ADVERTISEMENT
Straight to the grid
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Driver News
    • Latest
    • Team News
    Fernando Alonso predicts a tough battle in the midfield this season

    Fernando Alonso to race for Aston Martin from 2023 in light of Sebastian Vettel retirement

    Verstappen

    Max Verstappen sails to the win at the Hungarian Grand Prix – Driver’s comments

    Russell

    Qualifying results: George Russell secures pole as Verstappen lands unfamiliar start for Hungarian GP

    practice session hungary

    FP3 Report Hungary: Williams’s surprise jump to the top as Latifi goes fastest at a wet Hungaroring

    Charles Leclerc

    FP2 Report Hungary: Ferrari continue to lead with Leclerc in first as McLaren improve but Mercedes lag

    Carlos Sainz

    FP1 Report Hungary: Carlos Sainz leads first hour on track at the Hungaroring

    Hungaroring

    Hungarian Grand Prix: Here’s the full weekend schedule for Irish viewers

    standings

    Max Verstappen and Red Bull lead the championship standings ahead of final race before summer break

    Sebastian Vettel

    Sebastian Vettel to retire from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season

    • Latest
    • Driver News
    • Team News
  • Features
    • All
    • Interviews
    • Race Reports 2020
    • Race Reports 2021
    Verstappen

    French GP Race Report: Red Bull win, Mercedes improvements and Ferrari double-disaster

    Leclerc

    Qualifying results: Charles Leclerc on Pole for the French Grand Prix

    Verstappen

    FP3 Report: Max Verstappen dominated last hour on track ahead of Qualifying

    FP2 Report: Ferrari’s Friday success as Carlos Sainz tops later timesheets in France

    FP2 Report: Ferrari’s Friday success as Carlos Sainz tops later timesheets in France

    • Interviews
    • Race Reports 2020
    • Race Reports 2021
  • Races
    • Race Calendar
    • Championship standings
  • More
    • Quiz
    • Competitions
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Driver News
    • Latest
    • Team News
    Fernando Alonso predicts a tough battle in the midfield this season

    Fernando Alonso to race for Aston Martin from 2023 in light of Sebastian Vettel retirement

    Verstappen

    Max Verstappen sails to the win at the Hungarian Grand Prix – Driver’s comments

    Russell

    Qualifying results: George Russell secures pole as Verstappen lands unfamiliar start for Hungarian GP

    practice session hungary

    FP3 Report Hungary: Williams’s surprise jump to the top as Latifi goes fastest at a wet Hungaroring

    Charles Leclerc

    FP2 Report Hungary: Ferrari continue to lead with Leclerc in first as McLaren improve but Mercedes lag

    Carlos Sainz

    FP1 Report Hungary: Carlos Sainz leads first hour on track at the Hungaroring

    Hungaroring

    Hungarian Grand Prix: Here’s the full weekend schedule for Irish viewers

    standings

    Max Verstappen and Red Bull lead the championship standings ahead of final race before summer break

    Sebastian Vettel

    Sebastian Vettel to retire from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season

    • Latest
    • Driver News
    • Team News
  • Features
    • All
    • Interviews
    • Race Reports 2020
    • Race Reports 2021
    Verstappen

    French GP Race Report: Red Bull win, Mercedes improvements and Ferrari double-disaster

    Leclerc

    Qualifying results: Charles Leclerc on Pole for the French Grand Prix

    Verstappen

    FP3 Report: Max Verstappen dominated last hour on track ahead of Qualifying

    FP2 Report: Ferrari’s Friday success as Carlos Sainz tops later timesheets in France

    FP2 Report: Ferrari’s Friday success as Carlos Sainz tops later timesheets in France

    • Interviews
    • Race Reports 2020
    • Race Reports 2021
  • Races
    • Race Calendar
    • Championship standings
  • More
    • Quiz
    • Competitions
No Result
View All Result
Straight to the grid
No Result
View All Result

Peter Collins: Verstappen easily scales spectacular Styrian hills

If you were on board with Charles Leclerc for the duration, you’d have experienced a hectic race right from the start.

Leclerc

Max Verstappen cruised to his fourth race win of the season as he won the Styrian GP in Austria.

Given the enormous physical effort and concentration required to complete a 71 lap race, cruise is probably not the most appropriate term to use, but it’s almost unavoidable given the fact the Dutch driver wasn’t seriously challenged at any point during the race.

That suggests not a whole lot happened during today’s 8th round of the world championship, but if you were on board with Charles Leclerc for the duration, you’d have experienced a hectic race right from the start.

First, the Ferrari driver tangled with Pierre Gasly’s Alpharauri on the opening lap, an incident that resulted in an early pit stop for Leclerc to replace the Ferrari’s damaged front wing.

So he rejoined down in seventeenth position having started seventh on the grid and there began his busy afternoon of overtaking.

Scything through the slower traffic wouldn’t have caused the Monegasque much difficulty, but as he approached the cars in midfield the task automatically became more challenging. It’s not a simple matter of just putting the boot down and sailing serenely by.

Leclerc

The margins are tight, the performance differences are not as pronounced towards the front of the field, so the racecraft of the driver becomes more and more important.

What you see in Leclerc is a hardened racer, don’t let his courteous and sincerely pleasant manner out of the car fool you, when the visor goes down Leclerc is as aggressive as the next guy.

The Ferrari driver cut a slightly frustrated figure afterward. His car was working really well today and you felt his target was a podium before the chances of that petered out on the first lap.

But that incident meant onlookers had some great overtaking moves to savour. On his way through the field, he came across two of the most wiley racers you could encounter.

First on lap 43, Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo. The Finnish driver is a master at defending his position and making his car as wide as possible, but Leclerc hassled and harried and when the opportunity presented itself, he made his move.

Clean, hard skillful racing and off he went in pursuit of the next obstacle. It presented itself in the form of Fernando Alonso.

Like Raikkonen, the Spaniard has a bottomless well of experience to call upon, although the performance deficit of his Alpine to the Ferrari meant he was never going to hold up Leclerc for too long. Lance Strolls Aston Martin was also put in the Ferraris rearview mirrors pretty quickly too.

Seventh was as much as Leclerc could manage today, but he further enhanced his reputation and gained some additional race experience while he worked his way back towards the front.

A great drive from Leclerc, but you can never take away from the race winner. Verstappen had to suck it up when Mercedes and Hamilton were unbeatable.

Now the Red Bull has the pace, Max is doing exactly what we expected he would do for a long time now, become the man to beat.

Roll on next weekend in ..eh, Austria again, when Mercedes will undoubtedly do everything to close the gap and Ferrari will be right on their tails.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Related

Tags: Charles LeclercFerrariPeter CollinsStyrian Grand Prix
Previous Post

Declan Quigley: ‘Hamilton and friends will be anxiously surveying the weather apps this week’

Next Post

Check out the up-to-date Championship Standings following the Styrian Grand Prix

Related Posts

Verstappen
Catch up

French GP Race Report: Red Bull win, Mercedes improvements and Ferrari double-disaster

Leclerc
Catch up

Qualifying results: Charles Leclerc on Pole for the French Grand Prix

Verstappen
Catch up

FP3 Report: Max Verstappen dominated last hour on track ahead of Qualifying

FP2 Report: Ferrari’s Friday success as Carlos Sainz tops later timesheets in France
Catch up

FP2 Report: Ferrari’s Friday success as Carlos Sainz tops later timesheets in France

French GP, Circuit Paul Ricard
Catch up

French Grand Prix: Here’s the full weekend schedule for Irish viewers

Leclerc
Catch up

Austrian GP: Leclerc sails to the win despite throttle issues as Verstappen settles for second

Next Post
Hungaroring

Hungarian Grand Prix: Here's the full weekend schedule for Irish viewers

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
30 years ago Jordan Grand Prix made its Formula One debut

30 years ago Jordan Grand Prix made its Formula One debut

Jordan

INTERVIEW: Eddie Jordan is an ‘irrepressible character’ who ‘ducked and dived’ to make it in F1

Latest figures show F1 to be the second fastest growing major sports league on the planet

Latest figures show F1 to be the second fastest growing major sports league on the planet

standings

Championship Standings: Max Verstappen leads as we head to Texas

Hungaroring

Hungarian Grand Prix: Here’s the full weekend schedule for Irish viewers

Carlos Sainz

FP1 Report Hungary: Carlos Sainz leads first hour on track at the Hungaroring

Charles Leclerc

FP2 Report Hungary: Ferrari continue to lead with Leclerc in first as McLaren improve but Mercedes lag

practice session hungary

FP3 Report Hungary: Williams’s surprise jump to the top as Latifi goes fastest at a wet Hungaroring

Fernando Alonso predicts a tough battle in the midfield this season

Fernando Alonso to race for Aston Martin from 2023 in light of Sebastian Vettel retirement

Verstappen

Max Verstappen sails to the win at the Hungarian Grand Prix – Driver’s comments

Russell

Qualifying results: George Russell secures pole as Verstappen lands unfamiliar start for Hungarian GP

practice session hungary

FP3 Report Hungary: Williams’s surprise jump to the top as Latifi goes fastest at a wet Hungaroring

Recent News

Fernando Alonso predicts a tough battle in the midfield this season

Fernando Alonso to race for Aston Martin from 2023 in light of Sebastian Vettel retirement

Verstappen

Max Verstappen sails to the win at the Hungarian Grand Prix – Driver’s comments

Russell

Qualifying results: George Russell secures pole as Verstappen lands unfamiliar start for Hungarian GP

practice session hungary

FP3 Report Hungary: Williams’s surprise jump to the top as Latifi goes fastest at a wet Hungaroring

Popular Stories

  • Latest figures show F1 to be the second fastest growing major sports league on the planet

    Latest figures show F1 to be the second fastest growing major sports league on the planet

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher apologise to teams for Quali-ending crashes

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Charles Leclerc wins Australian GP for Ferrari

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Here’s the full lineup of new liveries taking to the track for the season opener in just 1 day

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Daniel Ricciardo ready for “full attack” at Italian GP after securing P2 start

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Straight to the Grid

Straight to the Grid

Straight to the Grid is Ireland's first exclusive Formula One news source, bringing fans all of the latest
news, results, interviews, features and much more!

Navigation

  • Catch up
  • Competitions
  • Driver News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Irish F1
  • Latest
  • News
  • Quiz
  • Race Reports 2020
  • Race Reports 2021
  • Race Reports 2022
  • Team News
  • Uncategorized

Instagram

  • Highlights from the Hungarian GP where Max Verstappen took his eighth win of the season 🏆
  • Max Verstappen has won the French Grand Prix
  • Three days to the  #frenchgp
  • Charles Leclerc wins the Austrian Grand Prix - his first since Australia
  • Carlos Sainz has won the British Grand Prix - marking the first win of his career
  • Max Verstappen has won the Canadian Grand Prix 🏆
  • 🇨🇦
  • Sergio Perez wins the Monaco Grand Prix
  • 🇪🇸🏎 

🔜 Monaco
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Latest
    • Driver News
    • Team News
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Race Reports 2020
    • Race Reports 2021
    • Race Reports 2022
  • Races
    • Championship standings
    • Race Calendar
  • More
    • Quiz
    • Competitions

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.