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The 2022 Austrian Grand Prix is round eleven of the ongoing season, and it brings us to serene Speilberg, where the Styrian hills are all set to gyrate to the sound of music. But one produced by the rip-roaring sound of zesty Formula 1 machines that are primed to offer a mouthwatering racing fiesta!
With Red Bull and Ferrari separated by the tiniest of margins at the breathtakingly beautiful Austrian venue, what may happen in the 71 laps ahead? Is another belter of a contest much like the one we saw at Silverstone on our way? Who knows.
But what we at SportsTiger do know is that maybe all or some of the following events may come true this Sunday:
Verstappen will take the race win
From the onset of the 2018 race here in Austria until the completion of the event in 2021, every single time that Max Verstappen has raced here, he has found himself a podium, if not a win.
But to give you a clear example of just how dominant he’s been at the picturesque venue nestled amid the Styrian Alps, every time that Verstappen has stepped on the podium during this period, he’s been on the top step barring the twin races of 2020, where victories belonged to the Mercedes drivers (Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas).
On Sunday, the pole sitter of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix will likely convert the sixteenth pole of his career into another memorable victory.
And in so doing, the Flying Dutchman will collect the twenty-seventh win of his career! Phew, well done Max on already achieving 26 wins!
Having said that, Max will dominate the twin Ferraris and get off to a clean getaway to emerge unscathed in the early part of the race to develop a significant lead over those in pursuit of his red hot Red Bull.
Another victory, it seems, is headed Red Bull’s way, and hence, another reason for massive celebrations, Spielberg being the home event for the Milton Keynes-based outfit!
Lewis Hamilton will finish in points
For a driver who happens to have won on nearly every racing venue where F1 has raced in the past decade, think Turkey, Portugal, and Qatar, to quote just some of the fixtures, it’s incredibly surprising to think that all Lewis Hamilton has against his name here at Austria is a solitary race win.
And it came way back in 2016.
Here’s what is more surprising. The seven-time world champion with a solitary victory at Spielberg is one who happens to have contested every single Austrian Grand Prix ever since the race returned to the fixture from 2014 onwards.
As a matter of fact, his former Mercedes teammate and one-time friend, Nico Rosberg has more wins here in Austria than the great Briton.
Though truth be told, despite finding himself in the barriers at turn 7 on Friday and somehow managing to evade grid penalty, Lewis Hamilton will likely score a decent result at Spielberg in just a few hours’ time.
Primed to begin his 2022 Austrian GP challenge from ninth on the grid, a position that will see him battle the likes of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly, the latter who trails the Mercedes driver, Hamilton will up his game and deliver a decent Sunday result.
And while a top five finish may not be his thing, it’s difficult to imagine how Hamilton, such an experienced campaigner, will not emerge with either a sixth, seventh or even an eight-place finish in what lies ahead.
The following is how Lewis has fared in the past runs at Austria:
2021 Austria- P4
2020 Austria - p4
2019 Austria - P5
2018 Austria - DNF
Both Ferrari drivers will break into top five
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc head into the Austrian Grand Prix separated by no more than eleven points. Thanks to an excellent slew of recent results for Sainz, Formula 1’s most recent race winner who’s clearly outperformed his Monegasque teammate, it appears as though the 2022 Austrian GP could well see both Ferrari drivers neck to neck in the 71-lap contest.
Moreover, to up Ferrari’s chances of scoring a decent result at Spielberg, Leclerc and Sainz looked firmly in control of the proceedings bagging a second and third, respectively at the conclusion of the Friday-bound qualifying.
Though in the race, the chances of both drivers bagging a top-three finish look slightly difficult. And it’s likely that Leclerc, who has scored two podiums here in the past, one each in 2019 and 2020, will manage to trump his teammate.
Meanwhile, Sainz, despite being in red hot form as seen in recent races, could come under intense attack from the likes of George Russell and Esteban Ocon and may struggle to keep the tail of his Ferrari ahead of the fast-catching midfielders.
In all likelihood, Verstappen and Leclerc will feature in the final top three at the checkered flag of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix and Sainz will likely miss the podium step.
Norris will keep his dominant Austria record intact over Ricciardo
Lando Norris is clearly one of the most incredible and redoubtable talents of Formula 1 in more recent times and it’s really tough luck that the British driver missed out on winning the Russian GP as seen last year.
Though Sochi isn’t the only venue where the up and coming driver billed to be a future great has excelled; some of Norris’s best results in F1 have come here at Spielberg.
In fact, of his six career podiums, two have come here in Austria in the form of successive P3 results, which he bagged in his 2020 and 2021 outings.
Moreover, as seen so far in 2022, it hasn’t been much of a challenge for the young English driver to beat Daniel Ricciardo, clearly the more experienced driver of the McLaren duo.
Therefore, one reckons, that Lando Norris will continue his fine form for McLaren and will usurp the famous Australian driver at Austria for round ten of the season.
As a matter of fact, it’s Ricciardo, a driver with eight race wins against his name, who’ll need to work on his form here at Spielberg. So how’s that?
In 2019, the Perth-born, then driving for Renault, scored a P12, an effort that would be followed by a P8 for the same outfit the following year. Though that was the Styrian Grand Prix.
However, what followed for the Austrian Grand Prix, that very year, would be a DNF.
Where his performance for McLaren at Austria stands, then Daniel would quite like to improve upon the P7 (Lando was on the podium in the same race) that he collected last year. But can that be achieved in a few hours’ time?