After a good race weekend in Montreal a couple of weeks ago, which saw the Ferraris finish in fourth and fifth, the Maranello outfit looked to continue its momentum in Austria. Not only did the team continue its good run of form, but it also bettered its results, with Charles Leclerc getting his second podium of the season after finishing second and Carlos Sainz finishing fourth. While the team was celebrating the result, Sainz was particularly disappointed. 

Carlos Sainz is currently fifth in the drivers’ championship, 14 points ahead of Leclerc. He’s also the highest-placed driver to have not achieved a podium so far in the season. And the Austrian GP was arguably the closest he’s gotten to the podium, but Ferrari took it away from him.

Frederic Vasseur doesn’t empathize with Carlos Sainz

Ferrari brought an upgraded package to Austria that worked better than expected. Owing to the new upgrades, the Ferrari duo qualified in second and third for the race, Leclerc ahead of Sainz. For the first couple of laps of the race, Leclerc challenged Max Verstappen for the lead but eventually dropped off, only to be pursued by Sainz. The Spaniard clearly had more pace than his teammate, but Ferrari asked him to hold position. The two had less than one second between them for 13 laps until the Virtual Safety Car came out. 

The VSC was caused when Nico Hulkenberg was forced to retire and had to stop his car on track. Ferrari could’ve preempted the VSC, but it didn’t and brought in both cars to double-stack on Lap 14. Leclerc had a slow pitstop which messed things up for Sainz, and the Spaniard emerged behind Perez, Hamilton, and Norris while Leclerc was ahead of them all. He eventually fought for the places and gained them back, but towards the end of the race, Perez passed him for the final podium place. 

Sainz was visibly disappointed after the race because P4 wasn’t the result he wanted. While this must’ve looked like yet another Ferrari blunder, team principal Frederic Vasseur defended the team. In an interview after the race, he said, “That was the deal before the race, to not fight each other.” He explained that it would’ve been the case even if Carlos was ahead of Charles. He stuck by the team’s decision and said, “That was the strategy from the team.”

Although Sainz did not achieve the result he thoroughly deserved, he can take positives from this race. His pace was terrific. His defense was immaculate. Even though he played the team game, luck wasn’t in his favor. But Ferrari looks to have taken a big step in the right direction thanks to the effort the team put in between Montreal and Spielberg.

Read More: “Absolute Joke”: Fans Obliterate Ferrari for Destroying Carlos Sainz’s Race With Typical Blunder 

Ferrari worked like “madmen” in the past two weeks.

After qualifying on Friday, it was clear that Ferrari had made a huge step toward closing the gap to Red Bull. As the name suggests, the Red Bull Ring is one of the tracks where Red Bull dominates. But to everyone’s surprise, Verstappen out-qualified Leclerc and took pole by only 48 milliseconds. Although Red Bull is still far superior in race pace, Ferrari seems to have gotten closer in that regard as well.

In his post-qualifying interview, Leclerc commended the team for all the work it put in to make the car better in two weeks. He exclaimed, “It’s hard to put into words how much work there was in the factory to bring these upgrades earlier, the guys did an incredible job. They pushed like madmen.”

The British GP is up next, and last year, Carlos Sainz won his maiden Grand Prix there. Can he recreate the magic from last year and finally get the podium—if not the win—he deserves?

WATCH THIS STORY | Ferrari Strategy Fails We Will Never Forget