Formula 1 needed a shot in the arm, and they got it in Austria

After a boring start to the 2019 season, Formula 1 needed a shot in the arm. That is exactly what the series got in the Austrian Grand Prix.

A battle for the ages was set to take place in the closing stage of the Canadian Grand Prix, the seventh race on the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 schedule, a few weeks ago at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was leading the race over Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton in second place, and Hamilton was closing the gap to his German rival. Vettel then went off the course, allowing Hamilton to further catch up, but he maintained the lead.

Then the race stewards intervened and issued Vettel a five-second time penalty, effectively stripping him of the victory. He won the race by 1.342 seconds over Hamilton in second place, but he was officially scored 3.658 seconds behind him in second.

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As a result, that “battle for the ages” never existed.

This result added to what had already been an insanely dull start to the season. Mercedes recorded five consecutive 1-2 finishes to open up the season, many of which in dominant fashion from start to finish, and Hamilton’s victory in the Canadian Grand Prix was their seventh consecutive victory to start the season and their ninth consecutive victory going back to last year. Hamilton was responsible for seven of these victories while Valtteri Bottas was responsible for the other two.

Then the French Grand Prix rolled around, and it might as well have been called the Mercedes French Parade. Additionally, it might as well have been considered a treatment for insomnia. Hamilton led every single lap of this race from the pole position while Bottas finished in second place after starting there, giving Mercedes six 1-2 finishes in the season’s first eight races and 10 consecutive victories going back to last year.

Heading into the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, Formula 1 needed a shot in the arm.

That’s exactly what they got. And this time, the race stewards didn’t ruin it with an unjustified post-race time penalty to strip the race winner of the victory.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the pole position for this race alongside Hamilton in second place, but Hamilton was penalized for impeding the lap time of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen in the second of three rounds of qualifying for the race. As a result, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was promoted to the front row of the starting grid.

This 71-lap race around the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) Red Bull Ring road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria was the first race since the Bahrain Grand Prix in late March to feature no Mercedes drivers on the front row.

Verstappen had a terrible start, dropping from second to seventh place before the first turn, and he quickly fell more than 15 seconds behind Leclerc, who dominated the race. But the 21-year-old Dutchman worked his way back through the field on medium tires, and he made his pit stop nine laps later than Leclerc, who started on soft tires, to put himself on new hard tires for the remainder of the race.

Verstappen rapidly closed the gap to each driver ahead of the one he previously passed throughout the rest of the race. Eventually, he passed Bottas for second place and set his sights on Leclerc. Once again, he rapidly closed the gap to work his way into DRS range with just a handful of laps remaining.

With four laps remaining, Verstappen was well within DRS range, and he utilized it heading into turn three. He appeared to have passed Leclerc for the lead in turn three, but Leclerc fought back to maintain the lead and lead another lap.

The following lap, Verstappen did pass Leclerc in turn three after utilizing DRS to perfection, but he didn’t do so without slight contact that resulted in Leclerc being bumped off the track.

Here is a video of this pass.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1145354715061993472

Verstappen went on to win this race by 2.724 seconds over Leclerc in second place, but a post-race investigation ensued, putting the FIA in a position, once again, to make the decision to either (a) let the drivers race or (b) completely ruin a heck a battle with a hand-picked and falsified result.

During the three-plus-hour review period, speculation ensued that Verstappen would be issued a five-second time penalty and thus Leclerc would be handed the first victory of his Formula 1 career. A fake document even emerged and stated that this was the case. But the race stewards decided to take no action against Verstappen’s move.

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Formula 1 finally had a great race with parity at the front of the field, close racing and passing, and it wasn’t won by Mercedes. It also featured the first 1-2 finish among Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, two drivers who are seen as future stars and potential champions of the sport. The Austrian Grand Prix was everything that the sport needed after the start of the 2019 season was dry as dust.

Fortunately, the FIA didn’t ruin it by stripping Verstappen of the victory and creating more controversy where there simply didn’t need to be any.

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