Austria GP: Max Lando crash, George wins

Max and Lando crash into each other and end up giving victory to George in Austria. Oscar and Carlos picked up the pieces.

Mega crash in Austria

It seemed to be inevitable as the pressure was building up in Austria. To be sure Red Bull Max were looking to be clear favorites. They had a solid Practice session, the only one, and Max was at the top. Then he was P1 in the Sprint Quali. Then he came first in the Sprint. He was leading comfortably but not by a big margin in the race in Austria and it seemed that a 7-second gap was good enough.

Lando was there at P2 but he was not able to close the gap. Then a botched pit-stop by RedBull reduced the gap from 7 to 3 seconds. This gave Lando the opportunity he was looking for and he was right there at the gearbox of Max. With more than 10 laps remaining there was plenty of opportunity to pass by. Before even the crash happened there was plenty of bickering by both the drivers. Lando accused Max of moving in the braking zone and Max accused Lando of dive-bombing. Lando tried going on the inside for a few times, locked up but could not hold on to the lead. Then he tried going from the outside and Max just moved a bit more towards Lando. This was enough to cause a crash between the two front-runners. Both ended up getting puncher. Max still somehow finished P5 but Lando had to retire his car.

This crash was eerily reminiscent of the 2021 season where Max pushed the limits with Hamilton. Max and Lando are good friends but it will be tested for sure Austria onwards. Max doesn’t have the edge of the last two seasons and he needs to push harder to stay in front. Lando meanwhile is hungry for more wins and even to be in the fight for the championship.

George picking up the pieces in Austria

As the two front-runners crashed, it was George who was actually 13 seconds behind them, picked up the pieces and won the race in Austria, his second F1 win in his career. To be fair he did have a good weekend overall and deserved to be the one to win. Lewis Hamilton was out of touch this weekend and had some damage to his car too. He finished P4.

Oscar did not have the qualifying he expected with his last lap deleted. That would have put his car on P3 and potentially he could have won the race. However he would be happy with P2, given that he started P7. Carlos did a decent job too. P5 was expected and ended up P3 on the podium. Pere had another weekend to forget as he finished P7.

HAAS in form in Austria

Another team that ended up doing well was HAAS. Hulkenburg finished a mighty P6 and Magnussen P8. They would be chuffed with the points haul. Ricciardo came in at P9 and Gasly got the final point.

Austria Race Classification : George wins as Max Lando collide