Max Verstappen salvaged 10 useful points after his collision with Lando Norris in the Austrian Grand Prix. But his bid to take another was thwarted by an unexpected rival.
While Norris retired due to the damage caused by his punctured tyre, Verstappen was able to continue. He left the pits in fifth place with seven laps remaining.Lewis Hamilton was six-and-a-half seconds ahead of him in fourth place. Though that was a large gap to reduce, Verstappen was running a set of soft tyres which, although used, had more life in them than Hamilton’s harder, 11-lap-old medium rubber.
Indeed, Verstappen might have been in an even better position had he not used his final fresh set of soft tyres in qualifying to better a lap time which was already quick enough for pole position, a decision Norris expressed surprise at after the session.
But Verstappen committed a greater error soon afterwards. He was instructed to make a settings change during the Safety Car period but hit the wrong button and activated his pit lane speed limiter instead:
| Lap: 65/71 VER: 1’33.697 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Strat 11 tyre eight. Strat 11 tyre eight. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Okay so you’ve got Hamilton at seven seconds ahead Max. Seven laps remaining. Hamilton pace… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | {Interrupts} Did you see the floor damage? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Hamilton pace 9.9. Nothing we can do about that now Max so just focus on the car ahead. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | ‘VSC deployed, VSC deployed. Plus one. And fail 10. Fail 1-0 fail. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 66/71 VER: 1’23.719 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Mate my delta’s fucked. I have no power. Hello? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Stand by Max. {Feed cuts out} | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Why am I negative? What’s going here? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Stand by Max, stand by. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Okay VSC ending Max and you had the pit lane speed limiter on. VSC ending. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Yeah but the delta was fucked. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 67/71 VER: 1’11.691 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | We’ve lost four seconds to Hamilton ahead. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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At this point Verstappen had not been given his 10-second penalty for colliding with Norris. But Red Bull presumably thought it was likely, as their priority at this point was not catching Hamilton but trying to take the bonus point for fastest lap.
Norris had the fastest lap at this point but was doomed not to score the point as he would be classified outside the top 10. Verstappen was told the McLaren driver had set a 1’08.0 lap and duly beat it by 0.297 seconds:
| Lambiase | Okay, so five laps remaining. Gap ahead 11. So Max let’s have recharge on, recharge on. Let’s prep the next lap. For info the fastest lap is an 8.0. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | What do I have on my dash? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Strat one, please Max, strat one. Currently a purple lap is -0.6 on your dash, -0.6. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | What mode? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Mode one please and recharge on. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 69/71 VER: 1’08.321 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | And mode six, strat 10. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fernando Alonso, evidently bored with his run to 17th place opted to pit for a set of softs at the end. With his final lap of the race he produced a 1’07.694, snatching the fastest lap from Verstappen by 0.025s.
As Alonso finished outside of the top 10 in 18th, he didn’t score the bonus point, but it did mean Verstappen lost one. Given his mood, it’s perhaps understandable that Lambiase chose not to point it out to him.
| Lap: 71/71 VER: 1’08.518 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Okay so final lap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chequered flag | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Recharge on and fail 84 please Max. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Max, heads-up you were given a 10-second penalty for that incident with Lando, just in case you’re quizzed about that after the race. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Of course. Yeah, sure. That’s just ridiculous. You can just send it left and right. What do you want me to do? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Horner | Yeah he didn’t behave correctly, Max. So, yeah, desperately unlucky, especially here. But, you did your very best. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verstappen | Yeah. I mean the race itself was also just shit, to be honest. Many things to improve on. But that’s what it is. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2024 Austrian Grand Prix
- Austrian GP clash will have taught Norris how to race Verstappen – Ricciardo
- Verstappen was “lucky” tyre damage didn’t force him to retire like Norris
- Pirelli introducing new C6 tyre to improve racing on street tracks next year
- Norris admits ‘overreacting’ but queries why Verstappen avoided track limits penalty
- Norris and Verstappen’s Austrian GP collision “blown out of proportion” – rivals
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
1st July 2024, 15:36
This may well have been answered already somewhere, but do we know why Alonso/Aston Martin did this?
Was there a genuine technical reason, or was it just to be spiteful – or for a laugh?
Asd
1st July 2024, 16:12
So, someone could do it in a title deciding race when e.g. Verstappen or whoever needs 1 point to win the WDC.
Hmm….
Iván (@yivi)
1st July 2024, 16:14
Of course.
And what would be wrong with that?
The point for “fastest-lap” is for “the fastest lap of the race”, not for “the fastest lap of the race as long as you are a championship contender”. As with the points for position.
Martin (@f1hornet)
1st July 2024, 16:25
The point for fastest-lap is for the fastest lap of the race as long as you finish in the top ten though, which Alonso didn’t.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd July 2024, 0:32
Fastest laps were a thing before points too, it’s better to end your career with 40 than 20 fastest laps on your stats.
SteveP
1st July 2024, 19:55
Yep, just that.
Like RBR could, and did during 2021, pit Perez for new soft tyres so that he could snatch the point from Hamilton.
It’s called team tactics.
What you call the FL run Alonso did I don’t know, although the English phrase “dog in the manger” comes to mind.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
1st July 2024, 19:07
It’s called racing although there are 3 of the 20 drivers that wouldn’t challenge for fastest lap unless someone in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th fastest teams was going to get the point.
PlosslF1
1st July 2024, 20:24
Its for the ‘DHL Fastest Lap’ trophy..
https://inmotion.dhl/en/formula-1/fastest-lap-award
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
1st July 2024, 22:48
Oh wow – I had never heard of this. Very interesting.
Thanks for the link ;)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd July 2024, 0:31
There’s records for highest amounts of fastest laps too, so I’d say: if you can do it why not.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st July 2024, 17:59
I could’ve never guessed he accidentally activated the pit limited during the VSC neutralization, like Hamilton in the 2007 Brazilian GP & Kovalainen in the next race, i.e., the 2008 season-opener.
DRS isn’t necessarily very powerful at Red Bull Ring, though, & never has been, given the altitude impact that reduces effectiveness to an extent, similar to Interlagos.
PlosslF1
1st July 2024, 23:26
If your talking about what I think your talking about watch the onboard of Lewis and your see he doesnt touch the steering wheel buttons till after the car decides to have a ‘box full of neutrals’…
Boomerang
1st July 2024, 19:17
I love to hear it from Christian that someone ‘isn’t behaving correctly’.
SteveP
1st July 2024, 19:58
Indeed. An opinion from a world expert on not behaving correctly.
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
2nd July 2024, 1:01
:-D
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd July 2024, 0:35
Ahah, indeed, didn’t think about that but it’s a good point with what happened this year.