Christian Horner: "It has been an incredible day for the Team today and a fantastic weekend as a whole. Max is obviously on exceptional form, taking qualifying, the Sprint race and now the Grand Prix is just sensational. Obviously we took a different strategy to that of our competitors, meaning he had to make the overtakes on track which led to some fantastic watching and a stunning weekend for him. We decided to go for the fastest lap on the last lap despite the risk involved in an additional pitstop , but Dietrich's mantra was always 'no risk, no fun', and the mechanics have been in such incredible form that it felt relatively low risk.
"Checo too had such great pace today, particularly when he got clean air. When you start down at 15th, your ability to get close to victory is obviously compromised, so his recovery from 15th to a podium was outstanding and his battle with Carlos was box-office.
"This is our best run of in-season results since 2013, the Team is operating at a level not seen in our 19 year history and we're grateful for every victory we achieve. Results like today are the work of every single department, it's not just about the race team, it's the activity that goes on behind the scenes back at the factory, from operations, manufacturing, research and development, aerodynamics, to our support functions in Finance, Marketing, Legal and HR, all of these need to come together and work as a team, and this is where we are so strong.
"This is the first time we've been back at the track since Dietrich's passing. It felt very poignant to put in such a great team performance today. Whilst not here in person, you feel his presence everywhere, his passion and spirit are the reason we're all here today and we owe him so much. This one's for Dietrich."
The Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg went well for Scuderia Ferrari with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finishing second and fourth respectively. It was the Maranello marque's 800th Formula 1 podium, the 26th for the Monegasque drivers. But most importantly, the performance in the Styrian hills confirmed the progress seen a fortnight ago in Canada. There is still a way to go to catch Max Verstappen and his Red Bull, but in Austria it was clear that both drivers could maintain a strong pace throughout the entire race, fighting well and in Carlos' case, overtaking, while also confirming progress made with tyre management.
The race was pretty linear: Charles and Carlos maintained second and third places off the line, before the team decided to bring in both cars to fit another set of Medium tyres when Nico Hulkenberg stopped on track, triggering a Virtual Safety Car. Charles kept second place, while Carlos dropped to sixth, but with his SF-23 on-song, he soon got past Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez to get back to third place. When Verstappen made his first stop, the two Ferraris found themselves in the lead, but the Dutchman retook it soon after. Unfortunately, Carlos was one of many drivers penalised for not respecting track limits, taking his five second penalty at his second stop, when he switched to Hards and therefore rejoined behind Norris. Once again, Carlos comfortably got past the Englishman to be third when Perez pitted for Hard tyres. The Mexican tore through the field until he came up behind the number 55 Ferrari on lap 59 and there followed a spectacular duel between him and Carlos. The Spaniard was on older tyres, but fought tooth and nail, so that Perez took four laps to eventually get ahead. This helped Charles who was able to extend his advantage and have a relatively calm run to the chequered flag and his second podium finish of the season. Carlos finished fourth at the end of a race where he showed just how aggressive he can be behind the wheel.
The season goes on at a relentless pace and next weekend it's time for the British Grand Prix. The high-speed Silverstone track will see the debut of the new Pirelli tyres and present a new test bench for the SF-23.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: Today's strong result for the team, added to yesterday's podium with Carlos, proves we are working in the right direction. If we look back, we had a good race in Canada and today we confirmed the progress made on a completely different track layout with a different surface.
We still need to make another step forward if we want to fight with Red Bull and we are working hard to achieve that. Charles drove very well today and I think he would have been probably safe from the attacks from Perez towards the end. However Carlos also played his part, fighting Checo making him lose time.
Now we go immediately to Silverstone, on another completely different track on which we'll need to confirm our current form to keep fighting with Mercedes and Aston Martin. We are doing a good job both on track and in Maranello, we will bring more upgrades in the UK and we want to keep fighting in what I think will be a long battle all the way to the end of the season.
Lewis Hamilton finished seventh and George Russell eighth in the Austrian Grand Prix.
Lining up P5 and P11 respectively, both Lewis and George began the race on the medium compound tyre, with Lewis gaining a position on the opening lap to move up to P4.
Both drivers took advantage of a Virtual Safety Car period on lap 14 to switch onto the hard compound tyre, gaining a few positions in the process.
As the second stint wore on, Lewis and George battled hard against cars with superior race pace with Lewis being given a five-second time penalty for track limits infringements.
George made his second stop on lap 42 for the medium tyre, with Lewis doing so a lap later and serving his penalty. As the second stops cycled through, Lewis held P7 and George P8, positions they would keep until the chequered flag.
After a tough weekend, focus moves immediately to next weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: Today was a bruising day for the Team. We've had a positive upward trajectory recently but clearly, we didn't have the pace we needed here. It's been a tough weekend overall and both drivers have struggled with the car since FP1. From Friday onwards, we have seen that we were lacking a couple of tenths and we couldn't make the car quicker. Once the tyres start sliding, either under braking or through the corner, then you have no grip. That contributed to our lack of performance, but we will have to go away and analyse it in more detail. We will take this weekend on the chin and move forward.
The swings are quite interesting from circuit to circuit where sometimes we are the closest challengers to Red Bull, and at others struggling. We have a step of performance that we are bringing to Silverstone. Let's see if that circuit suits the characteristics of the car a little more and we will analyse from there.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: There's lots for us to improve on leaving here. The performance clearly hasn't been good enough; we need to understand how much is down to not landing the set-up in the right place and how much is just base performance. We've not brought any updates to the last few races, so it's also possible we're lacking development. We've got plans in place to address that but the gap to Ferrari was certainly a worry today.
The situation with track limits was difficult; the notifications were coming in after the fact, so Lewis ended up with a penalty before we could do anything about it. We're happy that we've only got to wait a few days before getting back on track. We need to work hard to understand the areas that need improvement, but we're looking forward to Silverstone and putting this race behind us.
BWT Alpine F1 Team finished the Austrian Grand Prix with Pierre Gasly in ninth place and Esteban Ocon in twelfth place at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring.
Pierre's two points - a return to the top ten after missing out in Canada last time out - means the team leave Austria with four points from the Austrian Sprint weekend after Esteban's seventh place finish in Saturday's Sprint race.
Both drivers were on the receiving end of five-second penalties during the 71-lap race; Esteban's for an unsafe release during his first pit-stop and Pierre's for a track limits violation.
The team looks ahead to Silverstone next weekend for the British Grand Prix, the home race of the Enstone team.
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal: "We are not satisfied to leave Austria with four points across the weekend. This end result highlights where we are lacking especially in terms of being able to fight with our close rivals on race day who, right now, are a couple of tenths of a second ahead of us. Next week is Silverstone where we will have an upgrade on the car and we look forward to adding more performance in the coming races. This weekend was sadly marred by the tragic death of Dilano van ‘t Hoff in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in Spa-Francorchamps. Dilano will always be in our thoughts and it serves as a reminder of the dangers we face in the sport we love. There are many discussions to be had in our collective goal to further enhance safety in racing. Right now, though, our thoughts are firmly with the family and friends of Dilano as well as the MP Motorsport team."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "It's been a positive result here in Spielberg. Not just the valuable points from Lando's P5 but also seeing the MCL60 fighting at the front. That's good for the team and good for our fans. We know this track is a bit of a 'Lando-Special', and he was excellent again today, but certainly some of this result is down to the upgraded aerodynamic package fitted to his car. It's been a colossal amount of work at the factory to get this upgrade here, and a good effort at the track to get the performance out of it. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the people who made that happen, and I hope they're enjoying the result because they certainly deserve it.
"On Oscar's side, he fell out of contention after some unfortunate circumstances, but we all appreciate the spirit with which he dug in and pushed hard in a race at the back of the field. It's characteristic of Oscar - and the whole team - and we'll take that going to our home race at Silverstone. We're focused on that now and hoping for a positive result at the British Grand Prix."
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake endured a difficult weekend on the Styrian mountains, with no points scored at the end of a challenging Sprint event. In the main Sunday race, Zhou Guanyu finished 14th, while team-mate Valtteri Bottas crossed the finish line in 16th place, after a first lap contact compromised his hopes to climb back the ever-tight field.
A tough event for Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake: the team will now regroup, before heading to Silverstone for the second and final leg of this double header, where it's set to bring upgrades to make a leap forward, aiming to regain competitiveness and getting back into the battle for the top ten.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "Today's race has, unfortunately, been in line with our performances this weekend; we have made a step back, compared to previous races, and of course we will need to analyse this over the next few days. At the same time, our focus now goes onto the next race in Silverstone, for the final leg of this back-to-back: we are bringing an important upgrade there, which can hopefully improve our performance. The fight in the field is very tight, and we have been aware of this since the beginning of the season, so every tenth can make a difference. Next weekend's race will be important for us, so we must not lose our focus: we need to keep working, and come prepared to Silverstone, in order to promptly react and get back to the positions we deserve. I want to thank all the team, as well as Ferrari, for the job done this weekend: although it has been a difficult one, everyone has been working hard all together, both trackside and back home in Hinwil, trying to maximise any chance. We need to keep pushing, and not lose our confidence: there are still several races in front of us, and we'll be ready to fight for every single point."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "Today was not our strongest performance, but we still managed to score nine important points. The podium fight was out of reach, but there was the opportunity to finish higher up with both drivers. We lost some track position early on when we chose to pit and stack both cars just as the VSC was ending and that proved quite costly for both drivers. After that, Lance kept his head down to recover into the points, making some important overtaking moves when it mattered. With Fernando, our race today was with Mercedes and, our pace, combined with some rapid pitstops, allowed us to come out ahead in that battle. Our attention now turns to our home race in Silverstone next week where we look forward to putting on a strong performance in front of the passionate British fans."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen classified 19th, while Nico Hulkenberg was forced into retirement, at Round 10 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the Austrian Grand Prix, held Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, Spielberg.
Magnussen started from the pit lane on Pirelli P Zero White hard tires after set-up changes were made pre-race outside of parc ferme conditions. Magnussen pitted for yellow Mediums at the end of lap 1, before returning to hards on lap 2, with both stops taken under the safety car. Magnussen worked his way into the top 10 but off-strategy on older tires relinquished positions and was forced wide into the Turn 6 gravel by Nyck de Vries, an infraction which led to a penalty for the AlphaTauri driver. Magnussen pitted again for hard tires on lap 35 and was classified in 19th position.
Hulkenberg - who scored three points after taking sixth place in Saturday's F1 Sprint - started from eighth on the grid on medium tires, having progressed through to Q3 for the third successive event. Hulkenberg gained a position on a battling opening lap to hold seventh spot before coming into the pits on lap 11. Hulkenberg made his mandatory pit stop, switching to hard tires, but unfortunately his race came to an end two laps later due to a power unit issue. Hulkenberg halted his VF-23 at Turn 2 and retired from the race.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team holds seventh position in the Constructors' Championship on 11 points.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "Thankfully we got some points yesterday when we had the opportunity. Today has been a very disappointing day for us, another PU failure on Nico's car and obviously the car is not fast enough in dry conditions. We've got a lot of work in front of us, and we will keep on working. When we have the tools, we can get good results as we showed yesterday, we just need to do our homework."
Jonathan Eddolls (Chief Race Engineer): "With Nyck qualifying P20 on Friday, we elected to remove his car from Parc Ferme and make setup changes, including the rear wing level and suspension, which meant he started from the pitlane. Magnussen did the same, so we were racing with him from the pit exit at the start of the race. Yuki lost a large part of the front wing in turn one and subsequently ran off-track in turn four, therefore he had to pit on the first lap, which put him on the back foot. It was clear in the first stint that tyre degradation was on the high side and would result in a multi-stop race. Unfortunately, we pitted Nyck on lap 12, the lap before the Safety Car was deployed, while others benefitted from the opportunity and were able jump him, which was very unlucky. After the Safety Car period, Yuki struggled with understeer, which we corrected a lot at the next pit stop with a large flap adjustment, so we need to understand if there was damage on his car. From then on, and for both cars, it was a case of splitting up the race with pitstops to optimise tyre degradation and track position. Overall, we didn't have the pace to challenge for points. Track limits were also costly for Yuki, with him receiving a total of 15 seconds worth of penalties, which put him in P18 at the chequered flag. Nyck made some progress in the race and finished five places higher than he started, which is encouraging to see. Our focus now turns to Silverstone, where we are bringing a further aero update, addressing some of the weaknesses of the AT04. We will keep pushing hard and remain positive for the upcoming races."
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Both drivers showed good pace today and both finished in strong positions. Unfortunately, we didn't quite have the pace to get to the top 10; the other teams were quicker today but we were agonisingly close. On the positive side, the car handled well, the tyres were well managed, and Logan had a very strong race.
Next weekend in Silverstone, we will look to push the pace a bit harder again and score some points. Although this weekend was a sprint event held in mixed weather conditions, we have learned a lot about the car and there are definitely some positives to take into the British Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen topped every single results sheet from the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, picking up the maximum 34 points in this ninth round of the World Championship. The Dutchman permitted himself the luxury of an unplanned pit stop with just two laps remaining to secure the extra point for the race fastest lap. Today, Sergio Perez made his second appearance of the weekend on the podium, with a fine charge through the field to finish third, after his second place finish yesterday. Scuderia Ferrari drivers also visited the podium twice with Carlos Sainz third in yesterday's short race and Charles Leclerc taking the runner-up spot this afternoon, to secure his second podium finish of the season. It was also the 800th time that a Ferrari driver has stood on an F1 podium.
The race was run on a dry track and the temperatures were slightly lower than on Friday afternoon with the air at 24 degrees C and the track at 32 degrees C. The strategies adopted matched the previous day's predictions. The Soft (C5) was hardly used at all, with the exception of Verstappen's final assault on the fastest race lap. The kilometres completed were thus fairly equally divided between the Hard (C3,) 54.55% of the total laps completed and the Medium (C4), 45.3%.
Predictions relating to the number of stops and their windows of operation were also confirmed, with a two-stop proving to the be the quickest strategy, especially for those running two sets of Medium and one of Hard.
The longest stint was 36 laps from Kevin Magnussen on the Hard, while Nyck De Vries did the most (33) on the Medium.
Mario Isola: "One driver dominated this Grand Prix from start to finish, but there was plenty of excitement in the battles between the nineteen others. From our point of view, everything went well. Our simulations going into this race were confirmed on track, in all the changing conditions we experienced from Friday through to today. We knew the Soft would not be a suitable race tyre, but both Medium and Hard allowed those behind the wheel to push and attack when necessary, showing a sufficient differential in degradation between them, without suffering any excessive overheating. In terms of strategy too, the race went to plan. The VSC on lap 15 did not influence the number of stops, but it did open up alternative choices terms of choosing the window for the first pit stop. The top four finishers went for two Medium stints and one Hard, if we ignore Verstappen's final stop which is not relevant to this analysis, while those who from Friday had preferred to keep two sets of C3, mainly opted to use both along with a set of Mediums."
Next weekend, Formula 1 moves to Silverstone, one of the most historic venues on the calendar, having hosted 57 Grands Prix since 1950. The Silverstone track is one of the most demanding for tyres and for the British Grand Prix, from 7 to 9 July, teams will use the C1 compound as P Zero White hard, C2 as P Zero Yellow medium and C3 as P Zero Red soft.
Pirelli stays on at the Northamptonshire circuit on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 July for two days of testing slick tyres without the use of heating blankets. Taking part will be Red Bull, Haas and Williams.
