In the 2024 Austrian GP, what many were waiting to happen finally did. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris finally clashed and in spectacular fashion.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said the clash between Verstappen and Norris was inevitable which is so true, but more importantly, the incident between the two drivers last Sunday will signal the start of a new stage in the 2024 Formula 1 season, a stage where the gloves should be off.
Much has been said about the friendship between Verstappen and Norris, but realistically, is there such thing as friendships between F1 drivers? Especially when they close the visors of their helmets?
The answer is simply no, and what happened in the Austrian GP is proof, but now things will spice up, well they should, so F1 fans, get the popcorn ready, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
But before the show goes on, let's have a quick look at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen's racing reminds me of Ayrton Senna
I remember in a documentary about the late Ayrton Senna, Martin Brundle provided insights on the Brazilian great from his own experience of racing him in the 1983 British Formula 3 season.
I cannot remember the exact wording, but Brundle explained that Senna would put his rival on track in a position where he would have to choose between backing off or crashing, and once that rival backed off, Senna knew that he owned him.
The documentary even showed footage of Senna's car piled over Brundle's in one of their F3 battles, a carbon copy of the Monza incident between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton during their bitter fight in 2021.
Now this is not about being right or wrong, it is about an approach to racing, and from what I have seen from Verstappen so far is that he applies the same tactics as Senna, the end result winning at any cost.
And let's not be delusional here, we love our F1 heroes from Senna to Michael Schumacher, to Fernando Alonso, to Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and now Verstappen. The list goes on of course, but the common denominator between all those great drivers is: Ruthlessness.
They are not nice guys, at least not in the cockpit. Their aim is to win at any cost, and we could go on and on about how they race and opinions will vary, but in the end the fans revere them.
They all made mistakes, big ones, and those who are still around racing will continue doing so, which is what Verstappen did while defending from Norris in the Austrian GP. What started as a hard but fair fight ended in tears when the reigning Champion went a step too far.
With Verstappen, many thought that his hard racing is only reserved to Hamilton, but that is wrong. Verstappen will fight anyone that will try to beat him like there is no tomorrow.
His battle with Charles Leclerc in 2022 was hailed as hard and fair with both exchanging compliments after every fight, but what prevented a huge clash was the fading of Leclerc's challenge as 2022 progressed and the dominance Verstappen enjoyed after that.
With Norris, the same was said early on, but with the Red Bull RB20 no longer the best car out there, Verstappen has to fight harder and things were bound to turn ugly, and they did last Sunday.
McLaren and Norris now have to dig deep
If the Austrian and Spanish GPs showed us something, it is that the McLaren MCL38 is the fastest F1 car right now, and it is Verstappen that is wringing the neck of his RB20 to make the difference.
The overall performance of Red Bull/Verstappen combo is better than the McLaren/Norris one, on all fronts: Driver performance, race execution, strategy...
In Austria, Verstappen was supreme dominating both qualifying sessions and the Sprint race, but in the Grand Prix, Red Bull dropped the ball in the botched pitstop for Verstappen who in turn messed things up with his final defending move on his McLaren rival.
McLaren on the other hand could not make use of this opportunity, and in close racing, Verstappen still has the upper hand on Norris, whose frustration was showing especially after losing out to the Dutchman in the Sprint and also losing a place to Oscar Piastri which added insult to injury.
Norris' dive on the inside, locking up and going off was a desperate move, and he still needs to develop his racing to deal with a driver like Verstappen. I have spoken in more details about Norris in my recent Editor's Desk.
McLaren need to up their game and operate at the high level Red Bull are at right now who can compensate for their lack of pace by how they execute their race, and of course the Verstappen magic.
McLaren may not have the fastest car for long, and 2024 may end up being their best chance to challenge Red Bull, but with how things are, Verstappen will most probably secure his fourth F1 Title this year.
As for 2025, well no one can predict, but even if McLaren are better, they may need to deal with the resurgent Mercedes, while Ferrari may also be in the mix and fighting on several fronts won't be easy.
Mercedes finally win, but...
Mercedes have been improving recently, and with George Russell, were best placed to pick up the pieces of the Verstappen/Norris incident.
But in qualifying, their pure pace was still way off the Red Bull and the McLaren, and their boss Toto Wolff rightfully said that they need those ahead of them to crash in order to win.
However, credit where credit's due, Mercedes have managed to turn their season around, as looking back at how they started 2024, no one would've expected them to take podiums and wins this year, not even in 2025.
That is how lost the eight-time F1 Constructors' Champions seemed to be when they started their current campaign, but have managed to improve considerably with their latest upgrades as they now seem to understand what makes their W15 go fast.
They still have a long way to go in the Constructors' as they are only fourth, and while their win in Austria was not on merit, in the end it is a win and will be a major boost for the team.
But will it, by any chance, be a boost for Hamilton? The seven-time F1 Champion seems to have already phased out and just thinking Red, and I believe that is why he is being beaten by Russell these days. The same happened to Vettel in his final Red Bull season before joining Ferrari, when Daniel Ricciardo beat him - yep, Ricciardo used to beat people.
Back to Hamilton, it would be great to see him bid his farewell to Mercedes with a win.
Austrian GP Quick hits
- Big thanks to the FIA and whoever decided to add the gravel traps at Turns 9 and 10 to prevent drivers from exceeding track limits.
Last year all of the best 20 drivers in the world moaned that it was hard to see the limits at these two corners with the elevation changes at that section of the track and the result was a record number of track limit transgressions.
But with gravel now there, suddenly all the drivers could see the track limits with ease and as such the stewards had a more relaxing weekend. It is a miracle... A miracle... - Once again Sergio Perez painfully underperforms. Horner said he had car damage in the Austrian GP which meant he could not overtake, but there was no damage in qualifying where he was over eight tenths off Verstappen's pace. On such a short track this is humiliation for the Mexican.
- Another driver who had a scrappy weekend was Leclerc. Anti-stall in sprint qualifying meant he did not set a lap in SQ3 and an error in qualifying meant he was sixth on the grid for the race in which he didn't score points following contact on the first lap, relegating him to the bottom of the grid.
Sainz on the other hand was solid, not spectacular but solid. Maybe that is what Ferrari needed, but too late now.
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