Who were the winners and losers of the Austrian Grand Prix?

Our race report can be found here, but who were the winners and losers of the Styrian Grand Prix?

Winner - Max Verstappen

It’s the obvious choice, but Verstappen added yet another record to his illustrious collection on Sunday when he became the youngest ever driver to reach 50 career podiums, aged just 23 years and 277 days. The previous holder of this record was Sebastian Vettel at 25 years and 327 days, and Verstappen blew him out of the water.

It wasn’t just a podium for the Dutchman, it was a fifth win of the season, and a third in a row, that has seen him move 32 points clear of Lewis Hamilton at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

He’s finally in a car capable of winning the world title, and he’s making the most of it.

The Dutchman was so rapid that he was able to pit for a second time, to ensure he won the extra point for the fastest lap, and still finish 17 seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas in P2, who only stopped once.

Sure, the past few races have suited Red Bull far more than Mercedes, but it’ll be worrying times for Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton with Verstappen in imperious form.

Winner - Lando Norris

Norris appears once more in our winners section in a season in which he’s arguably been the second best driver on the grid. Sure, he’s fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, ahead of Bottas, but he’s been extracting the most out of his McLaren all season long.

It’s perhaps an overused fact, but he remains the only driver to have scored points in every race in 2021, he’s remarkably finished inside the top five in eight of the nine races, and on Sunday he secured his third podium of the season.

His qualifying performance on Saturday was quite simply epic, and to be within half a tenth of pole position is proof of how much he’s developed as a driver over the past 12 months. 

He’s matured excellently and is now such a consistent driver, something that was missing last year. He defended superbly against Lewis Hamilton, and was able to cling on to both Bottas and Hamilton during the race.

Hamilton may have had damage but that’s still a very impressive feat. In fact, had he not been penalised with a five second time penalty for the early incident with Sergio Perez, he would’ve finished on the second step of the podium.

Either way, it was another accomplished drive, and Norris continues to grow his reputation as a potential future world champion.

Constructor Winner - Ferrari

After a difficult qualifying session, the Prancing Horses bounced back in the race, and whilst they lost minimal gains to McLaren in the battle for third, they can take great optimism from the Austrian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz started down in 11th but rose up to finish in P5 thanks to a clever strategy and Ferrari’s immense race pace. They’ve shown that their car is excellent at following, and Sainz’ rise up the field proved that.

Furthermore, Charles Leclerc put in another impressive display, and was unlucky to finish as low as eighth thanks to two incidents when trying to pass Sergio Perez.

Mattia Binotto’s team will be hoping to build on an encouraging Sunday next time out at the British Grand Prix.

Loser - Lewis Hamilton

In this section mostly through no fault of his own, Hamilton will feel hard done by in regards to Sunday’s events. After qualifying in fourth he rose up to second, but suffered damage and he fell to P4, behind his teammate and the aforementioned Norris.

He still picked up 12 points, so to be in this section is quite harsh, but 12 points is almost nothing by Hamilton’s usual standards.

The damage to his car was likely caused by kerbs, but he’s never really had an issue like that before at Mercedes. That shows the pressure Verstappen has put him under, and at the moment, the Dutchman is cruising to a knockout blow. However, with the race at Silverstone next, and the backing of a home crowd, Hamilton will be desperate for a strong performance.

Loser - Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon will want to forget all about Austria, and quickly. In the first race, he failed to reach Q2 and finished in 14th, whilst this time around he suffered a first lap DNF after once again going out in Q1.

Since his long-term contract was announced, Ocon’s form has nosedived at an alarming rate. To qualify in 17th, six tenths slower than Fernando Alonso’s Q1 time is poor, especially considering George Russell, who some considered his rival for the Mercedes seat before he signed on at Alpine, qualified ninth in a Williams.

Whilst the contact that forced him to retire wasn’t his fault, he was squeezed by Mick Schumacher and Antonio Giovinazzi and couldn’t go anyway, you could argue that if he’d qualified where he should’ve, he never would’ve been there in the first place. So, it was partly his fault.

Now without a single point since Monaco, he needs an upturn in form, or doubts will start creeping in about the contract decision.

Constructor Loser - Aston Martin

After fighting for third as Racing Point last season, many expected Aston Martin to push on with extra resources and budget, but that’s not been the case.

Sebastian Vettel’s podium in Baku was a highlight, but in Austria they struggled. Despite having both cars in Q3, Vettel was demoted to P11 on the starting grid due to a penalty, they failed to score a single point, with Lance Stroll in 13th, whilst Vettel was classified as 17th, but didn’t finish the race after a last lap collision with Kimi Raikkonen.

They lost a further two points to AlphaTauri in the battle for fight, by way of Pierre Gasly’s P9 finish, and the gap to McLaren and Ferrari seems to be getting bigger, and not smaller.