(Almost) at home in Austria, Max Verstappen and Red Bull want to regain the upper hand

On the magnificent Red Bull Ring track, the Dutchman will aim to drive the point home after having opened up a gap of 69 points over his new runner-up, the Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), while he was only 31 points ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) at the end of May after the Monegasque’s success in the Principality.

In Quebec and Catalonia, without being completely dominant, Verstappen managed to get the most out of his single-seater, which no longer crushes its competitors as much as in the last two seasons. And he escaped again in the standings, taking advantage in particular of Ferrari’s setbacks.

Ferrari sous pression

“At the moment it’s very tight but the team is working hard and very well to try to improve the car. And we are also focusing on next season to be able to be very competitive,” Verstappen explained in a press conference on Thursday, who insisted that he would drive for Red Bull in 2025.

The format of the weekend, with a sprint race on Saturday and therefore only one free practice session on Friday at midday, should also encourage a tightening of the pack. “I think it will be very tight and we could have eight cars within two tenths,” estimated the Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).

The Scuderia, which is coming off a double retirement on June 9 in Canada and modest 5th and 6th places in Barcelona last weekend, its two worst weekends of the season, cannot afford to let Red Bull escape and will be under pressure in the Austrian mountains.

“The improvements made in Spain worked as expected, but you now have four teams in less than three tenths (Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, Editor’s note). We will have to concentrate on ourselves, pay attention to the smallest detail and be at our best so as not to miss any opportunity,” underlined Frédéric Vasseur, boss of the Italian team.

McLaren is not far away

McLaren, which is closing in on Red Bull, will be looking to secure a victory that has narrowly eluded the British team in the last two races. Although the official objective is “to continue to improve”, according to team principal Andrea Stella, there is no doubt that the papaya single-seaters will be aiming for the top step of the podium.

Mercedes, which has made spectacular progress in recent weeks, seems to have returned to the wheel of the best, like the pole position of the Briton George Russell in Montreal and the third place of his compatriot Lewis Hamilton in Catalonia, and could join in the fight. “The team has worked hard to improve the car and it’s encouraging to be back in contention. We hope to continue our progress in Austria on a route very different from the previous ones which will offer us a new challenge,” said Toto Wolff, boss of the Silver Arrows.

Behind this quartet, the battle to reach the Top 10 will be open and Alpine will hope to pull out all the stops to confirm its recent progress after placing its two cars in the points in the last two races.