Losers

Carlos Sainz

Momentum was on Carlos Sainz’s side following a run of podium finishes and then his maiden Fᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ1 victory at the British GP.

Unfortunate𒉰ly, Sunday could prove fatal in terms of his title chances, with an engine failu🧔re costing him a comfortable P2 finish.

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Sainz was about to overtake Verstap꧋pen for second place, to give Ferrari an important 1-2 finish at the Red Bull Ring but his engi🔴ne ignited, forcing him to evacuate his fiery Ferrari.

With the Spaniard falling further behind in the title race, surely it’♌s time for Ferrari to prioritise Charles Leclerc?&nb❀sp;

Sergio Perez

It was a bad day for the ‘number two’ drivers in A🌊ustria with Sergio Perez also failing to make the chequered flag.

The Mexican recovered from a disappointing qualifying to secure fifth on the grid🐠 after the sprint racꦬe.

Perez’s eagerness to get past Russell on the opening lap proved to be his undoing as contact with the Mercedes driver at Turn 4 put him in the gravel tra♋p.

His Red Bull was severely damaged an▨d several seconds off of 🐻the pace meaning he was forced to retire from proceedings prematurely.

Realistically, Perez was never 💟in the title fight but this was probably the final🅠 nail in the coffin.

Alfa Romeo

After a strong start to the year, Alfa Romeo have taken a serious stepback relativ♓e to Alpine and McLaren.

A lack of straight-line speed seems to be at the route of their problems, while their low-speed performance doesn’t seem to be as good as it was in the opening five races of the ye🥂💦ar.

Valtteri Botta✤s recovered well from the pit lane to f💟inish 11th, while Zhou Guanyu was heavily involved in the midfield chaos but never looked likely to score points.

The team now sit 30 points behind Alpine and McLaren in the race for fourth 🐼in the constructors’ championship.

They’ll have to be wary of Haas behind them now.

Pierre Gasly 

It was a miserable weekend for Gasly, who was involᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚved in two avoidable incidꦦents that were entirely his own fault.

He collided with Hamiltonꦇ on the opening lap of the sprint, dropping him down to 11th before spinning Sebastian Vettel around at Turn 4.

Gasly subsequently picked up a five-second time pe𒀰nalty to cap off a poor weekend which saw AlphaTauri drop behind Haas in the constructors’ championship.

Winners

Charles Leclerc

After five races without finishing on the F1 podium, Leclerc’s return to the top of the rostrum was long 🥃overdue. 

Reliability cost him a guaranteed victory in Barcelona, while poor strategy choic꧃es from Ferrari put him out of contention in Monaco ꦺand Britain. 

There was no stopping Leclerc on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, overtaking main title rival Max Verstapp🅘en on three separate occasions. 

Even a throttle issue in the closing 10 laps didn’t halt Leclerc’s charge as he claimed his third win of thꦦe year to reduce 💟Verstappen’s lead to 38 points at the halfway point. 

Mercedes

It was a scrappy weekend for Mercedes overall but it still c𒀰ame away from the Austrian GP with a big points haul.

Lewis Hamilton scored his third straight podium fin𒁃ish, while George Russell recovered from 19th (after contact with Perez) to finish fourth.

It was a strong recovery after both drivers crashed heavily in Q3 despite being in contention for a top three grid position f🐬or the sprint.

While their outright performance wasn’t as strong as at Silverstone, Mercedes cont♐inue to maximise their package in terms 🌃of points.

Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon enjoyed his best weekend of the year with a strong drive t🍌o fifth at the Austrian GP.

It was a timely performance as in rec💜ent rounds, Fernando Alonso has comprehensively out-performed him despite the championship standings ꦏstating otherwise.

Ocon qualified a superb fifth on Friday before s💃ecuring sixt🌳h in the sprint. 

He enjoyed a quiet but prod👍uctive Sunday drive to come home with 10 crucial points in P5.

Mick Schumacher & Haas

Another star performer this weekend was Miꦦck Schumacher and 🥀Haas.

It seems that Schumacher has made an important breakthrough following his maiden F1 points finish last time out at the Brit♒ish GP.

Schumacher was understandably frustrated after the sprint ꦉas he was stuck behind his slower teammate before dropping out of the top eight.

He made amends on race day, even overtaking his teammate at Turn 9 before coming homeꦇ in P6 - a career🎶-best result.

Lando Norris

After൩ qualifying 15th 🍰on Friday, finishing seventh is a fantastic result for Lando Norris.

Despite running an older engine, combined with an ill-handling car, Norris𒈔 drove beautifully to secure seventh. 

He will be left to rue the time penalty that he picked up for track limits but he overtook the🦄 quicker ꧂Haas of Magnussen in the latter stages.