In the round-up: Antonio Giovinazzi says his race pace was comparable to Kimi Raikkonen’s after taking his first career point in Austria.
What they say
Finally, first point. Really smooth race, good race. I think [my] pace was similar [to] Kimi.
I had a lot of pressure from Perez behind all race but I wanted really bad this point and I gave 105% and I am really happy with the performance.
We go to Silverstone where we have a new upgrade, I hope we can do another step forward and give more pressure to McLaren.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Becoming a permanent part of the Red Bull Ring 🇦🇹 Turn one will now always be known as the Niki Lauda Kurve ♥️ #DankeNiki pic.twitter.com/bx0ApXYqKD
— Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 30, 2019
What can @LandoNorris do from fifth the grid? He knows how to overtake around the Red Bull Ring – here's his superb race-winning pass on @MaxDefourny from the 2016 Formula Renault Eurocup race one. #F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/57u72cuRbz
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) June 30, 2019
These shelters sure needed today: 33C ambient and 51C track temps. #F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/bmPa0xhLX6
— Fritz-Dieter Rencken (@RacingLines) June 30, 2019
I gave it all. Disappointed for the team but not much we could have done better. Congratulations for the win @Max33Verstappen
📸: @motorsportpics1 pic.twitter.com/8cYbK3aIF7— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) June 30, 2019
How is Gasly so consistently terrible?
— Gavin Ward 🇨🇦 (@GDubRacer) June 30, 2019
Hands down one of the best races I’ve watched in a long time. Massive congratulations to @HondaRacingF1 and @redbullracing 🚀
— Harrison Newey (@Harrison_Newey) June 30, 2019
An amazing race but irritating when people say ‘see F1 is great’. We had to wait about 68 of 71 laps for a race to break out. That’s not he way it should be. Fans paid for 71 laps of racing and that’s what they deserve. People need to get real. #f1 #austriangp
— Byron Young (@byronf1) June 30, 2019
Typical #F1. Boring, boring, inquests and hand-wringing followed by an explosion. One race doth not a summer make. Or something like that. Let's judge on what we have seen since 2014
— Kevin Eason (@easonF1) June 30, 2019
I've seen several dubious comparison drawn between Verstappen/Leclerc today and Vettel/Hamilton three weeks ago. The Vettel situation was different because he went off the track and was rejoining and is therefore required to leave room. Verstappen didn't and wasn't, #F1
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) June 30, 2019
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Christian Horner: "When your team mate is performing at this level the benchmark is extremely high, but with time and as his confidence builds, Pierre will close the gap. Our target in the constructors’ championship is Ferrari and we need both cars to score the maximum points possible."
Battle rages at the Red Bull Ring (Racing Point)
"The first stint looked promising and I was in the hunt behind Hulkenberg and Perez, but then we had some power unit issues to manage for around ten laps, which I think cost us five or six seconds."
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Comment of the day
New Red Bull junior driver Patricio O’Ward acquitted himself well with his short-notice appearance in F2 says Hugh:
I was quite impressed by O’Ward this weekend, considering European tracks are unlike any he’s driven in the US, and also the Pirelli tyres are very difficult to learn. I’d say it’s harder to transition from Indy to Europe, than the other way round, so out-qualifying both Maini and Tveter was impressive for me.
In the first race he really struggled with tyres but was much better in the second, made some good moves and was running around 12th for a while. I think they should try to get him in F2 whenever he’s not driving in IndyCar, or even when he is considering the Carlin in IndyCar is incredibly uncompetitive (shown by how well Herta is doing compared to him, despite O’Ward winning the Indy Lights championship last year).
Hugh (@Hugh11)
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Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
1st July 2019, 1:00
Well although Honda took 5 years, they’ve finally won a race. Better late then never I suppose. Good for them.
I haven’t read too many comments, but I’m quite surprised there hasn’t been many “egg in Mclaren’s face” type comments. :)
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st July 2019, 1:21
If McLaren were performing this year similar to last year, I for one would surely have been piling the criticism on them.
Right now, though, I will only cheer for and applaud both Honda and McLaren for their respective successes. It’s been a while coming, but better late than never.
Cristiano
1st July 2019, 2:17
Well, to me the Honda engine is still not good enough and they are getting carried by the good Red Bull package (and Verstappen). Things could be better if Red Bull was still using a Renault power unit.
McLaren doesnt have a chassis as good as Red Bull but at last they have a good engine that shows how much they can improve in their chassis. The Honda power unit was not good for this.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st July 2019, 2:54
To me, the view I take is slightly different. Last year, McLaren finally had to accept the painful reality they had an incredibly poor chassis that was also to blame as was Honda’s power and reliability (or lack thereof).
In the span of one season, they’ve made incredible strides in the chassis department, while running a rookie and a capable (though not a hotshot) driver.
In the same time, Renault have been plugging away with a common baseline of a consistent engine (consistent, as in not having changed PU suppliers, not consistent as in good!), have had the opportunity to iterate their chassis year on year (with a works team advantage), have signed a vaunted driver from the big three, paired with another highly-regarded driver. And yet they’re outshone by McLaren.
Are McLaren doing championship worthy stuff? Not by a long shot. But they have shown arguably the best year-on-year improvement (save for maybe 2018 Sauber who benefited by a big engine upgrade).
Cristiano
1st July 2019, 7:04
The 2016 McLaren chassis was not that bad and the 2017 one was the best they had until the 2019 one.
The 2018 chassis was bad but mainly because it was designed to run with a Honda PU. In short it was kind of a “Frankenstein chassis”
The lack of pace and reliability problems that Honda had during it’s time with McLaren hurt the Woking team because its hard to advance something when you lack power.
The problem with Renault is their lack of commitment with their F1 program. We are talking about a works team that operate with a midfield budget.
If they fail in 2021 i can see they leaving the sport and granting McLaren with works team status.
RL
1st July 2019, 5:37
Who is Byron Young and why are his comments warranted to be posted on a reputable motor racing website?
Criticism about this season remain warranted but someone complaining that “We had to wait about 68 of 71 laps for a race to break out” knows nothing about Formula One.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
1st July 2019, 6:43
Just wait until Byron sees the Indy 500…
a (@aaaa)
1st July 2019, 12:49
I am thinking exactly the same…?
He must not have turned on his tellie until lap 68.
(Probably too busy tweeting )
Could take a lesson from Charles though, Lovely to see CL cop it on the chin & then praise the team/winner…. Rule #1 in any sport…Play the whistle.
I hope these 2 drivers are around for a long time.
MattDS (@mattds)
1st July 2019, 7:51
Just cannot agree with CotD, sorry. O’Ward had a really tough weekend with few positives. In race one he finished last with worst race pace, slowest “fastest lap”, and even finished behind Mick who had started the race about a minute down.
In race two he finished in front of two drivers with technical issues (Aitken and Hubert) and two drivers that were in the car for the first time this season (Maini) or even ever (Tveter).
He finished behind Calderon, aside from Raghunathan the only full-time driver in the series who hasn’t amassed a single point.
The F2 field this year is rather tame in terms of driver talent and to come in as one of America’s brightest talents and end up dead last and 14th is nothing to be impressed with.
Exediron (@exediron)
1st July 2019, 9:57
He’s been struggling pretty badly in IndyCar this year as well. I think the jury is still out on how good O’Warde really is.
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
1st July 2019, 8:04
I don’t follow him because he seems a clown, but is Byron Young actually being serious in that tweet? You’d swear it was some kind of parody troll.
OOliver
1st July 2019, 8:14
Back in 2015 and 16, Honda had said the poor performance of their combination was not down to just the engines. Suggesting they were not to blame alone for Mclaren’s woes.
Having a slow chassis would also send the engine developer down the wrong path as they will not see those incremental improvements. Engine reliability is a secondary issue that can be dealt with after curing the performance aspect
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st July 2019, 9:05
Newey has the same mindset – in his book he’s stated that you can make a fast car reliable much more easily than making a reliable car fast.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
1st July 2019, 10:16
*Old Kimi talking to his grown up kids HowIMetYourMother-style* And that Kids, is why i won two titles driving cars of the best designer in F1. Oh, wait-
GeeMac (@geemac)
1st July 2019, 9:15
I honestly don’t know what race Byron Young was watching, I was on the edge of my seat for every single one of the 71 laps. Can’t please everyone I suppose…
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
1st July 2019, 9:27
RE: Gavin Ward’s tweet on Gasly: Gasly did not have the new upgrades this weekend. The upgrades that elevated Red Bull from clearly third to in the mix for a win. Don’t be harsh on him, here. The not-upgraded Red Bull was not a good car.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st July 2019, 9:42
@hahostolze – I did not know that, thank you. Going by past performances, I still don’t think it would have elevated Gasly by a great deal, but it’s good to know that he had a likely inferior car this weekend.
Exediron (@exediron)
1st July 2019, 9:55
Completely disagree with Byron Young’s tweet. F1 is all about that slow burn to produce an amazing ending. If you want excitement from first lap to last lap, a Grand Prix is not what you want to watch.
F1 has never been about that, will never be about that, and SHOULD never be about that.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
1st July 2019, 11:27
105%’s not enough for F1… we regularly hear from drivers who give 110, 120 or even 200%! Good on Antonio though, for a hard-fought point.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
1st July 2019, 11:42
The Vettel/Ham incident is totally different situation to the Verstappen/Leclerc situation. People are comparing the way the stewards searched in every way to penalize Vettel for a dubious situation in which let’s say he was 60% at fault (don’t forget he was already on the grass) and how
they have justified it by saying he steered to the right and blocked Hamilton in a dangerous manoeuvre. I remember all the so called F1 experts said that Vettel deserved the penalty because he steered to the right after regaining full control of the car.
While with Verstappen it wasn’t the case even though he was at full control of the car at low speed, opened the steering wheel intentionally and forced Leclerc out of the track in a clear breach of the current regulations especially if we know how it went a lap before. It’s not about rejoining the track which is irrelevant here, it’s about forcing a driver off the track. With this logic any driver now can force another one off the track and say he didn’t rejoin the track in a dangerous way ! By the current F1 standards Verstappen getting a penalty was a no brainer for me.
However, I do believe that Verstappen shouldn’t get a penalty for his move as I have grown up watching Schumacher do it countless times with his rivals (Hakkinen,Villeneuve,Montoya…) and I really enjoyed it BTW. The only reason that prevented me to enjoy Verstappen’s move is that he did it to a Ferrari driver and stole his first win in the last couple of laps.
The conclusion is that the sport is run by a bunch of incompetent people, as I’am pretty confident that we will see the exact same move in the future but with a different outcome from the stewards and they will try always to justify it using silly arguments (steering wheel angle this times was 0.0009° less, track temperature was 5° more, the two drivers didn’t wear the same underwear as they did in the last race…. Blablabla)
Jere (@jerejj)
1st July 2019, 12:37
100% is the maximum, though.
That’s an excellent question by Kevin Ward. It’s closing on the midway point of the season, so he shouldn’t be struggling as much as he did at the beginning of the season anymore, no excuses anymore really.
Byron Young’s tweet, though. You can’t please everyone I guess although he was thoroughly spot on back in 2016 when he questioned Nico Rosberg’s logic in trying to avoid answering directly to a question whether he and Lewis had talked about their Spanish GP incident to clear the air so to speak. That was weird, and not something people, in general, tend to do. It isn’t normally off-limits to tell in public whether something either has, or hasn’t happened, so to this day I still don’t understand why he didn’t resort to either one of these two answer options: ‘Yes, but I won’t go into details of the context of the discussion’ or just ‘no’ even if it would’ve been a lie.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
1st July 2019, 14:05
Incredible race! That is what we need more of, good, hard, close racing. Amazing what not having Mercs leading does to the quality of the racing product.