Five days have passed since the celebration of the Styrian GP and the Formula One World Championship is back in action at the Spielberg Circuit. This weekend’s Austrian GP wraps up a ‘triplet’ of consecutive events which started with the French round fifteen days ago.

 Five days later the Styrian GP the F1 World Championship is back in action at the Spielberg Circuit. This weekend’s Austrian GP wraps up a ‘triplet’ of consecutive events which started with the French. Following their recent win,  Max Verstappen & Red Bull will try to defeat Mercedes again.

Following Red Bull’s fourth consecutive victory (Monaco, Azerbaijan, France & Styria), Max Verstappen is at the top of the standings with an 18-point lead over Lewis Hamilton. Thanks to his clearly superior vehicle, the Dutch driver defeated the Briton with ease. 

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The RB16B was in fact faster both in classifying and during the race and on the straights as well as in the corners of the Red Bull Ring. Verstappen is well aware of this weekend’s opportunity to stretch his lead of the championship and will attempt a repeat of last Sunday’s success. 

The German team, however, dreams of returning the hard blow they received from Red Bull. This is the first time that Mercedes has conceded four losses in a row during the hybrid era and so they are sharpening their weapons for a counterattack that would put an end to an unprecedented winning drought.

The Briton appeared both powerless and somewhat resigned, but make no mistake, given the slightest opportunity, he will devour his opponent. 

Like his team, the seven-time champion had never been missing from the top of the podium for four consecutive rounds in a very long while. The last time that happened was in 2016 when he lost the title to his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. 

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Mercedes & Red Bull´s second drivers battle

The second drivers are expected to play a very important role this weekend in what seems like a change in the World Championship hierarchy. Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas will probably continue with their very own strategic battle.

The Mexican will attempt to remove the thorn of his bad pit stop in Styria, which prevented him from climbing up the podium. Mercedes’ Finn driver, for his part, will continue earning himself a 2020 renewal with another good performance. 

In any case, the points’ balance of the Constructors’ World Championship seems to be slowly tipping towards Christian Horner’s team, currently accruing 252 points, 40 more than the Germans. 

Battle for the third place: McLaren & Ferrari

One step below the two leading teams, McLaren & Ferrari will continue their fight for third place. The Italians, who arrived at the Red Bull Ring concerned about their poor performance in France, managed to climb out of their hole in Styria thanks to a new strategic approach.

The team from Maranello decided to sacrifice qualifying in order to try and improve their in-race performance. The tactic allowed Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to come back to a finishing sixth and seventh places, respectively.

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Their great tire management was also key to their unexpected successes. It remains to be seen what level of degradation the SF21 experiences with a softer range of compounds than the ones used last Sunday. 

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Austrian GP Images: Red Bull Racing.