Mercedes excuses need to stop - What we learned at the Austrian Grand Prix

Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in Austria — Photo: © LAT Images

Austrian Grand Prix

Mercedes excuses need to stop - What we learned at the Austrian Grand Prix

Verstappen dominated yet again as McLaren dispells engine myth

Ewan Gale

Monday 5 July 2021 11:38 Updated: 11:59

Another race at the Red Bull Ring and another dominant Max Verstappen victory threatens to leave the long-anticipated championship battle with Lewis Hamilton in tatters.

A third win in a row for the Dutchman - a fifth for Red Bull - means he left the Austrian Grand Prix with a 32-point lead over the Mercedes talisman in the drivers' standings.

With action throughout the field, here's what we learned in the second race in the Styrian hills.

Mercedes excuses expunged by Norris form

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Engine this and engine that, Mercedes cried. Honda's F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe was forced to defend the Japanese manufacturer constantly throughout his press conference on Friday, dispelling myths of a power upgrade for Red Bull.

Any suggestion the team had taken a step ahead of Mercedes in terms of pure grunt was thrown out of the window by Lando Norris' qualifying performance.

The British driver was up on Verstappen's pole lap all the way through to turn nine - therefore meaning down the three long straights, the Mercedes-powered McLaren was quicker.

What will really worry Mercedes is the possibility of Norris continuing to be in the mix up front, as was the case in Austria.

On a weekend where damage limitation could prove key, the fact Norris was able to keep pace and even lap faster than Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will be a cause for alarm.

Excuses are running out for Toto Wolff's squad.

Verstappen metronomic in victory

If there is one thing you could label Verstappen after his drive on Sunday, you would probably say world champion.

Everything was just silky smooth. The Dutchman was lightning quick on whatever tyre compound was bolted to the Red Bull, he was in command of every situation - the handling of the restart was perfect - and he stretched his lead in the standings even further.

What has been impressive over the past three races is his calmness and maturity. The youthful petulance has seemingly transformed into this unflappable confidence and sensiblity.

Make no bones about it, the performance on Sunday was as close to perfect as you could ask for. No mistakes, just metronomic lap times that were hardly matched across the 71 laps.

The final gap was 18 seconds to second-placed Bottas, even after a late-race second stop. Dominant just doesn't cut how impressive Verstappen really was.

Ricciardo stuck at a halfway house

The good news for all Daniel Ricciardo fans is his racecraft remains a valued part of his armoury.

Making up multiple positions at the start of both Austrian races, the fight is clearly there inside the Australian and so, too, is the feel for the McLaren in the heat of battle. To rise from 13th to seventh will put a smile on his face.

The problem is he is still struggling in qualifying. Qualifying 13th and stating the lap felt good is a worry when your team-mate is pressurising the currently untouchable Verstappen for pole position.

The progress doesn't feel stagnant, which is good, but the qualifying simply has to improve quickly. Ferrari is starting to pull its socks up on race day, so McLaren desperately needs Ricciardo to back Norris up in the race for third in the constructors' standings.

Silverstone - and the first of F1's sprint qualifying events - provides an opportunity to get out of the halfway house.

Alonso is well and truly back

Three things that spring to mind when you see Fernando Alonso. Speed, fantastic wheel-to-wheel battles and hilarious heat-of-the-moment radio messages.

We had all three this weekend. Take it back to qualifying and Alonso is on a flying lap, easily fast enough to reach Q3 for Alpine.

The Spaniard gets blocked badly by Sebastian Vettel at the final corner. Cue Alonso's fury, with an expletive-fuelled radio message coupled with a clenched fist flying around within the halo structure of his A521.

His speed, which was sublime all weekend, was good enough for the top five, so he said, but the block meant he only lined up 14th.

His battle with George Russell for the final points position may have broken most hearts up and down the paddock, but the racecraft involved was like watching the Fernando of old. The duo went side-by-side at turn six where others had previously failed.

Anybody doubting Alonso has what it takes to be in F1 after two years out, think again.

Schumacher form flying under the radar

It may be difficult to keep tabs on what back-of-the-grid Haas is achieving, but that doesn't mean there is nothing to be impressed about.

Mick Schumacher clearly has pace after qualifying for Q2 in France, albeit crashing at the end of Q1.

But this weekend he was pacey whilst keeping it clean. Okay, he qualified 19th still, but the comparative gap in qualifying week on week between both Red Bull Ring races was halved from six-tenths to three-tenths to Williams' Nicholas Latifi.

The gap to Q2 was cut from a second to just under seven-tenths. This is exactly the type of progression team principal Guenther Steiner will want to see, with the speed now paired up with clean racing.