a pace-lacking car as his teammate was faster and had yielded a better result than him. It was pace-lacking Lewis, it seemed. Apart from the one battle against Norris for P2, Lewis’s rest of the race was quite bland. In addition to that, his rival, Max, extended his lead in the championship for the 3rd consecutive race weekend. Could this be the year where Lewis has to settle as a runner-up for the title, or can he bounce back in the second half of the season?
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The other winners of the Austrian GP 2021
Lando Norris
Lando never fails to impress us, does he? And he certainly didn’t disappoint us at Austrian this weekend. A killer qualifying lap enabled him to start P2. The qualifying lap was just +0.048 down from pole-sitter Max Verstappen. So you know the type of results he can produce from that Mclaren! The only trouble was when Lando was given a 5-second time penalty for forcing Perez off the track. But what a composed race he still managed to have afterward. Sure, the penalty caused him to lose a place. But, it’s not every day that you can outperform a Red Bull and a Mercedes driven by a 7-time World Champion. A well-recovered and focused race rewarded Lando with a podium finish. And also a place in the ‘Winners’ section of this article. Double win!
Valtteri Bottas
The Austrian GP 2021 was yet another moment where the underdog outperformed his legendary teammate. From now on, every race counts for Valtteri as he needs to prove his worth for the Mercedes seat over George Russell. And he did just that! In stark contrast to Hamilton’s lack of pace, Bottas had quite a lot of it. He capitalized on every opportunity (Lando and Sergio’s penalties), and put his Mercedes ahead of Hamilton to finish the race in a good P2. Whether he deserves the Mercedes seat is still debatable, but he deserves to stay in the sport as he has the potential to deliver some astonishing results.
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George Russell
I know what you might be thinking. “How can you put George as a winner here when he clearly lost it?” To begin with, George qualified P9 (later P8 thanks to Vettel’s grid penalty) in a Williams! He stayed in the points section till the end of the race. He defended Alonso for P10 for almost three laps. In a Williams! And though he equaled his career-best race finish of P11. This time he was kicked out from the points section nearing the end of the race and not during the opening few laps. In addition to that, George and Fernando were some of the very few drivers who had a no-drama, calm and normal race. It’s one thing defending your position amid chaos, but doing it when there’s no chaos and doing a hell of a job at it. That’s supreme driving! And I can’t stress this enough, all of that in a Williams! Somebody give this man a fast car!
So, here was my take on the other winners and losers of the Austrian GP 2021! Who according to you were the big winners and losers, let us know down in the comments!
Here’s our take on the Top 5 exciting Austrian GP!
