Max Verstappen and Red Bull cruised to a placid victory in the sprint race at the 2022 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix . The twenty-three laps of the sprint race confirmed that, barring unforeseen events, the current world champion has everything to aspire to his second consecutive title if Ferrari does not do something to prevent it.
Although the race pace does not seem to be too different between the two cars, the problem for the Maranello team seems to be under their own roof, and that is that letting Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz compete helps the Dutchman to open a gap relatively easily, and he quickly exits the DRS zone, avoiding any attack from the F1-75s.
And from what has already been seen on several occasions this season, with no rivals glued to the back of his RB18, Verstappen can focus more on tire management, a huge “luxury” that he could not afford if a Ferrari ( or both) were hot on his heels.
After the sprint of the Austrian GP, the first question that arose was about the duel between Leclerc and Sainz in the first laps. Without the time lost in that battle between its two drivers, could Ferrari have made life difficult for the reigning world champion?
After the Silverstone clashes that caused some long faces in the Maranello team’s garage, Leclerc and Sainz are in the eye of the hurricane right now and, although from the structure they deny the disagreements, it is clear that the climate has worsened since the beginning of the 2022 Formula 1 season.
Mattia Binotto , as a manager, does his job by talking about a calm and very relaxed atmosphere within the team to the media. Which is true, in a way, but not entirely if the reference is to the weekend before the Red Bull Ring.
In this context, it is logical to have seen the Spaniard and the Monegasque throwing some darts at each other in the press conferences, hinting at a less idyllic relationship between the two than at the beginning of the campaign. Another aspect that surely favors a Verstappen who started the season as a pursuer.
Despite what has happened in recent weeks, at Ferrari it seems that they are still betting on letting their drivers decide the hierarchical order on the track and, except for accidents such as those involving Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel at the time, Binotto stated that it would be like that until the last race.
However, from the structure they come to the conclusion that this internal battle could be key to their title chances, both in the drivers’ classification and in the constructors’ classification, something could change in Maranello’s management.
At the beginning of the season, Ferrari had a faster car, Red Bull had problems and Sainz was not quite comfortable, but as the season progressed, the Italians have lost ground with the energy drinks team and the Spanish driver He has come close to the performance of his team-mate, as his first victory in the British GP showed, something that, although it sounds strange, has also made life difficult for the Prancing Horse team.
With all this on the table, making a decision is not easy. If Ferrari finally decides to curb its drivers and give preference to one of them, that could trigger a very contrary situation and atmosphere within the team seen after Silverstone, while if they make the decision to continue giving freedom to their drivers, they could Rolling out the red carpet for Max Verstappen on his way to his second Formula 1 world title.
