F1: Leclerc's win is good for Ferrari, but news is not as good for teammate Sainz

There was plenty of action in Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix with good news also for Mercedes, Haas and others.

Charles Leclerc turned a second-place start into a surprisingly dominant win at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, but teammate Carlos Sainz’s fiery engine failure prevented the Ferrari team from being able to fully celebrate victory.

Points leader Max Verstappen led the first stint of the race, until Leclerc, after several failed attempts, passed cleanly on the inside of Turn 4, perhaps surprising the Red Bull driver with the speed difference in a non-DRS zone.

It would be the first of three times Leclerc passed Verstappen, having twice previously surrendered the lead after pit stops for fresh tires. Verstappen had initiated the pit stop sequences after having issues with quickly degrading tire performance, leading Ferrari to match each stop, being careful to not commit the strategy errors which have also plagued the team multiple times this year.

The Sainz fire on Lap 59 brought out a safety car which gave Verstappen a final chance as both drivers switched to medium tires, but Leclerc held on to win by 1.5 seconds.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binnoto spoke for the organization when he said, "We can’t be too happy - (perhaps) even disappointed” with the result. The team had been on pace for an almost certain 1-2 finish in front of a crowd of subdued Verstappen fans at the Red Bull Ring, when Sainz was forced first to stop, and then abandon his slowly rolling car as fire gradually engulfed the entire rear of the chassis.

Kevin Magnussen, whose Haas uses a Ferrari powerplant, said he had also experienced engine problems throughout the race, although not severe enough to have a major effect on his race result (finished eighth).

With the season now at its halfway point, there remain a plethora of questions yet to be answered that have the potential to have a major impact on the standings.

Verstappen and Red Bull, who had come into their home race appearing to be unstoppable in their pursuit of the championship, are left wondering why they had no answer Sunday for Ferrari’s speed.

Ferrari for its part needs a solution to its frequently failing engines, which Binnoto has repeatedly claimed to be confident in finding despite not being sure of the cause. He even had to deny reports following the Canada race that the team had tuned down engine performance to improve reliability, although the car certainly seemed at full power in Austria.

Mercedes starting to make some noise, and doing so on porpoise

Mercedes, ranked third in the constructor standings, seems to be closer to solving its own dilemma of reducing the porpoising issue that has plagued the team all season.

Despite a spin by Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, which left him starting eighth, and George Russell getting both a penalty and a broken wing from early contact with Sergio Perez, the two drivers finished a relatively easy third and fourth (Perez spun off from the incident and later retired from damage the car received).

While no one on Mercedes seems to feel it is capable of competing with Ferrari and Red Bull at this point, the gap does appear to be narrowing.

Haas has second straight strong run with double points

One question that may have been answered, at least to some degree, is the future of the Haas driver lineup. Mick Schumacher followed up his eighth-place finish at Silverstone with a very strong sixth at RBR, earning a well-deserved fan-voted driver of the day award.

With Magnussen able to come home eighth even with an engine issue, the American team now has back-to-back double points finishes (after not having pulled off the feat once since 2019) and looks like a legitimate threat to the other mid-field teams.

Through the Field

Esteban Ocon followed up a sixth in the sprint qualifying by bringing home a largely unchallenged fifth-place result in the race, which along with a 10th from Fernando Alonso (who started at the back after a qualifying issue), brings Alpine into a tie with McLaren for fourth in the standings. One of the drivers Alonso passed as he made his way through the field was Yuki Tsunoda, and the veteran took a moment to wave a finger reprimanding the young driver whom he felt had not left him an acceptable amount of room. ... The race saw much of the field fighting to stay within track limits and Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris Sebastian Vettel and Zhou Guanyu all received five-second penalties for repeated violations. ... Guanyu returned from his specular accident the previous week at Silverstone and finished 14th. His teammate at Alfa Romeo, Valtteri Bottas, climbed back to finish 11th after having to start from the pit lane due to power unit and bodywork changes. ... It was a particularly tough week for Sebastian Vettel, who failed to finish sprint qualifying, had a race incident with Pierre Gasly which resulted in a Gasly penalty, and also received a fine after leaving the driver’s meeting due to frustration with the officiating. When told of the five-second penalty in a post-race interview, he first responded “it doesn’t matter” before quickly adding “well, it does.”

Up next

The series takes one week off before continuing the tour of Europe with a stop at Circuit Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix, followed the next week in Hungary before the four-week summer hiatus.

2022 Austrian Grand Prix results

1. Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 Laps
2. Max Verstappen Red Bull +1.532
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +41.217
4. George Russell Mercedes +58.972
5. Esteban Ocon Alpine +68.436
6. Mick Schumacher Haas +1 Lap
7. Lando Norris McLaren +1 Lap
8. Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 Lap
9. Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1 Lap
10. Fernando Alonso Alpine +1 Lap
11. Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 Lap
12. Alex Albon Williams +1 Lap
13. Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 Lap
14. Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 Lap
15. Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 Lap
16. Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1 Lap
17. Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 Lap
18. Carlos Sainz Ferrari DNF
19. Nicholas Latifi Williams DNF
20. Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF