What Verstappen's victory tells us about F1's future

The first 30 seconds of Max Verstappen's Austrian Grand Prix could not have gone much worse. He bogged down at the start, later suggesting it was because the clutch was set too aggressively, so the anti-stall kicked in and he dropped to seventh. That became eighth when he was boxed in behind Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari at Turn 2 and his Red Bull team-mate Pierre Gasly drove around the outside of him.

Verstappen then locked up the front-right tyre going into Turn 4, giving him a vibration that would remain throughout the first stint. But just over 80 minutes later, he took the chequered flag to win on home soil for Red Bull - and take the landmark first victory of Honda's fourth stint in Formula 1.

The success wasn't confirmed until three hours after the finish, the result of a lengthy stewards' investigation that resulted in no penalty.

Verstappen's pass on race-long leader Charles Leclerc's with two and a half laps remaining will be what this race is long remembered for, and it left the Ferrari team furious at what it perceived as another injustice. But it was also the culmination of a scintillating charge by an irresistible Verstappen, who showed the speed and relentlessness that will one day make him a world champion.

What an antidote this race was to the previous weekend's French GP, providing not only a thrilling denouement but also a weekend that deviated far from the usual 2019 script.

Ferrari held the initiative in qualifying, with Leclerc not missing a beat on his way to a second F1 pole position. Lewis Hamilton wasn't able to get within a quarter of a second in the all-conquering Mercedes, which was rendered impotent by the lack of corners, particularly of the slower variety, in which to compensate for Ferrari's straightline supremacy. Hamilton's deserved grid penalty for impeding Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo in Q1 bumped Verstappen up to second place, creating the youngest front row in world championship history, and the scene for a stunning battle between the young chargers.

Verstappen's startline vanishing act seemed to deny us that spectacle and, while he began his comeback drive by passing a defensive (but ultimately compliant) Gasly around the outside into Turn 9 at the end of the first lap, it was Leclerc versus Valtteri Bottas up front.

Leclerc led by 1.3s at the end of the first lap, out of DRS range, and pulled away from Bottas at an average of 0.18s per lap to build a lead of 4.6s by the end of lap 20 of the 71-lap race. Bottas was then called in, chipping almost four tenths off that lead on his in-lap, to switch from mediums to hards. While Bottas didn't have the speed to challenge Leclerc, this was a crucial moment in the race as it forced Leclerc into shortening his first stint.

Like Vettel (who started ninth after not running in Q3 due to a problem with the airline feeding the pneumatic valves in the engine), Leclerc had run on soft tyres in Q2 while the two Mercedes drivers and Verstappen started on mediums. Some hoped they would simply melt early on, an expectation not supported by the long runs on Friday afternoon, and Leclerc's pace was holding up when he was called in a lap after Bottas. This contracted his first stint and allowed Verstappen, who extended his stint, to have a nine-lap tyre life advantage over Leclerc when both were on hards for the run to the finish.

"It was really painful to watch, cruising and not being able to defend or attack" Toto Wolff

"Certainly, Verstappen had a tyre advantage at the end of the race," said Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. "But we had to react to Valtteri's pitstop. We had to protect ourselves and our position, so that was the time to pit. The soft tyres were still in good condition, which proved that our [Q2] choice was the right one. He seemed happy with the way the soft behaved in terms of degradation but we had to react to Valtteri."

Covering a potential undercut by Bottas was the textbook strategic move, although Ferrari could perhaps have afforded to delay a lap to have a look at the pace of the Mercedes while Leclerc spent the rest of his starting softs. But it did preserve Leclerc's lead, with the gap settling at 3.6s. Thereafter, Leclerc had Bottas covered. Sadly for Leclerc and his hopes of a maiden grand prix victory, Bottas was not the problem.

After finishing the first lap seventh, Verstappen picked off the low-hanging fruit ahead with relative ease. Lando Norris, who ran as high as fourth on the first lap and briefly diced with Hamilton, put up some resistance before being dispatched for what had become sixth place - having been passed by Raikkonen and Vettel's Ferrari - at Turn 3 on lap seven. Raikkonen fell two laps later to give Verstappen fifth place. Verstappen finished the ninth lap of the race already 14.6s behind Leclerc and with Bottas, Hamilton and Vettel in between them.

Initially, Verstappen's pace was brisk, but not astonishing. Over the next 11 laps, before the leaders started to pit, Verstappen was only the second-fastest on track - a tenth on average slower than Vettel and a scant 0.08s faster than Leclerc. When Leclerc made his stop, Verstappen was still 13.5s behind. But longevity was key at this stage. Still running competitive lap times on his starting mediums, even compared to those who had pitted, Verstappen ran all the way to lap 31 before making his stop. Team principal Christian Horner claimed a 1.8s turnaround, and it was certainly the briefest pitlane visit of the race, so Verstappen came back out in fourth place.

He gained a place because of the fate of Hamilton. After running third in the first stint, he too attempted to go long until picking up some front wing damage when he ran wide at Turn 10. That led to a pitstop, a lap later than the hoped for 30th time round after an initial attempt to bring him in was made too late given he was already turning in to the penultimate corner. Thereafter, like Bottas, Hamilton could do little but cruise round delivering on the lift-and-coast target of 400 metres - 8.2% of the lap - required to keep the power unit temperatures under control.

Without this, Mercedes potentially had the pace to challenge for victory given the Ferrari engine advantage is more pronounced in qualifying trim. But the cooling was too marginal and this dictated its subdued speed.

"We knew that it was our Achilles' heel," said team boss Toto Wolff. "We tried to work on mitigating the performance loss but it was really painful to watch, cruising and not being able to defend or attack.

"We had the car pace, we were running the engine way turned down, lifting and coasting for up to 400 metres and still able to pull in some decent lap times. I think we would have a chance to fight for the win, but we were limited by the cooling problems. The thing that compromised us today was not being able to drive the car, but just cruise around."

With Hamilton behind and no threat, hard-shod Verstappen emerged from the pits 3.6s behind Vettel in fourth place - and a total of 12.9s behind Leclerc having actually gained time in the closing stages of his extended first stint.

Initially, Verstappen didn't make stellar progress as for the first six laps of the stint he was 0.07s per lap faster than Vettel and 0.16s quicker than Leclerc. But good management of fuel and tyre resources meant that he was then able to show his pace, and from lap 39 to 47 he took 0.28s per lap out of Vettel as he cruised up behind. In the process, he was hacking just over half a second a lap out of leader Leclerc.

On lap 48, Verstappen started to menace Vettel and, two laps later, blasted past the Ferrari on the run to Turn 4 with DRS assistance. With Vettel, who then dived into the pits for fresh softs and ceded a fourth position he would later retake from Hamilton, out of the way, Verstappen set after Bottas. That gap was only 2.2s at this point and after five laps of chasing he breezed past the Mercedes into Turn 3 to take second on lap 56. At the end of the lap, he was just five seconds behind Leclerc.

Over the next 10 laps, Verstappen carved 0.44s per lap out of Leclerc and entered DRS range on the start/finish straight at the end of lap 67. "Leave me alone," Leclerc told his team when given time checks at this point - the battle was on.

Some were outraged, but given rules demand a driver must be "wholly or predominantly to blame" for a penalty, Leclerc was implicated as the minority partner given he tried to hang on when there was "clearly insufficient space"

With three laps to go, Verstappen used his strength off Turn 1, plus the DRS, to close on Leclerc on the run up the hill to Turn 3. Leclerc defended the middle of the track and Verstappen squeezed up the inside and emerged from the corner almost a full car length ahead. But Leclerc, even without DRS, ensured he got a good exit and repassed Verstappen on the run to Turn 4.

A lap later, Verstappen tried again and Leclerc puzzlingly left the door wide open and took a conventional line into the corner. Verstappen took the invitation and as they passed the apex, the Red Bull was inching ahead. But as the corner closed off at the exit and Verstappen ran out towards the exit kerb, they made wheel-to-wheel contact and Leclerc was booted out beyond the sausage kerb at the exit.

"What the hell is that?" asked Leclerc after the move, which was immediately noted by the FIA stewards - who then launched an investigation. Just over two laps later, Verstappen crossed the line 2.7s clear of Leclerc to claim his sixth grand prix win. But it would be a further three hours and 10 minutes before he could be certain of victory.

The two drivers were summoned and the very realistic possibility of Verstappen getting a five-second penalty for forcing Leclerc off track was discussed at length. The stakes were high, as it was not just a victory at issue but, given recent events, the question of penalising drivers or following the 'let them race' mantra meant it became a test case. The stewards, including nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen - who takes that job role very seriously and thinks deeply about the task - eventually decided to take no further action.

Some were outraged. After all, it's true that Verstappen had run out to the edge of the track on the exit and Leclerc had nowhere to go. But given the rules demand a driver has to be "wholly or predominantly to blame" for a penalty to be given, Leclerc was implicated as the minority partner in this clash given he tried to hang on around the outside when there was "clearly insufficient space for both cars".

The move by Verstappen was certainly aggressive and Leclerc and Ferrari justifiably felt aggrieved, but this interpretation of the law ensured the right outcome. Verstappen could have left Leclerc more racing room and, in an ideal world, perhaps he should have. But Leclerc chose the outside line and that's always a live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword decision in racing. He risked being hung out to dry.

What's more, 30 years ago on a track without asphalt runoff, a driver would usually have ceded the corner once Verstappen had got fully alongside and they had turned into the corner rather than risk ending up in the gravel or the wall.

That Leclerc lost his first win, and Ferrari's first of 2019, was unfortunate. But there's no doubt his time will come

"I braked a bit deeper into the corner," said Verstappen in comparing his successful move to the one of a lap earlier. "We had a little contact, of course, mid-to-exit of the corner but from my side I think it's racing. We all know there is a crest in that corner as well. If you take the crest wrong, because we both went a bit straight on, at one point you run out of room. But it's hard racing. It's better than just following each other and having a boring race, isn't it?"

It's impossible to deny that. But Leclerc also deserved sympathy for losing his maiden grand prix victory after what was, up to that point, an immaculate drive. Binotto later said he felt it was the wrong decision, and Leclerc blamed being forced off track for not being able to counter-attack as he had done a lap earlier.

"I did exactly the same thing from the first to the second lap, so I did not expect any contact on the second lap," said Leclerc. "I think he braked a little deeper, I don't know if he lost it or not but then there was the contact. I felt I was quite strong in traction, from the first attempt I managed to have better traction and kept my position. On the second one I couldn't do that because I was off track."

Despite Leclerc's understandable disappointment, the stewards made a decision that was right for F1 by factoring in his risky decision to hang on around the outside, which was motivated by a desire to capitalise on a relative strength of the Ferrari. This was very different to being the victim of a late-braking lunge as Verstappen had already executed the first part of the pass well.

That Leclerc lost his first win, and Ferrari its first of 2019, was an unfortunate consequence. But there's no doubt Leclerc's time will come. This race was about him and Verstappen, giving us a glimpse into what will be a thrilling future. They will cross swords again many times, and there will surely be more controversial moments.

But the decision not to penalise Verstappen, harsh as it was on Leclerc, hints that F1 might allow such a rivalry to play out with more freedom. Doubtless one or the other will feel aggrieved at times, just as Leclerc did at the Red Bull Ring. But the Austrian GP not only produced one of the most memorable grands prix of recent years, even more importantly it gave us a stewards' decision that promises the kind of anti-racing attitude that some fear is taking over F1 won't impinge on their fight.

We want to see drivers as gladiators going at it, with only the more egregious on-track transgressions penalised. And what a spectacle this made. Certainly a far better one than Leclerc earning his first win three hours after the finish, which would have made what will go down as one of the great races into another debacle.

It was a good day for F1.