Three things we learned from the 2023 Austrian GrandPrix! Track Limits gone wild? Max Driver of the Day?

​So the Austrian GrandPrix weekend was you know both the sprint and main race a very good GrandPrix overall weekend, one I thoroughly enjoyed with action both in the main event and in the Sprint, it was good in comparison to the last sprint we had which was at Baku, this race is certainly been on earth of the better races in 2023 so far in what’s been relatively a season of dominance for Max Verstappen and RedBull but nonetheless it didn’t spoil us from having a race that was one full of intrigue. And here’s three things that we learned. 

Track limits gone wild? 

Now one of the may criticisms of F1 this weekend was just how many times the was track limit infringements! In fact the was that many it kind of turned into a meme. 

Just to remind you of what and who got penalties, I’ll go through them now.

Sainz - 10 seconds

Hamilton - 10 seconds

Gasly - 10 seconds

Albon - 10 seconds

Ocon - 30 seconds

Sargeant - 10 seconds

De Vries - 15 seconds

Tsunoda - 5 seconds

So a lot of penalties and that’s just for the main race bare in mind. That’s 18 laps that’s was given penalties! But if this looks ridiculous then what’s the solution? Now I hear lots of people saying put down grass or gravel but I say NO… the solution to all this is penalties and for once the FIA got this spot on. Look the white lines define the edge of the race track and I know some might say but it shouldn’t matter if they run off by a millimeter or two but if you started to allow it or allow them extend the limits more they’ll then push that further and further and then you go back to the old age question of where do you draw the line? Do you tell them that they can go as far wide until they hit the barrier? Is that how far??? Or do you start saying to them invent your own circuit? That’s why track limits need to be enforced. Also certain things you can’t put down or just shouldn’t put down. For instance no one wants to see a return to sausage curbs and for good reason, grass isn’t necessarily going to slow them down all too much either, you’ll still see cars run wide there and also FIA when coming up with any solution has to consider is it safe or not for each type of corner which they do through use of simulation in a super computer which then advises this. And of course gravel or something else might not be safe enough plus you have to remember that this is a shared circuit with MotoGP which largely disapprove of use of gravel. 

So this then only leaves us with what we saw and therefore any track limits has to be blamed on the drivers and it they that need to adapt here not the FIA. 

Whatever you throw at RedBull and Max they have just got a answer for everything! 

The confidence it takes in yourself, in your team and car to go and make a three stop race work and to pit on second to last lap just to take the fastest lap on the final lap of the race was outstanding, for me he was driver of the day! And yes Lando maybe had a outstanding race himself but was his performance genuinely better than Max? No it wasn’t. Genuinely it so long since Max made a driver error, you just wonder what, how and who is going to stop this man, I’ve talked about Max’s consistency in the past but it’s amazing what we are witnessing, could he even break Sebastian Vettel record of 9 wins in a row? You know I wouldn’t put it past him, but every time it mattered be that the sprint fighting his teammate on the opening lap, be that in the two qualifying and getting both poles to overtaking both Ferrari drivers with virtually no fight! And way he overtook Leclerc wasn’t just a good overtake it was ingenious decision making. 

To feather the throttle like that and steal Charles DRS down into turn 4 was a ingenious move by Max which left Leclerc with zero chance of a comeback. 

And needless is it to say he was one of few drivers not to get any track limit infringements during the race. This was once again a perfect of perfect weekends for the Dutchman.

McLaren major improvements! 

McLaren I think have to be the biggest and best surprise of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, mega job by Lando Norris to take the points haul he did and is this just one of those blips? For sure, but considering also this blip has come at a time when updates been added onto the car well would indicate towards a potential improvement by McLaren, McLaren and Norris done amazing job and that midfield is so competitive at the moment it just takes one decent update to your car and your the third best team or second best team. It’s swings so much it has. Like a few weeks ago in Canada AstonMartin and Mercedes was breathing down RedBulls neck and few weeks later they’re not even really in the top5! That just goes to show how close the midfield truly and is at the moment when such swings can happen track to track. 

But McLaren will certainly be relieved to have had one of the better result within this 2023 season and be looking to use this boost as a platform to build upon going into the home race this week in Silverstone. 

So those are my three takeaways this week, and now it’s a homecoming for F1 back to Silverstone for what will be the 73rd Silverstone GrandPrix but what was F1’s best GrandPrix of last season of which Carlos Sainz will have fond memories of where he took his first ever race win and first win in red.