Austrian Grand Prix F1 Preview: McLaren Needs to Slow Down Max Verstappen

It’s been some time since Lando Norris picked up his maiden win at this year’s Miami Grand Prix and pressure is mounting for Red Bull’s biggest challenger.

Norris and McLaren hope to build off their second place finish in Spain. / David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

Max Verstappen kept the momentum rolling in his favor last weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, picking up another hard-earned victory—his seventh of the 2024 Formula One season. However, the three-time world champion left the weekend once again feeling the pressure of Lando Norris and McLaren, who seem to have earned their spot as a legitimate threat to Red Bull’s dominance.

Spain marked the start of the season’s first tripleheader and the paddock will now head to Spielberg, home of the Red Bull Ring and the Austrian Grand Prix. Verstappen has won four of the last six F1 races at the circuit, but will be pressured not only by Norris, but a number of other drivers, to earn another victory.

Here’s what storylines to watch going into the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix:

McLaren Needs a Breakthrough

The 2024 season has followed a familiar routine in three of the last four race weekends (apologies to lovers of Monaco): Red Bull seems to be under legitimate threat from McLaren, only for Verstappen to pull out a victory over a charging Norris, who leaves the weekend wondering why he didn’t end up standing on top of the podium.

In Imola, Italy, Canada and Spain, an argument could be made that McLaren had the best car available. But in all three races, Norris finished in second, meaning the team hasn’t been able to cut into Verstappen’s firm lead in the driver standings or Red Bull’s slightly less advantageous one in the constructor standings.

It's getting closer and closer at the front 🤏

Look out for another tight battle at the Red Bull Ring 🤩#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/1jjs4nxs2v

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 27, 2024

Norris’s dejected yet determined reaction in Spain was telling. This is a driver who feels ready to win right now and may finally have the machinery to do so. He faces a tall task to beat Verstappen on a track he’s dominated for the last six years, but with that challenge comes great opportunity.

The sprint weekend returns for the first time since Miami, giving Norris, who currently trails Verstappen by 69 points, an additional chance to pick up ground. In the constructors’ battle, Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri has outscored Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez 46–8 in the last four races, meaning that another strong weekend would launch McLaren closer to the championship leaders, as well as second-place Ferrari.

As for the Prancing Horse, Spain was a weekend to forget but between Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Norris, Verstappen and the two Mercedes drivers, it feels like pole position—and perhaps a race victory—is up for grabs in Austria.

Austria’s Remedy for the 2023 Track Limits Bonanza

Twelve months ago, the paddock descended upon the Red Bull Ring with Verstappen boasting an already sizable lead over the rest of the field. However, rather than discuss the world champion’s fourth career F1 win at the circuit, the conversation was focused largely on everyone's favorite topic: the rules.

In 2023, F1’s governing body, the FIA, doled out 12 different penalties to eight different drivers for exceeding track limits—any instance in which a driver crossed the white line lining the outer edge of the circuit with all four tires of their car. Those penalties only came after multiple infractions by the drivers in question and when all was said and done, the governing body reviewed more than 1,200 potential track limits violations over the 71-lap race. The result was a final leaderboard that became a jigsaw puzzle to decipher.

Determined not to repeat last year’s debacle, the FIA installed gravel strips at the exits of Turn 9 and Turn 10—the sites where the bulk of last year’s infractions occurred. At Turn 4, the white line was moved out to make the distance between the outer edge of the track and the gravel less than a car’s width. The changes will prevent the drivers from swinging wide at the biggest trouble spots, or risk taking themselves out of the race. If they still manage to do so enough times on other parts of the track, they’ll receive a penalty.

Confirmed track Changes to the circuit for this weekend.

With this particular race we usually get a lot of track limit penalties. To help avoid this now, the FIA have installed a 2.5m wide gravel strip directly behind kerb exit of Turn 9 & Turn 10 on the left-hand side and in… pic.twitter.com/X6MChQVMtk

— Tim Hauraney (@timhauraney) June 27, 2024

Needless to say, these are steps in the right direction to make for a more entertaining race. No fan wants to watch the result be litigated after the checkered flag is waved and should the alterations work, they won’t have to.

Alpine’s Search for Second Driver Condenses With Gasly Signing

The Enstone outfit came into the week of the Austrian Grand Prix as one of just two teams—along with Haas—that had yet to secure a driver for the 2025 season. Alpine quickly took itself off that short list by agreeing to terms with Pierre Gasly on a multi-year extension Thursday, running into the new regulations period through at least 2026.

The 28-year-old Frenchman is in the midst of his second season with the team and has been pivotal in raising the group from the depths of the standings this year, scoring five points across the last three race weekends. Though Alpine appears far away from giving Gasly his second podium in two years (he snagged a third-place finish in the Netherlands in 2023), the eight-year F1 veteran is thought to be in favor of the team’s trajectory and changes made at the leadership level, including the additions of team principal Bruno Famin and new executive technical director David Sanchez.

Always believing. We can’t wait to continue our journey together 🤝 pic.twitter.com/3UGgqvxfQo

— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) June 27, 2024

The Gasly signing is just the start for Alpine, which still has a plethora of options for its second seat—but none more intriguing than  Sainz. With only seven spots remaining after the signings of Gasly and Lance Stroll, who announced a return to Aston Martin on Thursday, the current Ferrari driver is running out of landing spots. Williams and Sauber have been the front-runners for Sainz’s services, but Alpine has quietly pursued the 29-year-old for months and is now thought to be a legitimate contender to sign him.

Sainz reportedly has not made a decision between the three teams and Alpine is likely to wait to see what the three-time race winner decides before moving on to the next option. Reserve driver Jack Doohan, a 21-year-old from Australia, is thought to be among the next top picks for the team should Sainz opt to take his talents elsewhere.