Two out of two. Both poles on the Austrian track belong to him: Max Verstappen once again takes the first position as Red Bull is increasingly the dominant car in this 2021 Formula 1 season. The two Mercedes are more in difficulty, overtaken by a splendid McLaren driven by Lando Norris.
But let’s focus now on Scuderia Ferrari. From the outside it would seem like a huge disappointment. Having said that, we must start from the assumptions. Certainly a third row could not be expected, especially considering that many direct competitors are Mercedes-powered. It was Russell’s Williams that excluded the two SF21 cars from Q3, but we already knew that the Red Bull Ring track is not the most favorable for the Maranello team’s cars. As noted also last weekend, it is possible to build a good race even if starting from behind.
Therefore, the strategy followed by Ferrari today derives from these observations. At the pit wall they were convinced it is absolutely necessary to start with the Medium tyres, in order to avoid the red compound at all costs. As Charles Leclerc explained, this had been talked about a lot in the briefings and Ferrari were aware that they could have been excluded from Q3. As mentioned, they will both start tomorrow on the Medium tire. With one of the two drivers they could even try starting with the Hard, a tire already known the other week.
This is precisely the preferred strategy: starting with the Medium and then moving on to the Hard. This can be done by anyone who has entered Q3, with the exception of the AlphaTauri and Aston Martins as these cars will be forced to start on the red tire, which did not give good results in yesterday’s tests. Many wanted to discard it for the race start, but at the same time the weather will play a fundamental role. Cooler temperatures will help the first stint on the Soft compound. As already mentioned yesterday, the overcut could play a very important role. In theory, the drivers that will be able to delay the pit stop could benefit the most. Safety Cars or Virtuals could heavily affect strategies but in the last grand prix there was not even one.
To conclude, let’s take a look at the distance in kilometers. Red Bull now clearly leads in this ranking, obviously followed by Mercedes. Ferrari climbs above the tenth of a gap, tied with McLaren. The Woking team almost got a pole today, thus restoring the forces at stake. The AlphaTauri gets into battle with the two just mentioned. The Italian car is also under the tenth. Above two tenths we find Alpine and Aston Martin, on average more in difficulty in qualifying. On the same level we now find Alfa Romeo and Williams, while the Haas appears to be very behind.
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