Formula 1 in Spielberg: 25,000 euros fine for bad mood

Eventually Lewis Hamilton had enough. He was obviously annoyed by the red and white speedster in front of him, which absolutely wouldn’t let him pass and kept escaping when he thought he had finally got it perfectly ready to overtake. Hamilton radioed his frustration to the Mercedes team: “The car in front of me has definitely driven in front of the front four times.”

the car in front of me? Why so anonymous?

It almost sounded like he didn’t even know who was behind the wheel in the car in front of him. But maybe he was confused because both Haas were fleeing from him. Further ahead Kevin Magnussen, behind Mick Schumacher – in the car in front of him. First, the teammates protected themselves from Hamilton’s attack in the so-called sprint, that still quite new race format in which the starting grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday is extended over 100 kilometers. Again and again the faster Schumacher drove so close to Magnussen that he was in the so-called DRS window. That entitled him to flatten the rear wing just like his pursuer Hamilton and thus escape him.

Schumacher asked Magnussen for help on the radio. However, that didn’t happen

100 kilometers, that corresponds to 23 laps in Spielberg. And with more than half of them, Schumacher defended his eighth place against the seven-time world champion with this tactic. However, he had to let Hamilton pass him two turns before the end. Because he had lost direct contact with Magnussen. The Haas drivers had dueled, and when the gap between Schumacher and Magnussen briefly increased so much that he fell out of the DRS window, Hamilton shot past him. Shortly before, Schumacher had asked his garage neighbor Magnussen to drop back to help him. However, he didn’t. The Dane justified this with the argument that it was too late anyway, Hamilton was already ahead.

Stubborn opponent: Lewis Hamilton couldn’t get past Mick Schumacher in the Silver Arrow (centre) for half of the race.

(Photo: Jure Makovec/AFP)

That sprint at Spielberg was marked by friction between teammates – not only at Haas, but also at Ferrari. Because when the winner Max Verstappen finally crossed the finish line in the Red Bull ahead of the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the drivers dressed in red had to ask themselves the nagging question of whether it might not have been better if they had driven together against the Dutchman. instead of constantly teasing each other on the track. They will start the main race on Sunday (3 p.m.) in this order. But Verstappen extended his lead in the World Championship standings by winning the sprint. Now with 189 points, he is 38 points ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez (151) and 44 ahead of Leclerc (145).

When Schumacher finally stepped in front of the Sky camera, he looked very pissed off. “The fight with Lewis was fun, but it shouldn’t have existed,” he lamented: “I felt like I was faster. I don’t know why the team didn’t have that feeling.” From his point of view it would have been smarter if Magnussen had let him pass. Then they would have defended seventh and eighth place together. “In the end, that’s why we lost points.” His boss Günther Steiner saw it differently. He experienced a “very good” team performance and said: “Unfortunately, Mick didn’t get a point, but what doesn’t happen today can happen tomorrow.”

Formula 1 in Spielberg: Sebastian Vettel experienced the greatest trouble on Saturday.

Sebastian Vettel experienced the biggest trouble on Saturday.

(Photo: Jure Makovec/AFP)

It is not certain whether Ferrari also dropped points, but it cannot be ruled out either. It was obvious once again that the command post of the Italians was very keen not to favor any of its drivers. Not even Leclerc, who leads on points. Immediately after the start, Sainz overtook Monegasque, who countered a little later when Sainz was busy pushing past Verstappen. And this duel went on for the entire sprint. By keeping their drivers on long leashes, Ferrari not only risked points but, of course, a crash. “I don’t want to comment on that, but we accept it gratefully,” said Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko about the scenes and smiled. When Leclerc finally got rid of Sainz, Verstappen was already up and away.

And Mercedes? Hamilton’s attempt to catch up from ninth was thwarted right after the start by Pierre Gasly when the Frenchman rumbled against his front wheel. Basically, the Silver Arrows ran fast again in the qualifying in Spielberg, just like they did last time in Silverstone. A little too fast this time though. Both of them flew off the track in the hunt for times, which this time only defined the starting order of the sprint. First Hamilton, who crashed sideways into the gang. Shortly thereafter also George Russell, who drilled his stern into the barrier.

“It looked like we had two Lego cars lying on the ground,” jokes Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff

Because parc fermé rules apply after qualifying, the mechanics didn’t have much time to repair the racing cars on Saturday morning before the second free practice session. They were only allowed to start screwing three hours before the practice drives. What was not forbidden, however, was to lay out all the parts in the garage so that assembly would go faster. “It looked like we had two Lego cars on the ground,” Toto Wolff joked. And when asked about the duel with Schumacher, the Mercedes team boss put it into perspective: “Mick defended hard.” But the bigger problem for Hamilton was that when he came into contact with Gasly, he damaged the car that had just been lovingly repaired. And so he had too little speed on the straights.

Sebastian Vettel experienced the guaranteed biggest trouble on Saturday. Starting from last place on the grid, the sprint ended for him in 19th place, rolling in the pits. And shortly afterwards he also got a penalty. He has to pay 25,000 euros because he left the driver’s meeting early on Friday. Before he left, he “expressed frustration,” the verdict says. No wonder, the meeting had taken place after and not before the qualification, in which he had applied for 20th place on the grid. The fact that Vettel had already apologized for the incident had a mitigating effect. The fine was suspended on probation.

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