Although Ferrari had arguably the fastest single-seater at the Austrian Grand Prix and for most of the season, errors in strategy and reliability issues with their 066/7 engine have seen them fall behind Red Bull in the general classification, both for drivers and constructors.
Failures in Charles Leclerc’s power unit could have cost him two near-certain wins in Spain and Azerbaijan, and the Maranello outfit came close to losing another win in a harrowing finish at the Red Bull Ring due to an accelerator pedal malfunction. from Monegasque.
When it seemed that it was going to be a double for the Italians, Carlos Sainz’s driver said enough and ended up on fire in a spectacular incident that caused the virtual safety car to come out. Just a few moments later, Leclerc reached the checkered flag with the tension that everything could end at any moment.
The nervousness the entire team faced at the wall was exemplified by Prancing Horse boss Mattia Binotto , who revealed that he had to turn off and walk away from the televisions for the final three laps.
While the Monaco car held on to add another victory in Austria after several months of drought, the failure of his teammate’s engine has shown that Ferrari is still far from solving its reliability problems in 2022.
However, at Red Bull they assure that they cannot relax and rely only on the setbacks of the Italian mechanics to achieve their goal. When the Milton Keynes manager was asked about his arch rival’s obvious weakness, Christian Horner said: “No, we’re not too focused on that.”
“We cannot control or contribute to it in any way,” explained the Briton. “I think we have to think about ourselves and get the best out of our own car.”
“They [Ferrari] had a very strong car [in Austria], and they could well have finished first and second,” said the Red Bull boss.
Although Max Verstappen still holds a comfortable lead of 38 points over Charles Leclerc and 57 points over his teammate, Sergio Pérez, in the drivers’ standings, Horner believes the title fight remains wide open, and that either of them can win.
“We’re in the middle of the season, and things change quite a bit,” he said. “There’s still a long way to go. I would say Austria was a kind of damage minimization as we took pole position, sprint win and second place [in the feature race].”
“I think Max [Verstappen] has only lost five points to Charles [Leclerc] in the drivers’ championship and obviously the damage has been limited relatively well in the constructors,” concluded the Red Bull boss.
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