That Formula 1 is experiencing a change of direction is something that could be sensed for a few months now, in which Max Verstappen has gone from taking out the roller to taking out his elbows. The superiority that led him to sweep the last two years, riding in one of the most dominant cars in the history of the event, has vanished to the delight of the fans and also of McLaren, a team supported by two kids like Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who with his verve and freshness have revitalized it to the point of placing it at the level of Red Bull. Norris debuted his record of victories in Miami and was about to repeat it last week, in Montmeló, where a rookie mistake in the start, the worst moment imaginable, prevented him from knocking out the Dutchman, who came out on his shoulders on a day in which his car was not the fastest. In Austria, where everything seemed ready for McLaren to amortize the speed of its MCL35, an exchange of blows between Verstappen and Norris ended with the two favorites being offside and with George Russell on the verge of a nervous breakdown, incredulous at the possibility to sign the second victory of his career, and the second in two years for Mercedes. Tempers became so heated in the Silver Arrows workshop during the last laps that the boy from Norkolk even allowed himself the luxury of giving Toto Wolff, his boss, a good honk over the radio: “Let me drive!”
With Verstappen and Norris disabled, Piastri crossed the line second and Carlos Sainz climbed onto the podium for the fifth time this season. Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, was limited to going through one of the most uncomfortable Grand Prix and finished second from last, penalised for a collision with Guanyu Zhou.
The reigning champion has gone from attacking to having to defend himself, even though he does both with the same aggressiveness. Compromised by a team error on his second visit to the garages (lap 52) – the left rear wheel did not want to come out and he lost three seconds more than expected – the inertia with which Norris was driving allowed him to stick to his rival for three laps, and that left him a good margin to prepare the offensive. After knocking him off his car on two occasions, almost always at the same point – the third corner of the track –, driven by the effect of the mobile rear wing (DRS), the Briton complained about the manoeuvres of his opponent, who corrected his position under braking, after perceiving where he was going to be overtaken. On the third (lap 64), Norris changed his strategy and launched himself on the outside, in an action as spectacular as it was risky, even more so on a tough nut like Mad Max, who cornered him until he contacted him. The friction ended with a tire puncture, an inconsequential ten-second penalty for the Red Bull driver – he finished fifth – and a balloon of three pairs of noses for Norris, who felt comfortable as soon as he got out of the car.
“In all three manoeuvres, Max had a reaction that could easily have caused an incident. In a way, he was reckless. He seemed to be a bit desperate,” said the McLaren driver, who was forced to retire after the accident, after the remains of the tyre, broken into pieces, destroyed the flat floor of his prototype. “In any case, I am not too surprised. I was expecting a race on the limit, tough but also respectful. I don’t think this is what we had,” he added. Verstappen always lands on his feet, this time could not be an exception. Despite the confusion, the boy from Hasselt left Austria with a wider margin in the points table and with the conviction that he had arguments to argue with Norris’ point of view. “I don’t think he was too aggressive. In fact, the ten seconds seemed to me to be too severe a penalty,” summed up the flagship of the red buffalo brand, who has more work to do than he had initially calculated.
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