Who were the winners and losers of the Styrian Grand Prix?

Another race down, another race in Red Bull’s favour. In unparalleled scenes, Mercedes have now failed to win any of the past four races, and the pendulum has most certainly swung Red Bull’s way. Max Verstappen secured his fourth victory of the season, extending his lead over Lewis Hamilton to 18 points, whilst his team are now 40 points clear of Mercedes; the Austrian team most definitely turned up at their home circuit.

Our overall race report can be found here, but who were the winners and losers of the Styrian Grand Prix?

Winner - Carlos Sainz

After failing to make it into Q3, Carlos Sainz started down in 12th place, and it looked as though the momentum Ferrari had gained in Monaco and Baku had disappeared as soon as F1 returned to traditional circuits. They didn’t score a single point at Paul Ricard, and with Sainz’s poor qualifying, this looked set to continue.

However, the Spaniard’s race pace was frighteningly quick. He jumped into the top 10 early on, and after utilising a clever strategy that has served the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll well in recent races, going long, he pitted from P5 on lap 41 after extending his stint on the medium tyres.

He emerged in seventh, but on fresh tyres he quickly closed the gap to Stroll, and passed him with relative ease. Then he had the simple task of bringing it home, which he did. Making up six places in the race and scoring eight points to pull away from Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo in the Drivers’ Championship, it was a good afternoon’s work for Sainz, who arguably deserved the ‘driver of the day’ award for his assured performance.

Winner - Max Verstappen

This was a statement of intent from Verstappen. Sure, he’s displayed that this title fight will go right down to the wire all season long, but this was a truly dominant display. He led from start to finish, and Hamilton simply couldn’t get near him.

The 35 second gap between the two championship contenders is skewed by Hamilton’s late pit stop to secure the fastest lap, but it was 15 seconds before the Brit entered the pits; that’s immense. Hamilton is yet to win that convincingly this year, and for Red Bull to secure arguably the biggest statement of a win is telling. 

He never looked in danger, and drove his race expertly. Cruising across the line at almost a walking pace, Verstappen was imperious and he looks every bit a world champion in waiting. 

With another race at the Red Bull Ring next weekend, his lead at the top could be extended even further. There’s certainly one man on top in the battle right now, and it’s not Hamilton.

Constructor Winner - Ferrari

As mentioned earlier, the Scuderia had taken a huge step backwards in France, and with their main rivals McLaren, and Lando Norris in particular, looking racey every week, they needed a performance in the Styrian hills. A performance is what they delivered. They converted P7 and P12 on the starting grid to P6 and P7 once the chequered flag was waved, with their pace on Sunday far greater than much of the midfield.

They closed the gap to McLaren by four points, and it could’ve been so much more. Although Charles Leclerc won ‘driver of the day’, his drive was simply a recovery one back to where he started thanks to a mistake on lap 1. However, with both drivers impressing, and the team making grounds in the Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari deserve their place here.

Loser - George Russell

This one hurts. 45 races for Williams, never out-qualified by a teammate, zero points; George Russell’s luck is potentially the worst in the sport.

Think back to his race for Mercedes, a race he would’ve won if it wasn’t for a pit-stop nightmare, or twice in Imola when although both times it was his mistake, he was running in the points at the time. 

Having miraculously progressed into Q2 in every race in 2021, Russell is more than extracting the most out of a quite frankly slow Williams, and he needs luck to go in his favour just once.

After qualifying 11th, which was promoted to 10th thanks to Yuki Tsunoda’s grid penalty, Russell was soon running in eighth, on complete merit, when an issue appeared. He was forced to manage a power unit issue, and stopped for 18 seconds in the pits on lap 25, before stopping again one lap later to get his pneumatic system refilled with air. He emerged down in 18th, before retiring on lap 36. It was a bitter blow, and a points finish for Williams cruelly continues to evade him. It’s fair to say that almost every fan of the sport just wants Russell to be rewarded with at least a point even if a seat at Mercedes slips away again.

Loser - Pierre Gasly

Just like Russell, Pierre Gasly is in this section through no fault of his own. In fact, his race was pretty much over before it had started. After qualifying top six for the sixth time in 2021, Gasly has come into his own at AlphaTauri and has established himself as one of the top drivers in the sport. 

However, any chance of scoring considerable points in Austria was snatched away from him by the aforementioned Leclerc, who’s front wing caused a puncture for Gasly when the Monegasque came back onto the racing line on the long run up to turn 3.

This damage was irreparable, and the Frenchman retired after just a sole lap completed. While the likes of Sainz and Leclerc impressed, Gasly never had the chance, and will be looking to bounce back in a big way next weekend.

Constructor Loser - Williams

Nicholas Latifi was caught up in Gasly’s puncture on lap 1, and after pitting after that first lap, he then finished the race three laps behind the eventual winner Verstappen, and Russell’s problems further accentuated their problems.

The chance of a first points finish since the 2019 German Grand Prix were denied through reliability issues, and as Russell mentioned after the race, had the incident not occurred it could’ve been P8 in the Constructors' Championship secured for the season.

They’ve certainly made a step up this year, but luck is simply not on their side. A points finish next weekend will be the aim.