In the Ferrari debacle: Hamilton triumphs in Spielberg

The Finn won the start a week ago and thus defended his lead in the World Cup. Third place at the Red Bull Ring was Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. Ferrari, on the other hand, experienced a debacle: Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc retired early. A crash caused by the Monegasque destroyed the race of both drivers. Leclerc shows remorse Vettel withdrew in frustration after the Ferrari total loss. Not even the Monegasque's apology could console the four-time world champion. In general, the German's Ferrari farewell tour is becoming more and more of a laughing stock after Sunday's unnecessary collision. “It's difficult at the moment because the negative outweighs the negatives,” said the 33-year-old after his failure in the first round. “We have to keep fighting and try to give everything.”

A week after his sobering tenth place at the start at the same location, the Styrian Grand Prix was over early for Vettel. Because Leclerc, who was second the previous week, crashed into his car with a careless maneuver in turn three and his rear wing immediately broke off, the German had to park the already lame Ferrari in the pits. “I already had two cars next to me and wanted to stay out of everything. “Three cars in one corner is not possible,” said Vettel. “I didn’t expect Charles to try anything. I don’t think there was room.” Charles Leclerc rammed Sebastian Vettel. © APA/afp / DARKO BANDIC

Just four laps later it was also over for Leclerc. “I completely screwed up, my mistake,” said the 22-year-old. The youngster had his undercarriage ruined in the crash. Continue? Impossible. “I did a very bad job and let the team down,” said Leclerc, who sheepishly apologized to Vettel. “I hope I learn from it. This is a tough time for the team, we don’t need anything like that.”

Only last year in Brazil, Vettel and Leclerc collided and were subsequently eliminated. At that time they had been driving on the open road at high speed. As a result, there was a lot of anger for the pilots and team management, including from the top management at Ferrari - that is now likely to happen again. “It hurts when both drivers retire after two laps,” said Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto and spoke of the “worst end to a difficult weekend.”

The Italians see Leclerc as the future, the hotshot was only given a contract until the end of 2024, while Vettel has to leave at the end of 2020 after six years and does not yet have a cockpit for 2021. “I don’t know what gap Charles saw,” said Vettel and added rather annoyed: “It’s extremely bitter.” Hamilton shows no weaknesses While world champion Hamilton confidently defended his lead at the front and no one could threaten him in front of empty seats in the second ghost race in Formula 1 history, things were simmering at Ferrari. After the mixed start, the factory team had brought forward an upgrade package with a new front wing and new underbody. But one day after the difficult qualifying in the rain, it wasn't even possible to compete with the competition. Vettel had already gotten off to a weak start and had fallen further back from tenth place. Leclerc, who started the Grand Prix in 14th place, didn't have a good outlook either. Lewis Hamilton celebrated an easy start-to-finish victory. © APA/afp / DARKO BANDIC

“It makes you want to, but the race was extremely short,” said Vettel: “That’s a shame, especially after last week. Today would have been much better than last week, I've already noticed that. But that didn't happen.” Next week in Hungary, Ferrari has the chance to do better. However, it remains more than questionable whether it is enough to seriously endanger Mercedes.

Meanwhile, the black-painted Silver Arrows also won their second victory of the season, which was shortened by the coronavirus pandemic. A week after Bottas, the 35-year-old Brit Hamilton took the first important step towards his seventh world title. If he were to become champion again this year, he would draw level with record world champion Michael Schumacher in terms of titles.

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In the Ferrari debacle: Hamilton triumphs in Spielberg

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the second Formula 1 race of the season in Austria. The British world champion celebrated a confident victory in front of his teammate Valtteri Bottas in Spielberg on Sunday.

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