2019 AUSTRIAN GP

RED BULL RB15 STARTED 2ND

“A good day for F1”, declared the issue of Autosport that contained our report of this race. It was the event where Verstappen’s passing aggression on long-time leader Charles Leclerc demonstrated his calculated battling brilliance and in the process showed that F1’s rules at the time were not anti-racing. After all, this was just two races on from Sebastian Vettel losing his Canadian GP victory to a penalty for forcing Lewis Hamilton towards a wall.

The difference here was that the stewards felt that Verstappen wasn’t out of control and hadn’t been off the road as Vettel had, and that Leclerc trying to hang on around the outside was a factor in the clash that sent the Ferrari off. The incident occurred at Austria’s sharp, uphill Turn 3, one lap after Leclerc had been passed at the same spot but powered out of the corner to retake the lead. Verstappen didn’t let him do that again.

Verstappen had started second and fell to seventh with a poor launch and Turn 4 lock-up. But that’s not enough to cost this win a spot on the list, for two reasons.

One was how excellent Verstappen was in maintaining his tyres while closing a 15s gap to the leader, even as he passed Lando Norris and Kimi Raikkonen, overcut the lift-and-coast (for engine temperatures) hobbled Hamilton, and nailed Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.

The other was that race-winning pass against a seriously rapid rival armed with the 2019-spec Ferrari engine grunt on a track with few corners. It sealed the win and set an early marker in what sets Verstappen apart in his generation’s talent peak. It was also Red Bull’s first win with Honda power.