After scoring points in 33 consecutive races, Lewis had to retire his car today after he lost fuel pressure on lap 63 - ending the longest point-scoring run in Formula One history. Pole-setter Valtteri experienced a retirement owing to a loss of hydraulic pressure on lap 14.
Sebastian Vettel (146 points) leads the Drivers' Championship from Lewis (145 points) with Valtteri (92 points) in P6. Ferrari (247 points) lead the Constructors' Championship by 10 points from Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (237 points).
Toto Wolff: For me and for the team, this is the most painful day of the last six years - to lose a possible 1-2 finish in this way, through our own mistakes and unreliability, just hurts so much. We had a spectacular first lap: a great getaway for Lewis and Valtteri battling back into P2 under braking for Turn 4. For the first 13 laps, it looked good, with both drivers in control and managing the pace well. The first blow was Valtteri's retirement after losing hydraulic pressure - this brought out the VSC. We decided to leave Lewis on track for one lap, because we thought it would take longer to clear the car from its position, and be able to react what the cars behind us did on the following lap. But the VSC cleared sooner than predicted; we simply made the wrong decision. That left Lewis with an uphill battle - we pitted soon after racing resumed, put him on the soft tyre, and he then had to try and make up the ground on track. In doing so, the rear tyres blistered, he lost position to Sebastian, then we decided to pit again as there was nothing to lose from doing so - but, shortly after, a loss of fuel pressure forced him to retire. A double retirement through reliability is hard to stomach but we know from bitter experience that the difficult days are when we learn the most. We will pick ourselves up in the next days, learn from our errors and go to Silverstone with our heads held high. It is a home race for the many team members in Brackley and Brixworth; we will be aiming to come back strong and make amends for our failures today.
Andrew Shovlin: We don't have any excuses for today. We weren't reliable enough, we didn't make the right strategy call, our starts weren't good enough and we didn't manage the tyres as well as we could have done. We have a lot to improve by Silverstone and we need to put all our focus into remedying our weaknesses today. This is one of the hardest days at the race track that we have faced as a team but it's not the only difficult day that we have ever had. We know how to fix problems and we've always returned stronger than before. We have a few days to regroup and resolve these issues before Silverstone, where we will be looking to perform at the level we know we are capable of.
Maurizio Arrivabene: The real story today is that there are six Ferrari power units in the top ten on the race result sheet. And, apart from that, we are leading both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships. Today's result was not ideal, but it is definitely useful. The team did a great job, at every level, to make up for a difficult Saturday. During the race, the handling of the car, the perfect management of the tyres, the strategy and reliability, all made the difference. On paper, next weekend at Silverstone looks difficult for us, partly because it's a home race for our main rivals. But we will tackle it with our usual level headedness and determination.
Christian Horner: "An unbelievable feeling. To win in a Red Bull car at the Red Bull Ring is something I never imagined would happen this morning. All credit to Max today, he drove a very, very mature race, managing a very tricky situation with the tyres and he completed a very controlled drive to win our first Austrian Grand Prix. It was a great shame not to have Daniel up on the podium as well, after running for many laps in P2, but then his rear tyre started to overheat which caused a second pit stop. Shortly after that we began to see an exhaust crack that was causing gearbox damage, forcing his retirement. A special word to our pit-crew, again executing a faultless stacked pit stop on our route to victory, as they had done previously this year in China. I have to also applaud our entire staff back at the factory and their commitment to produce a competitive race car. The day belongs to them, to Max, to the team, to Red Bull and particularly to Mr Mateschitz who has given so much to modern Formula One. We are all delighted for him."
Sahara Force India scored 14 points in today's Austrian Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez finishing in sixth and seventh places respectively.
Otmar Szafnauer: "Today's result represents a very well executed race by the entire team. We kept out of trouble in the opening laps and then made some excellent calls from the pit wall to keep Esteban and Sergio in contention for points. The race pace was solid and Esteban and Sergio worked well together as we tried to chase down Magnussen. To score 14 points from a weekend where we didn't optimise our Friday and Saturday sessions helps make today's performance more satisfying and is a nice way to celebrate our 200th race as Force India."
Lance Stroll finished 13th and Sergey Sirotkin 14th in the Austrian GP. Lance had a strong start and made up two places to P11 whilst Sergey initially dropped to P17 avoiding collisions. Lance made his first pitstop on lap 15 to switch to the Pirelli soft tyre. On lap 21, Sergey continued to climb and reached P11 before also pitting for the Pirelli soft tyre. After the battle for 14th with Leclerc, Lance was P15 and Sergey P17. Sergey and Lance both made a second pit stop in the final stages, with Sergey switching onto the ultrasoft tyre and Lance onto the supersoft.
Lance Stroll was given a 10 second time penalty plus 3 penalty points on his licence for ignoring blue flags which dropped him to 14th and moved Sergey up to 13th.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It is good to get two cars home as many teams didn't manage that, but, having said that, overall it was a disappointing day for us. The expectations on pace were higher than we saw this afternoon, where, ultimately we weren't quick enough to get points on a day when a lot of points were on the table. We had a good one-stop strategy that would have worked until our pace fell apart. We then had enough of a gap for a free stop towards the end, and so pitted both cars again to protect against any tyre wear issues in the final laps.
Renault Sport Formula Team endured a frustrating Eyetime Grosser Preis von Osterreich as Nico Hulkenberg's charge went up in smoke and Carlos Sainz' run was hampered by extensive tyre blistering at the Red Bull Ring.
After a solid start, Nico was forced to retire from P9 on the eleventh tour due to a suspected turbo failure. Carlos was quick off the line too, but repeated tyre blistering arrested his potential, meaning an eventual P12 finish. Today's result was the team's worst since last year's Mexican Grand Prix, however it remains in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship.
Carlos started from P9 on scrubbed Pirelli Ultrasoft tyres, pitting on lap 15 for a new set of Soft tyres, then on lap 34 for a new set of Supersofts. Nico started from P10 on scrubbed Ultrasofts but had to retire on lap eleven due to a suspected turbo failure.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "Over the course of a 21 race calendar, there will always be good and bad weekends. This one is certainly in the latter category. It was a very tough Austrian Grand Prix with a number of problems that we've had to face, especially today. Nico's retirement looks to be due to a turbo issue. We will have containment measures in the very near future. It brought Nico's race to a stop after a good start and he had been in the mix for what turned out to be an eventful race. Carlos made a decent start and we thought we had made the right decision stopping under the VSC. We were in the fight in the top ten when suddenly Carlos experienced massive blistering from his tyres and we were left with no option but to serve an extra stop delayed by some damage to his car. This degradation is something we hadn't seen on Friday, and we weren't the only team to suffer in this manner today, probably due to very different climatic conditions. Our tough weekend was lightened by Max Verstappen's win, in front of so many of his and Red Bull's fans. We must stay motivated and stay focused. There will be plenty of opportunities to recover from today provided we react appropriately."
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director): "Brendon was running tenth, doing a good job of managing his tyres, when he had to stop with an issue not related to the PU and Pierre was comfortably in the points, until in the closing stages, his tyres went off and he slipped down to eleventh. It's a shame, but with another race weekend starting on Friday, we head to Silverstone to try again at what is something of a home race, as our European F1 base is just down the road in Milton Keynes."
Haas F1 Team earned a double-points finish in the Austrian Grand Prix Sunday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg with drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the ninth round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Grosjean's fourth-place drive is the best finish for Haas F1 Team in its three-year tenure, and with Magnussen securing fifth, it marked the best collective result for the American squad, and it came in its milestone 50th grand prix. It was also Haas F1 Team's first double-points result of the season and its third in team history, with the previous one coming last October in the Japanese Grand Prix.
The haul of 22 points bumped Haas F1 Team up to fifth in the constructors' standings to leapfrog Force India and McLaren. Haas F1 Team now has 49 points and is 13 points behind fourth-place Renault with a five-point margin over sixth-place McLaren, a seven-point gap to seventh-place Force India and a 30-point advantage over eighth-place Toro Rosso. With 12 races still remaining in 2018, Haas F1 Team has already surpassed its point tally from last season where it scored 47 points, 18 more than the total earned in its debut in 2016.
The genesis of Haas F1 Team's strong finish on Sunday came from a strong qualifying effort on Saturday. Grosjean qualified sixth, but was able to start fifth after third-place qualifier Sebastian Vettel was served a five-place grid penalty. Magnussen qualified a solid eighth.
Each performed well at the drop of the green flag, but seventh-place starter Daniel Ricciardo quickly maneuvered his Red Bull past Grosjean at the onset of lap one while Vettel powered his Scuderia Ferrari by Grosjean a lap later. After three laps, Grosjean was seventh and Magnussen was eighth.
Both Haas F1 Team drivers employed a one-stop strategy in the 71-lap race around the 4.318-kilometer (2.683-mile), 10-turn circuit, swapping the Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tires they used to start the race for a new set of Yellow softs that carried them to the finish. However, they made their scheduled stops under different circumstances.
When polesitter Valtteri Bottas encountered a mechanical problem on lap 14 and stopped his Mercedes on the track, a full-course yellow flag brought out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). Grosjean took advantage of the opportunity and ducked into the pits on lap 15, along with many of his counterparts, and emerged in eighth place.
Magnussen stayed out to pick up sixth place, and remained there until he made his scheduled pit stop under green on lap 28, dropping him to ninth. This brought Grosjean to sixth, as he grabbed seventh a lap prior when Sergio Perez pitted his Force India.
Magnussen regained eighth when Carlos Sainz Jr., pitted his Renault on lap 34. He then set his sights on seventh-place Esteban Ocon, eventually passing the Force India driver on lap 48.
With 20 laps remaining, Grosjean was sixth and Magnussen was seventh, and it appeared this is where they would finish. But on lap 54, fifth-place Ricciardo was forced to retire his Red Bull, handing fifth to Grosjean and sixth to Magnussen. Then on lap 63, fourth-place Lewis Hamilton joined Ricciardo on the sidelines, with his Mercedes losing power and stopping on the circuit. This brought Grosjean up to fourth and Magnussen to fifth, with each driver wheeling their Haas VF-18s to an impressive top-five result.
While Haas F1 Team earned constructors' points at the Red Bull Ring, each driver earned points toward the 2018 championship. Magnussen is an impressive seventh with 37 points and Grosjean is 15th with 12 points.
The 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship resumes with the British Grand Prix July 8 at Silverstone Circuit.
Guenther Steiner: "A fantastic weekend for the whole team. We can be proud of our workforce, for all the guys. It's just a great day, and on the 50th race, to finish fourth and fifth, what more can you wish for?"
Starting from the pit-lane, Fernando Alonso drove with all his customary spirit and fire to take eighth place in today's Austrian Grand Prix - four of the hardest earned world championship points of his long career.
Fernando capitalised on a Virtual Safety Car to make his pit-stop, then relentlessly cut through the pack, benefiting from a handful of retirements ahead of him, then some decisive passing moves, to move into eighth with a handful of laps remaining.
Stoffel endured a difficult race. His front wing was broken in a lap-one tap at the apex of Turn Three; after an over-long pit-stop he spent the first half of his race attempting to steer clear of the leaders as he was lapped.
From early in the race, he began complaining of an intermittent gear-shift, and was forced to retire with a gearbox problem on lap 65.
Eric Boullier: "Fernando's eighth-place finish was a fine example of his determination and never-say-die attitude. At the start of the race, when he was sat in his car in the garage, a points finish certainly didn't look likely - but he drove superbly, looked after his tyres, and really put the hammer down when it was critical. His pursuit and pass of Charles Leclerc also shows there's a bit more pace in the car on a Sunday than is usually evident on a Saturday. We'll keep working to further unlock that.
"Stoffel's race was always going to be difficult after his lap-one clash at Turn Three. It was just a racing incident - there were a lot of cars side by side - and he was unfortunate to lose out. The first half of his race was dictated by traffic; he had to keep letting the leader past and couldn't get into a rhythm.
"After a difficult couple of grands prix, we head to our home race at Silverstone hopeful of a more rewarding weekend."
The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team gave a strong performance at the 2018 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix with both drivers finishing in the points. Starting from P17 due to a 5-position grid penalty (gearbox change), Charles Leclerc made a good start and gained several positions. His race was hindered when he went wide on lap two and fell back to P19. From that moment on, he started a strong recovery, fighting his way back into the midfield. It was also a strong Grand Prix for Marcus Ericsson, who showed consistently strong pace throughout the race. Having started from P18, he progressed step-by-step and finished the race to score points for the second time this season. The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team departs Austria with three new points to its tally – with Charles Leclerc finishing in P9 (2 points) and Marcus Ericsson in P10 (1 point).
The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team is currently in 9th place in the Constructors' Championship (16 points). In the Drivers' Championship, Charles Leclerc currently holds P14 (13 points), while Marcus Ericsson is in P18 (3 points).
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "It was a very good race for us. Both our drivers made a great recovery after starting from quite far back on the grid. To have two cars finish in the points today is an important achievement for the whole team, both at the track and in the factory. This is another sign for us that we are moving in the right direction. We have to keep our focus on continuing in this direction for the next few races to finish the first half of the season on a positive note."
A closely-fought and unpredictable Austrian Grand Prix was heavily influenced by track temperatures of nearly 40 degrees, much higher than previous days, which generated blistering on some cars, leading to a variety of different race strategies.
While the top 10 all used different variations of one-stop strategies, some cars further down the classification stopped twice. There was also an unusually high number of mechanical retirements, which changed the face of the championship fight.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the race on his team's home territory, being one of four cars in the top 10 on the grid to start on the supersoft tyres, from fourth. The fastest lap of the race was set on the last lap by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who finished runner-up.
Mario Isola: "It was a particularly tough race at the rapid Red Bull Ring today, with higher track temperatures than the previous two days of running. This had the effect of generating blistering on some cars - but not any of the podium finishers - which led to a variety of one-stop and two-stop strategies. The effect was exacerbated by nearly all drivers running the soft tyre for their second stint: a tyre that wears less than the other nominations here, and so retains more rubber and heat, which makes it more susceptible to blistering. The end result was a tense and exciting race, which adds another twist to the championship fight as we head to Silverstone next week."
