SUTTON

Leclerc and Ferrari win a surprisingly good Austrian GP

Autosport didn’t have high hopes of an exciting event at the Red Bull Ring heading into last weekend. Max Verstappen and Red Bull have been impressive around the Austrian track in recent years, and the straightline speed of the RB18 raised fears of a processional race and dominant victory for the reigning champion. But we were wrong.

As Matt Kew shows in our report on page 16, some of Ferrari’s 2022 weaknesses were still apparent in the Austrian Grand Prix but the F1-75 excelled on two crucial elements: race pace and tyre preservation. Charles Leclerc, one of the undoubted stars of the season, was also brilliant once again and his first pass on Verstappen was impressive. He’ll need some more races like that – and no more Ferrari blunders – to chip away at the 38-point gap in the standings.

If the Austrian GP itself provided more action than we expected, some of what happened away from the track gave serious cause for concern. The behaviour of some of the ‘fans’ was unacceptable and F1 needs to move decisively to stamp it out (p7).

On a more positive note, Robert Wickens has made a remarkable recovery from the terrible injuries he sustained at Pocono in 2018. He talks to Charles Bradley about how he’s started winning again on p48.

The World Endurance Hypercar era stepped up a notch at Monza, with the arrival of Peugeot and best showing yet by Glickenhaus. Gary Watkins was there to see the grandfathered LMP1-based Alpine defeat Toyota in a dramatic and controversial encounter (p34).

Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com

NEXT WEEK

21 JULY Perez at Red Bull Red Bull’s number two, WRC, Formula E and

IndyCar all feature in

our next issue

COVER IMAGES Sutton/Motorsport Images; @Scuderia Ferrari Press Office

PIT & PADDOCK 4 Ferrari hypercar hits track at Fiorano 6 F1 agrees to budget cap raise 8 Engine rules cause Porsche/Audi delay 10 Habsburg’s fan-owned team plan 13 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 14 Opinion: Gary Watkins 15 Feedback: your letters

RACE CENTRE 16 Austrian GP report and analysis 34 WEC: Alpine beats Toyota at Monza 42 World of Sport: FIA Formula 2; F3; ETCR; Formula Regional European; NASCAR Cup; Australian Supercars; Porsche Supercup; Extreme E

INSIGHT 48 How Wickens returned to winning ways

CLUB AUTOSPORT 58 Shelsley Walsh Classic preview 61 MSV reveals French circuit plans 62 Harridge quits Formula Vee a er fallout 64 Mitchell fractures shoulder in FF roll 67 Opinion: Stephen Lickorish 68 National reports: Brands Hatch; Thruxton; Oulton Park; Donington Park; Knockhill; BRC Nicky Grist Stages

FINISHING STRAIGHT 76 What’s on this week 79 Top five Porsche Group C privateers 80 From the archive: 1982 German GP 82 My favourite team-mate: Jordi Gene

SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 12 Special deals for Autosport

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