[akash_v12]

The last race of the Triple Header is the second one at the RedBull Ring. This time it's the Austrian Grand Prix on the very same layout and timings too. Only thing that might be different this time is the weather.

Schedule



Circuit



Tyres





Weather



2021 Championships

Drivers



Constructors



2020 Austrian GP Results

[shibujp]

Mercedes seems to have clawed back some performance if FP2 results are anything to go by. Though it could also be that Red Bull may have being working on their long run pace. Perez too was below the top 10.

Aston Martins look strong this weekend with both drivers in the top 5. Fernando Alonso is getting better every race. Like the ING Renault days getting that car into the upper parts of the grid.



Drive on,
Shibu

[speedmiester]

What a lap from Lando to take the second place in qualifying.

RedBull are in a very comfortable position to take another win and extend their lead in both championships with Perez in third and Mercedes is 4th and 5th position.

First Q3 appearance for Russel for Williams, it will be interesting to see what Ferrari can do with free tyre choice.

Another good exciting race this weekend.

[Red Liner]

I think Ferrari will pip Mercedes in the pitstops by going long on hard. Expect P5-6 to be very hotly contested!

[corvus corax]

Phenomenal lap from Lando Norris! Great to see the customer team beating the works Mercedes. Looking forward to a Redbull 1-2 formation lap tomorrow.

[avdhesh15]

Lando - Lando - Lando!!! Simply brilliant. What a lap to be just 0.048 off VER. I just hope they have race pace unlike last week. Perez being in front of the Merc's is also interesting since he could potentially hold them up for Max to increase his lead. Should be a good race tomorrow.

[fz_rider]

Alonso was absolutely livid to miss out on Q2 after a stonker of a lap in Q1.
Great lap by Lando, perfectly positioned and brilliantly driven. I hope he can have a good start so that he can maintain the podium position.
Mercedes must be scratching their heads.
Another driver of the day has to be George Russell! He is well positioned for points tomorrow.

Both Aston Martin chose to go out on softs, and Ferrari on mediums (sacrificing track position). Who will come out on top, will be interesting.

Birthday boy Seb will have to visit stewards, may face grid penalty.

[Akshay6988]

Lando Norris !! He just loves this track ! Phenomenal lap from him. So happy to see Russell in P9 ( could be P8 as well). And he has Alpha Tauris in front on the softs. Hope he could score some points tomorrow, please f1 Gods, make it happen ! Now that Hamilton is here to stay for two more years, and seeing Russell's performance, Bottas must be sweating. This season getting better and better each race week

[akash_v12]

What an insane quali. Tense it may have been, but what a spectacle to watch. Lando literally sent it on that last lap. It’s amazing to even think that he was ahead of Max till the last corner. Imagine the scenes it would’ve been if he actually had gone ahead and taken pole.

What’s better is that George Russell moved into Q3 on Mediums! In a Williams which probably is not even a mid-field car right now. GR has unbelievable talent and today and last week’s performances are a clear statement to that. Mercedes, if you’re listening, just give him the seat already.

Superb Quali for Max of course, made sweeter by the fact that when Hamilton crossed the line to finish P4, the fans literally sent a shockwave of happiness through the grandstands. Best Qualifying session I’ve watched till date (if we ignore Monaco 2019, maybe).

[akash_v12]

Vettel is being handed a 3-place grid penalty which means he'll be starting 11th on the grid with Sainz starting 10th and Russell and Stroll moving up one place each.

Poor Seb, he was just the last car in that long queue of cars. His engineer advised him that everything was clear and he only brought Alonso to Seb's notice after the former had already passed Seb. This is a real issue this time:

1. The pit lane entry is just too far ahead on the last corner. They should move it much closer to the pit-road (?) or just make a new Baku-like entrance which is further ahead.

2. When cars are queueing up, there's no practical option for them to give way to the other cars if they've passed the pit road entry. IMO, there should be a small escape road like in T1, to give way to cars on fast laps.

Still, happy to see that Aston Martin have seemed to get some pace back in their car.

Source

[wrongturn]

What an amazing qualifying, absolutely thrilling performance from Lando Norris. It's so satisfying to see talent outpacing technology. Probably the best of the lot on the top 3, wish Russell could get a good team soon too, it's his 3rd year with Williams now, with a team which isn't able to do justice to his incredible talent, his probable move to Mercedes next season would certainly ruffle some feathers. Nice to see Norris's performance compared to the legendary Michael Schumacher when it comes to pushing the limits. Race should be as exciting as the quali, and it would be a game of chess and poker when it comes to strategies. Absolutely excited!

[shibujp]

Two young guns Lando Norris and George Russell were the stars of qualifying in Austria. And it is testament to Max Verstappen's achievements that we tend to consider him as a veteran. Norris and Russell are now doing what Verstappen was doing a season or two before - dragging decent but not class leading cars into the rarified spaces of poles and podiums - well Russell not just yet but just like his Q3 position it seems to be sitting there.

That Williams seems to be one of the most improved cars out there. Beating the likes of Ferrari. However the race today will show whether it was some true pace or a qualifying optimized setup. I would dearly love this guy to get some points.

Max Verstappen nearly towed Lando Norris into pole. 48 hundredths of a second is just too close for comfort as Verstappen reminded his team.

Would have been wonderful to see Alonso in Q3 just to see what could have been achieved by the Alpine. However I don't agree with the penalty. Giving it just to the last car only makes the problem worse as everyone will try just not to be last. Multiple drivers should have been penalised to drive home the message properly. Sometime the stewards seem to have trembling hands when it comes to handing out penalties to Mercedes or Ferrari. We saw it last week with Leclerc too.

Aston looks strong with Vettel putting some strong laps in Q2 seemly shaking off the impact of the regulations and extracting more performance out of the car.

Drive on,
Shibu

Poor old Riccardo must be feeling like he has a lemon of a car now. I don't think he has been so outclassed by a team mate ever before.

[Shiftlock]

Beautiful drive by Norris so far.
Rather unfortunate for Perez with the 10 sec time penalty. I actually thought the penalty for the turn 6 incident was rather unnecessary, it was a fair racing incident.

[speedmiester]

Another dominating win by Max and Redbull. The lead for the both championships is over a win away.
Mercedes really needs to pull their socks up to make an effort to claw back on the points.

What a drive by Norris, another podium, the 4th of 2021. Without the penalty, sure to have taken the second place comfortably.

[akash_v12]

Not a bad race, but not the best race too. What the hell was going on with the penalties though? FIA is being a bit too harsh except Perez's second penalty and Tsunoda's pit-lane ones.

- Max is dominating. 3/3 on the triple header, RedBull have been fantastic throughout the race. Poor luck for Perez, but I think the second penalty was deserved, he was too aggressive around there. Insane to think how much orange smoke there was.

- Lando did great after that really unwanted penalty. Ricciardo, I'm very sure he's very very happy today. The car was a rocket ship on the straights. McLaren will be sure to celebrate today.

- I'm actually devastated about Russell, he was keeping Alonso away so well (and ended up pressurising Alonso into mistakes).

- Good race for Ferrari, It's good that they didn't make the stupid mistake of not letting Sainz by.

- Mercedes are behind RedBull in every way. They know that very well now. Good to see Bottas on the podium, but again,only because Hamilton had damage, IMO.

Let's see, this season is heating up well. Hope, it can go on now atleast.