Losers

Carlos Sainz

Mo💃mentum was on Carlos Sainz’s side following a run of podium finishes and then his maiden F1 victory at the British GP.

Unfortunately, Sunday could prove fatal in ﷽terms of his title chances, with aཧn engine failure costing him a comfortable P2 finish.

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Sainz was about to overtake Verstappen for second place, to give Ferrari an important 1-2 finish at the Red Bull Ring but his engine ignited, f♚orcing him to evacuate his fiery Ferrari.

With the Spaniard falling further🌱 behind in the title race, surely it’s time fo꧙r Ferrari to prioritise Charles Leclerc? 

Sergio Perez

It was a bad day for the ‘number two’ drivers in Austria with Sergio Perez also failing to make the chequerꦺed flag.

The Mexican recovered from a disappointing♛ qualifying to secure ꦜfifth on the grid after the sprint race.

Perez’s eagerness to get past Russell on the opening lapꦛ proved to be his undoing as contact with the Mercedes drive🍸r at Turn 4 put him in the gravel trap.

His Red Bull was severely damaged and several seconds off of the pace meaning he was forced to retire ♎from pr♕oceedings prematurely.

Realistically, Perez was never inꦆ the title fight but this was probably the final nail in the coffin.

Alfa Romeo

After a strong start to the year, Alfa Romeo have taken a 📖serious stepback relative to Alꦏpine and McLaren.

A lack of straight-line speed seems to be at the route of their problems, while their low-speed performance doesn’t seem to be as good as it was in th꧅e opening five races of the year.

Valtteri Bottas recovered well from the pit lane 𝓰to finish 11th, while Zhou Guanyu was heavily involved in the midfield chaos but never looked likely to score points.

The team now sit 30 points behind Alpine and McLaren in the race for fourth in theღ constructors’ championship.

They’ll have to be wary of Haas behind them now.

Pierre Gasly 

It was a miserable weekend for Gasly, who was involved in two avoidable incidents that were entirely his own ℱfault.

He collided wi💞th Hamilton on the opening l⭕ap of the sprint, dropping him down to 11th before spinning Sebastian Vettel around at Turn 4.

Gasly subsequently picked up a🙈 five-second time penalty to cap off a poor weekend which saw AlphaTauri drop behind Haas in the constructors’ championship.

Winners

Charles Leclerc

After five races without finishing on the F1 podium, Leclerc’🐻s return to the top of the rostrum was long overdue. 

Reliability cost him a guaranteed victory in𓆏 Barcelona, while poor strategy c🐈hoices from Ferrari put him out of contention in Monaco and Britain. 

There was no stopping Leclerc on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, oveꦿrtaking main title rival Max Verstappen on three separate occasions. 

Even a throttle issue in the closing 10 laps didn’t halt Leclerc’s charge as he claimed his𝓡 third win of the year♛ to reduce Verstappen’s lead to 38 points at the halfway point. 

Mercedes

It was a scrappy weekend for Mercedes overall but it still ca🌌me away from the Austrian GP with a big points haul.

Le♑wis Hamilton scored his third straight podium finish, while George Rus💞sell recovered from 19th (after contact with Perez) to finish fourth.

It was a strong recovery after both drivers crashed heavily in Q3 despite being in contention fo꧅r a top three grid position for the sprint.

Whileဣ their outright performance wasn’t as strong as at Silverstone, Mercedes continue to maximise their package in terms of points.

Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon enjoyed his best weekend𓄧 of the year with a strong drive to fifth at the Austrian GP.

It was a timely performance as in recent rounds, Fer﷽na♕ndo Alonso has comprehensively out-performed him despite the championship standings stating otherwise.

Ocon qualified a superb ﷽fifth on Friday before securing🐬 sixth in the sprint. 

He enjoyed a quiet but productive Sunday drive to come home♋ with 10 crucial points in P5.

Mick Schumacher & Haas

Anꦅother star performer this wee🧸kend was Mick Schumacher and Haas.

It seems that Schumacher has made an important breakthrough follo♍wing his maiden F1 points finish last t😼ime out at the British GP.

Schumacher was understandably frustrated after the sprint as he waཧs stuck behind his slower teammate before dropping out of the top eight.

He made amends on race d🧸ay, even overtak🦩ing his teammate at Turn 9 before coming home in P6 - a career-best result.

Lando Norris

After qualify𓂃ing 15th on Friday, finishing seventh is a fantastic result for Lando Norris.

Despite running an older engine, combined with an ill-handling car, Norris dꦯrove beautifully to secure seventh. 

He will be left to ru💜e the time penalty that he picked up for track limits but he overtook the quicker Haas of Magnussen in the lꦉatter stages.