Leclerc has found his form again! - 5 things we learned from qualifying in Austria
F1 News
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
With qualifying behind as at the Red Bull Ring, a lot of narratives of this Formula 1 season have progressed further. Here are the five things we've learned from qualifying in Austria!
1. Leclerc has re-found his earlier form
At the start of the season, people questioned Charles Leclerc, and whether the Monegasque was brought in too soon to Ferrari. He immediately proved his worth in Australia as he was quicker than teammate Sebastian Vettel (but he was ordered to stay behind), and he took his maiden pole position the race weekend after in Bahrain. We all know what happened next in the race, though.
He lost his mojo a little bit afterwards. In China, in Spain, in Monaco, he started to lag behind Vettel. It's only natural for a young, inexperienced driver to lack consistency, but with Ferrari, the spotlight on you is as bright as it will get in F1.
Today, with his massive pole position in Spielberg, Leclerc announced his arrival back at the top again. He was impressive in France last week as well, almost catching Valtteri Bottas for P2, but this pole position should give the 21-year-old all the confidence in the world again.
2. Norris is a qualy wizard
P4! Wow! Yes, he had the sixth time and yes, Vettel didn't run in Q3 and yes, Pierre Gasly couldn't set a representative lap in Q3, but what a drive from Lando Norris on a Saturday, yet again.
Coming off a P6 in France in qualifying, Norris has shown to be more than capable of squeezing every single millisecond of performance out of his MCL34 on Saturdays. He got a bit of luck from Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton with their respective penalties to bump Norris up to P4, but you have to be there to take advantage. And maybe he was due a bit of luck after the heart-breaking end to his French Grand Prix, and his bad luck in Canada before that.
As the 19-year-old's stock continues to rise, and we're starting to get used to him doing these kinds of things on a Saturday afternoon. Let's see what he can do on Sunday in Spielberg!
3. Renault regression?
After their excellent display in Canada, Renault seemed to be on the right path again to challenge McLaren for fourth place. Then, at their home race in France, Renault only had one car barely in the points. Daniel Ricciardo was in P7 and got penalties, yes, but that was only because Norris' MCL34 slowed down heavily.
Today, the frustrating results (compared to McLaren) continued. Originally qualifying in P12 and P14, Nico Hülkenberg got moved back five places for installing a new engine and Ricciardo got bumped up to P12, where his teammate originally qualified.
It's not good enough compared to McLaren, who do have Carlos Sainz starting in P19 because of a grid penalty. It could just be a bad track for the French side, but they'll have to start turning up the heat if they want to catch the Woking-based team and start closing the gap on the top three teams, as they said at the start of the season.
4. Vettel might be cursed
Sometimes it's just dumb luck going against him, sometimes it's a stewards' decision going against him, and sometimes, he does it to himself, but Vettel almost seems cursed at this point.
His car didn't run in Q3 in Austria because of a mechanical issue, causing him to start from P9 now while his teammate Leclerc took pole position. He could've challenged for that pole position and maybe locked out the front row for Ferrari.
Add that to the mis-shift in Q3 in France and the infamous Canada incident in the previous two race weekends. Vettel must think he's cursed, at this point. We feel for the four-time champion, who can't seem to catch a break at the moment. Can he bounce back like we know he can on Sunday?
5. Red Bull must be patient with Gasly
You might not think it after he put in the slowest time in Q3 during qualifying, but Gasly has had a good weekend up until that point. His times in Q1 and Q2 were good, albeit not on Max Verstappen's level, and he was quick in Free Practice as well.
The pace is clearly there, the talent is clearly there, it just needs time to manifest itself and to come out. Not everybody can hop in a quick car and immediately start challenging.
Gasly will need to start showing more as soon as possible, but at the same time, Red Bull can do a better job of backing the 23-year-old and giving him more confidence when he mans the RB15 during a weekend.
We're still convinced Gasly was the right choice for the Bulls, on the long term. Just let there be a long term. Be patient with Pierre.