Austrian GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

Formula 1 is back to Europe and Austria. A praise must be done to the organizers of this race that have managed to bring a large audience to the circuit. We have experienced a fantastic weekend, with a front row marked by Williams and Mercedes in a slight difficulty. This underlines how easy it is to switch, in this F1, from leaders to chasers. A Mercedes that still has capitalized all its advantage with a new double and an important success for Nico Rosberg. The points of advantage on Hamilton begin to be significant, surely annoying Lewis.

I believe, however, that the error in qualifying is not to be attributed to the pilot, as they strive to affirm at Mercedes, but mainly to a brake problem, as can be seen in some slow-motions. Perhaps the braking system is one of those aspects that this year has been most underestimated, even with regard to “weight-car” issues. Many teams, in different ways and measures, have accused several issues on the brakes.

The ranking sees two Mercedes, two Williams and, above all, seven cars in the top ten with the Mercedes power-unit. Great race of Fernando Alonso, who brings Ferrari to the fifth place: he has showed once again what he’s made of.  He’s the one making the difference, keeping the team anchored to third place in the Constructors’ Championship.

The Austrian weekend underlined again the problem at Renault’s. In my opinion, rumours about possible new partnerships will start again soon, as RB cannot continue on this path, despite the declarations on the renewal of contracts. The championship of Vettel is almost compromised and he was forced to raise the white flag to avoid ruining another power-unit, having already used four of them.

The last two races have affirmed the growth of Williams that with the podium of today has taken another step forward, leaving McLaren behind and getting closer to Force India. They’ve become a rival and, keeping this pace, might even try to annoy Maranello.

Good race for Sergio Perez, who is blurring the rising star of Hulkenberg: he carried out a great race, conditioned by an excellent race management. The Mexican driver is able to create a good connection with the tyres, thus being able to carry out interesting strategies.

In fifteen days we’ll arrive in England, at Silverstone, a track representing the history of this sport.