Verstappen 42 like victories. Sainz as at Fort Alamo (8.5) – Corriere.it

Max Verstappen, the Cannibal King, in Austria becomes Max Settebellezze (in the sense of the seasonal successes in the GPs; the victories are 8, considering that of Saturday in the sprint race) and reiterates what we have already known for some months: in F1 he is on a planet, where he does which he likes, and colleagues on another. Proposal: let’s give him the third title already (arithmetical certainty is not needed) proclaiming him the winner by technical knockout, let’s remove him from the World Cup and pretend that the fight for second place counts as if it were the first. From this point of view, among Spielberg’s ups and downs, in addition to the orange of the human tide of Flying Dutchman fans (score 10, provided they haven’t messed up some mess between gulped beers and borderline euphoria), one can glimpse a clearer and more defined. Here are the report cards.

Max Verstappen: 42

The 10 now understood, better to give him the number of his victories as a vote. After the connection to Senna, which took place in Canada, success number 42 arrived (in 86 podiums). Dominance and arrogance — the latter used to subtract the additional point of the fastest lap from the competition — are Max’s competitive characteristics. best lap will punish him because the error is always lurking, we don’t feel like condemning Verstappen’s will: he applies, neither more nor less, the concept according to which in sport you honor your opponent by winning big and not simply by winning. But it could also be that Max Settebellezze wanted to experience the enjoyable scenario of seeing Leclerc go back up to just 4 seconds behind, knowing that the Monegasque could only have made a cuckoo. The next frontier of The Flying Dutchman it will be to go back to the box, change the tyres, devote himself to a session with the callifugo Ciccarelli and then get back on track.

Carlos Sainz: 8.5

The best of the rest, in our opinion, also considering the sprint podium. Particularly liked the widespread combativeness of Carlos, author of a great overtaking against Lando Norris. Then he engaged, against Sergio Perez, the tenacious defense of his very personal Fort Alamo, or rather a podium that in the end he lost (even in true history the fort was conquered by the Mexicans…) but which the Spaniard deserved. We quote for the opinion of those who believe that having bitten Leclerc’s heel in the initial phase (going so far as to make the men at the red wall pronounce the always annoying edict to leave his partner alone) led him to attack the track and run into in the penalty trap for exceeding the track limit: without those 5 seconds he would have finished third.

Charles Leclerc: 8.5

Charles’ vaguely schizophrenic weekend – front row on Friday in qualifying for the GP, disastrous sprint race on Saturday – ends in glory and with a second place which is a panacea above all for self-esteem. Leclerc had taken the ball after the horrible Saturday, so let’s say that the best result of the season saves him a trip to the psychologist. After taking sixth place away from Russell, Sainz took the fifth place by 16 lengths. But the fact remains that the number 1 blue car flies and this is always a painful punch to the warrior spirit of the boy from Monte Carlo.

Lando Norris: 8

Best driver according to the international press (not always balanced). Perhaps the title of Mvp of the day is excessive, however a confident Lando in his possibilities was seen again thanks to a McLaren (score 7.5) which on the car number 4 brought updates intended by Silverstone also for Piastri, without a reliable vote in Austria because he was forced to go around with a car-ciofeca.

Ferraris: 800

Also in this case, a vote equal to a historic figure: Leclerc in fact gave the Cavallino the 800th podium in Formula 1. The Rossa seems to have overcome the ailments of the GPs: poor race pace and high tire degradation. The indications from Montreal are therefore confirmed on a circuit with different characteristics, even if the important check is coming up on the fast Silverstone circuit: better to stay buttoned up and think that this is a broth that has settled the stomach. Waiting for desirable future binges, Red Bull permitting.

Sergio Perez: 7/8

After Christian Horner’s smooth knock (not a good sign if the pit bull Helmut Marko didn’t bark but Geri Halliwell’s more calm wife) Checo made a move and, climbing up from fifteenth place, reached the podium. But even for him there is nitpicking: apart from the further slaps remedied by Verstappen, it took him 4 laps to pass Sainz who, with an inferior car, beat him putting himself in a position to exploit the Drs. When he understood what had to be done, Leclerc, potentially attackable, had become a bird in the woods.

Pierre Gasly: ​​6.5

Discreet race and points (few) by collecting the crumbs of other people’s meals.

Esteban Ocon: 5

Instead, it ends up outside the top 10. The truth is that Alpine gets by in the aurea mediocritas without providing clear and convincing signals of an upward turn.

Hamilton, Russell, Mercedes: 5

Cumulative mark for drivers and teams after a clear step back that can be summarized with the phrase with which Toto Wolff tried to calm an agitated Hamilton: The car is going wrong. The second place in the World Championship still goes to the Frecce Nere (formerly Silver: is it the color to change?), but Aston Martin, albeit limping, has moved to -6, but above all Ferrari is recovering (58 points against 26 between Canada and Austria) who are now only 20 and 14 points behind the two opponents on the podium together with the unattainable leader of the rankings Red Bull. George Russell’s reflection is also disturbing: I’m struggling and I’m going backwards instead of forwards: a reset is needed.

Aston Martin: 5

The complaint presented against the result of the GP, following the way in which the stewards applied the penalties for track limits, makes more news than for what he produced in the race. Regardless of the verdict and possible changes in the standings, adding that it was right to ask the question of a rule that was too rigid, the fact that the green cars have watered down the polish of the first races cannot be canceled. And in the family, however, Alonso (7) is always better than Stroll (6 down).

Hass: 4

Magnussen penultimate (although as a partial excuse he has the fact that he ran into the inadequacy of De Vries who pushed him out) and retired Hulkenberg with (perhaps) dead engine. The sprint race had given away 3 points thanks to Hulkenberg, the GP a desolating handful of flies.

Track limits: 3

After Aston Martin’s appeal, the marshals had to view again something like 1200 images of real or potential violations of the track limit: some of these had not been possible to analyze during the race. Campa Cavallo: is it ever possible to get to such a situation? If you decide to race on a track whose characteristics lend themselves to driver errors, given that it is necessary to keep your eyes open to prevent the mistake from turning into a deliberate trick, a little more flexibility becomes indispensable.