The sun finally burst through the clouds overlooking the Red Bull Ring on Saturday evening – three hours after the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race had concluded. Rain and low-hanging, misty cloud had otherwise prevailed on a day of glory, reflected tragedy and controversy in the Styrian mountains.
The glory belonged to Max Verstappen and Red Bull – the combination also having a hand in the controversies too. These were a bizarre sprint shootout Q1 clash between Verstappen and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, and the Dutchman’s brutal battle with team-mate Sergio Perez in their early sprint race exchanges.
Afterwards, Verstappen and other drivers spoke eloquently about the death of Dilano van ’t Hoff – Verstappen’s compatriot killed in a wet Formula Regional Championship by Alpine race on the support card of the Spa 24 Hours.
Their sorrow should the main takeaway from Saturday – the incident marked at the Red Bull Ring by a moment of reflection on the grid ahead of the Formula 2 sprint race, headed by members of van ’t Hoff’s MP Motorsport team. Conversations in the Red Bull Ring paddock include whether more fundamental changes now need to be made to Spa’s layout to avoid any more death at the venue F1 will visit later this month.
Saturday nevertheless marched on relentlessly even under real and metaphorical clouds.
Verstappen’s sprint win actually provided little hint of what is to come in the main race today, other than he and Red Bull remain rapid – as it is unlikely the two RB19s will be vying over the same piece of road again on Sunday.
But should that unlikely scenario come to pass, then you can bet Verstappen and Perez will be as savage as they were yesterday in their defensive and attacking intra-team moves – no matter how quickly they moved to calm the waters in the media afterwards.
Source: Autosport