SPIELBERG BEI KNITTELFELD: This weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix is a home race for world champion Max Verstappen and presents an opportunity for Carlos Sainz to start as a winner and for Yuki Tsunoda to calm down.
Max Verstappen has a number of Formula One locations that he considers to be “home,” as is appropriate for a world champion with some money in the bank.
The Styrian mountains are the setting for one of the Dutch drivers’ favourite drives, an immaculately paved 4.318-kilometer loop. For the past few years, he has maintained the good spirits of the tens of thousands of his countrymen who visit this verdant, fir-lined patch of perfection for a weekend-long party.
He is the true master of the Red Bull Ring, the site of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, having won four of the last six races on the circuit. It also happens to be the week after Yuki Tsunoda’s British Grand Prix hopes were ended when a sizable portion of his AlphaTauri hitched a ride on his vehicle at Silverstone.
He received six extra points for placing seventh, but he is aiming to earn all 34 points this weekend, when the second sprint race of the year takes place on Saturday. After winning the 100k dash, the race, and the fastest lap, he left Monza’s sprint with the greatest haul.
At the press conference on Thursday, he said, “It’s always a really enjoyable weekend for me to have so much support coming from Holland.” “Additionally, it’s our home grand prix, and we’ve had some really strong performances in the past. As a result, it has always been kind to us.”
Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, whose deft command of some of the more common English words can turn team radio conversations midnight blue, is going through a rough patch right now. Following his pit lane collision in Montreal, he collided with teammate Pierre Gasly at Silverstone while they were both fighting for points.
“We made contact, completely on my account. I immediately expressed my regrets to the team “On the eve of Austria’s first practise, he said.
“On top of that, some of my debris ended up in Max’s car. Therefore, I must say that I had a really bad day.”
He acknowledged working with a sports psychotherapist to control his fiery temper, as described by Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko. I definitely start to overheat in the car, and my brain especially does, so I think that’s one of the limitations, he said.
And how well is the treatment? If it’s working well, I might not have had the crash, but I need to take a little more time because he needs to learn more about me and we both need to know what course of action to take.
Carlos Sainz can now approach a Grand Prix weekend without being preoccupied with thoughts of claiming his first Formula One victory after 150 races. Success at Silverstone last Sunday marked a turning point for the Ferrari garage’s Spanish portion.
Sainz was careful to point out that he had kept his celebrations low key so that he could perform at his best this weekend rather than painting the town the colour of his team. “We’re in the middle of a back-to-back, so I didn’t go out. I was fortunate that six of my closest friends happened to arrive in Italy shortly after Silverstone; as a result, I was able to share a few beers and crack open a bottle of champagne with them back at my house.”
