Apart from a handful of very useful points for the constructors’ championship, Ferrari in Styria limited the damage. It also put on a good show thanks to the tenacity of its two drivers. The Maranello team was able to partially get back on track after sacrificing qualifying and played on a great strategy, betting on the hard tire for Charles Leclerc and dramatically extending Carlos Sainz’s first stint, also in order to keep the group of drivers who followed him at bay.
However, Ferrari ended up a long way from Red Bulls and Mercedes. And the good result described above translates into sixth and seventh place, which is not exactly exciting for the Maranello fans: “A race like a manifesto, aimed at those who support and suffer for Ferrari. Touch to choose. Case A: a brilliant Saturday with consequent Sunday disappointments. Case B: a modest Saturday aimed at a comforting Sunday. An entire weekend of shamble is out of reach for a car aiming for fifth place in the race, third place among the manufacturers. If we take the flashes of Monte Carlo and Baku out of our heads, there remain permanent circuits similar to rebus where the more or less marked aerodynamic load ends up raging on the flying lap or on the race pace. Minimal adjustments, connected to this or that circuit, for battles in the midfield“, writes Giorgio Terruzzi in Corriere della Sera.
The newspaper La Stampa looks at the glass half full: “Ferrari had a role as a supporting actor. Carlos Sainz moved up from 12th to 6th, and there he got stuck due to a paradoxical situation: he was facing Hamilton, who by now had given up on Verstappen’s pursuit, and would not move to let Carlos pass. Ferrari had to ask Mercedes a courtesy and the British driver stepped aside “.
The Gazzetta dello Sport reads: “The Ferraris were the only element of the show in an afternoon anesthetized by the supremacy of Max Verstappen. […] The compromise reached after the suffering of Castellet needs to be reviewed. It was understood that this crazy and unpredictable SF21 would not have eaten the tires this time like on the Mistral straight. Lando Norris had run away since Saturday: the Ferrari fans agree that in the next race, again at the Red Bull Ring, they will have to do better in qualifying “. Charles Leclerc was named the “driver of the day” according to the popular vote: a prize that does not give points and that does not excite anyone, unless it is paired with a podium finish. A result that Mattia Binotto had in any case already ruled out”
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