Only a couple weeks after racing at a circuit with one of the slowest average cornering speed, the teams returned to Europe to go to the circuit with the fastest average cornering speed. It was the start of the European stint in the Formula One season, starting with the FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS VON ÖSTERREICH 2017 in Austria.
There were a couple unfamiliar faces in the paddock for Friday’s first free practice session, as Sergey Sirotkin took over Nico Hülkenberg’s Renault and Alfonso Celis was in the driver’s seat of Sergio Pérez’s Force India. Despite an early collision with the barriers for Max Verstappen, he gave Lewis Hamilton a run for his money. However, the Red Bull driver spun late in the session, allowing Hamilton to keep the fastest lap of the session, but managing to beat Valtteri Bottas. There lots of spins as the drivers tested the limits of the 2017 cars around the circuit. However, the talk of the session was McLaren, with both cars ranking in the top ten.
Despite losing a large portion of the afternoon’s session to floor damage, Fernando Alonso was able to continue the top tens for McLaren, finishing the session in P8. The session was again filled with a fair few of offs. At the end of the day, Hamilton maintained his position at the top, with Sebastian Vettel coming a close second place. Bottas maintained a P3 finish, with Verstappen, Danial Ricciardo and Kimi Räikkönen making up the top six.
Hamilton started the day our strong by taking the lead of the session, despite getting a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change. However, Vettel was able to rebound and take the lead, with Hamilton suffering a break failure. Carlos Sainz also had some issues with his car, parking on the track and having to be pushed off of the track by the marshals. Bottas was again P3, with Räikkönen behind as the final free practice session came to an end.
With a five place grid penalty looming overhead, Hamilton had to qualify for pole in order to minimize the damage. However, he couldn’t get it done as Bottas took the pole and Vettel was narrowly behind. Hamilton was P3, dropping to P8 after the penalty and bumping Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Grosjean and Pérez up a position. Verstappen was the highlight of the session, spinning spectacularly into the gravel at turn 8. The final qualifying session basically ended early, with Grosjean parking his car on the track and bringing out the yellow flags, preventing other drivers from setting a faster time.
Things ended early for Verstappen, having a horrible race start and then getting hit in turn one. Alonso stuck the Red Bull after being clobbered from behind by the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat into turn 1. Verstappen and Alonso retired from the race, while Kvyat pitted for a new front wing, albeit with a drive through penalty. Ricciardo made an early overtake on Räikkönen, slipping into the inside and forcing the Ferrari driver off of the track. Questions were raised over Bottas’ race start, as some drivers began to complain that he jumped the start. The stewards decided that the start was fine and took no further action.
Just under the halfway point in the race, Hamilton pitted for ultrasoft tyres in a very aggressive race strategy. Ricciardo responded to Hamilton’s subsequent fastest lap of the race. Vettel pitted a lap later for an undercut on Bottas in front. The undercut was unsuccessful, but Ferrari left Räikkönen out on the track in an attempt to slow down Bottas. He wasn’t successful though, as Bottas zoomed past on the newer tyre and with DRS. Vettel was gaining on Bottas in front and Hamilton was gaining on Ricciardo, but coming within a second of the car in front. Hamilton made an attempt to overtake on the penultimate lap with the DRS, but wasn’t able to get by. As they crossed the line, the positions remained the same.
With Austria complete, there won’t be any rest for the teams, as they head to the British Grand Prix next week. The race will be held at Silverstone on the weekend of July 16, 2017.
