Charles Leclerc Executes Three-Stopper To Win 2022 Austrian Grand Prix – Sport Grill

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc executed a three-stop strategy to claim victory at a tense 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen had led from pole position but Leclerc maintained pressure until he made an overtake on Lap 12 to take the lead, with the Monegasque ultimately running two extended opening stints before making a race-winning overtake on Lap 53.

Carlos Sainz meanwhile on a similar strategy to Leclerc looked set to overtake Verstappen for second until his Ferrari power unit failed on Lap 57, which led Leclerc and Verstappen to make an additional pit stop in fear of a Safety Car.

Lewis Hamilton executed a two-stop strategy to finish third ahead of George Russell and Esteban Ocon as the top five all finished on the lead lap.

Mick Schumacher scored points for the second Grand Prix running after he finished sixth ahead of Lando Norris, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso, although everyone from sixth downwards finished a lap down on Leclerc.

In the driver standings, Verstappen extended his championship lead to 38 points despite finishing second as Leclerc became his closest challenger in second after Sergio Perez retired with damage from a first lap clash with Russell at Turn 4.

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Ahead of the race, Valtteri Bottas opted to make a change to his rear wing which meant that the Alfa Romeo driver began the race from the pit lane – having taken a new power unit anyway earlier in the weekend.

Alonso meanwhile opted to take a new power unit after an electrical issue prevented him from participating in the Sprint yesterday (9 July), with the Spaniard having been set to start at the back anyway as a consequence.

At lights out, Verstappen led from Leclerc as Sainz ran wide at Turn 1 to briefly concede third to Russell, but regained position on the run to Turn 3 whilst Russell then clipped Perez into a spin at Turn 4 which saw the Brit hit with a five second time penalty, which he served at his first pit stop on Lap 12.

Perez recovered to the pit lane for a set of hard tyres but was eventually forced to retire on Lap 26 with too much damage to his Red Bull.

The rest of the grid soon settled into a tyre management based opening stint as Leclerc kept Verstappen under pressure up front at just under one second, until he made an inside move at Turn 4 on Lap 12 to seize the lead.

Verstappen responded by pitting for hard tyres on Lap 14 but Leclerc decided to stick it out on his opening set of medium tyres for 13 further laps, prior to making his own first stop at the end of Lap 26 which unleashed Sainz into the lead for one lap prior to his own pit stop.

Once the top-three order was re-established, Verstappen had held a 4.995s lead over Leclerc but the Monegasque quickly reduced that gap across the following five laps, as he regained the lead with an overtake into Turn 3 on Lap 33.

Verstappen again responded with another early stop as he pitted at the end of Lap 36 and re-joined around 25s off the lead, as Leclerc stayed out for another 13 laps like in the first stint before making his second stop.

Leclerc then again rapidly reeled Verstappen in and made a race-winning overtake on Lap 53 as he performed a switchback move out of Turn 3, which gave him the traction to breeze past Verstappen with fresher tyres.

Sainz meanwhile was also closing in quickly upon Verstappen but as he tried to close in on the Dutchman on Lap 57, his power unit blew up out of Turn 3 which caused him to stop at the run-off area of Turn 4 only for his Ferrari to roll back down the hill as flames engulfed the car.

Marshals luckily stopped the car from re-entering the track as Sainz escaped the flames just in time as his cockpit became surrounded by black smoke.

Hamilton meanwhile had gone long in his opening stint but re-joined behind Ocon after his first stop but passed the Frenchman on Lap 30, which led to a lonely race in fourth as he then switched to mediums in his second stop which ultimately secured him third after Sainz’s retirement.

Up front, Leclerc reported throttle issues across the final 11 laps after he and Verstappen had made third and final pit stops for mediums, following Sainz’s retirement which caused a Virtual Safety Car.

The Monegasque eventually clung on to clinch his fifth F1 victory and first from outside of pole position, ahead of Verstappen who settled for second.

Russell fought back from 19th following his early pit stop to finish fourth following a series of overtakes, as Ocon rounded out the top five on the lead lap, as everyone from Schumacher in sixth finished a lap down.