Is a Red Bull title in the bag? - What we learned from the Styrian Grand Prix

verstappen celebrates his win in Austria — Photo: © LAT Images

Styrian Grand Prix

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Is a Red Bull title in the bag? - What we learned from the Styrian Grand Prix

Verstappen dominated in the first of two Austrian races so what did it teach us?

Ewan Gale

Monday 28 June 2021 16:40

Max Verstappen took a stunning Styrian Grand Prix victory at Red Bull's home track to further underline that Red Bull's performances in the previous three races on different layouts were no fluke.

The dominant manner in which Verstappen won was alarming for Mercedes, with a 35-second gap between the Dutchman and Lewis Hamilton an eye-catching deficit given the close battles between the pair all season long, albeit with the time skewed given a late pit-stop for the seven-time F1 champion to collect the point for fastest lap.

With stories of pleasure and pain throughout the field, let's dive straight into five things we learned at the first of two races at the Red Bull Ring.

Red Bull's title to lose

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Even with Mercedes taking the honours in FP3 on Saturday, the battle over the weekend was never anywhere near close.

There were voids between Verstappen and the Mercedes drivers throughout practice, qualifying and the race and, for the first time on a conventional circuit this season, the reigning champions had no answer for the might of Red Bull.

The plain facts are Red Bull has taken four successive race wins, is vastly superior in qualifying spec, is able to run a lower-downforce aerodynamic configuration due to its high-rake concept and has two drivers who are churning out results.

Add to that a strong strategic core that helped overthrow Mercedes in France and almost paid dividends on Sunday with Sergio Perez attacking Valtteri Bottas after a second stop, coupled with the fact the team appears water-tight in every department, Mercedes has a job on its hands to claw its way back into this one.

It is hard to see any other result than a Red Bull win this weekend, with softer tyre compounds potentially only adding to the degradation woes suffered by the Silver Arrows in the Styrian event.

Red Bull now has its rival in check and we have not even reached the summer break.

Under-pressure Hamilton seeking any answer

Something we haven't seen so much of in recent years is Hamilton on the ropes.

With the seven-time champion clinging onto the coattails of Verstappen's RB16B, it seems there is a little bit of uncertainty and angst creeping in.

Hamilton questioned whether there are any power gains being made in recent weeks by Red Bull, which cannot be as that is strictly against the rules given engines were homologated ahead of the season.

He also again brought up Red Bull's use of a 'bendy' wing, which was clamped down on at the French Grand Prix and surely cannot be making a difference anymore.

There is almost a sense of confusion in the Mercedes camp given its claim it tried a 'wacky set-up' in Styria, with Hamilton's accusations only adding to the mix.

It appears as if Hamilton can see a record-breaking eighth title slipping from his grasp when ahead of the season, and with relatively little change to the cars this year, the narrative was about how it should have been a walk in the park.

Now he is demanding upgrades from Mercedes to get back into the battle. Will he get his wish? Team principal Toto Wolff has said not, insisting the team's focus is on 2022 when radically different cars are introduced.

Norris confirms championship credentials

Arguably driver of the season so far Lando Norris again excelled for McLaren with a fine fifth-place finish in the Styrian hills.

The British driver started from third on the soft tyres and showed solid performance to keep Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas behind him for as long as he did before he finally had to yield.

Norris conceded to enduring a rather lonely race on his own in fifth, but his consistency of points scoring - the only driver on the grid to finish in the top 10 in every race - has ensured he remains fourth in the drivers' standings, ahead of Bottas.

With the new regulations potentially flip-flopping the grid order next year, Norris has shown the F1 circus he absolutely has the talent to become world champion should the opportunity present itself.

Russell shows readiness for Mercedes step up

George Russell suffered another heart-wrenching dose of bad luck just when he appeared comfortably on course for Williams first points since Germany 2019.

The British driver was running in eighth and challenging Fernando Alonso for seventh towards the end of the first stint in Austria when he was forced to pit three times to try and resolve a pneumatic pressure problem.

This ultimately led to a cruel retirement that neither Russell nor the hard-working Williams team deserved.

For the second race in a row, however, Russell and the team managed to back up a strong qualifying performance with solid race pace and there will be optimism this will remain the case in the future.

More importantly for Russell's career, though, will be the importance the last two weekends will have been to prove to Toto Wolff he is the finished article ahead of a prospective jump to Mercedes next season.

With Bottas' pit lane blunder harming his chances of victory and adding to the list of small issues he has encountered this year, Russell's performance will have definitely given the Finn another headache.

Never trust the weather forecast

The weather forecasters put all of their chips on black and the wheel stopped on red because the rain that was meant to lash the Red Bull Ring on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only showed itself in the form of a few drops in FP2.

We are used to '20 per cent chance of rain' being banded about on the TV feed as if to create some optimism for excitement, but this weekend the threat was almost odds-on.

It was all that was talked about all weekend it seemed, yet this great thunderstorm that was promised must have gotten stage fright.

Mercedes will hope the rain does show itself this weekend because it may be the only way Red Bull can be stopped on home soil.