Make no mistake that where the last three Formula 1 Grands Prix stand, then it’s not been all too smooth a run for Red Bull or its most dominant driver in the last decade- Max Verstappen.
It has not been the case of a familiar looking assault that Verstappen waged last year, where he won ten races on the bounce in ultimately capturing his third world title.
The Flying Dutchman, as seen recently, has been made to work for his wins. Lando Norris most recently confessed that had he had at his disposal maybe 2 or four more laps, he’d have caught Verstappen to cross the checkered flag at Barcelona, home to the Spanish Grand Prix.
Also, here’s a case in point.
Despite winning the last two races on the bounce, one each at Canada and Spain, it’s not all gone Max Verstappen’s way.
Particularly true when you consider the sheer dynamism shown- first by McLaren’s Lando Norris at Miami and later- by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at Monaco.
So Verstappen’s ambition upon arriving at Spielberg, a picturesque racing venue that seems straight out of a timeless artwork imagined by Van Gogh is simple.
It is to win the Austrian Grand Prix.
Now whether that goes on to happen for real is something that only time will tell but what’s known is that by wining yet another sprint race and having topped the time sheets in qualifying, the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix seems Verstappen’s race to lose.
In capturing yet another pole position at the Styrian Alps, Verstappen, now 61 race wins old in Formula 1, has positioned his Red Bull rather favourably to add yet another win to his burgeoning tally.
What was interesting seeing Verstappen’s performance during Saturday’s all dry qualifying event was that it wasn’t that he was the fastest man on the grid from the beginning.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had emerged the fastest in Q1.
But as the qualifying run approached its business end, the real Verstappen began to unleash himself on a track that’s about as tricky to conquer as it’s absolutely delightful to compete at.
Verstappen found more pace and yet more pace in the dying moments of Q2, wherein he emerged four tenths ahead of the roaring Ferrari.
That was before McLaren emerged pacier and racier much like the Mercedes in the final Q3 run.
But by that time, Max was ready.
In setting a belter of a lap at 1:04:304 Max Verstappen has actually done two things.
First, the force of Red Bull has captured a fourth consecutive pole position at the eye pleasing venue.
There are drivers who are raved about and endlessly subjected to adulation upon hitting a hat trick in Formula 1; here, Max has gone one better and hit a boundary of pole positions.
The man born in Hasselt, Belgium has captured his 40th pole position and with it, wasted no time whatsoever in rewarding the faith of Christian Horner and the team at the back of a new contract extension at Red Bull that happened just recently.
It’s the classic case of, “Oh, thanks for that gift but here’s one from me as well.”
By self admission, it could be argued that Verstappen isn’t the sort of driver who typically runs behinds or avidly chases records.
He simply believes in improving time and again.
And should he win, race number 62 in his career, a checkered journey that’s swelling with race wins all the time, he’d have collected his fifth win at the venue.
While surely Norris would want to and could well give it everything on race day having famously overtaken Racing Point’s Sergio Perez on the very last lap back in the day, the 71-lap battle could eventually be another reality check for Red Bull’s rivals.
So while Mercedes’s Russell and the McLaren duo of Piastri and Norris would really go chasing Verstappen, the force, at the moment, points to Max and a possible case of maximum assault at the venue.
His rivals would want to remember Verstappen’s racing prowess at the venue having famously defeated Leclerc in 2019, with the Monegasque in a ballsy Ferrari that year. It was a car that was perhaps at par with the Red Bull on the straights as well as the corners.
The big question for now is, who’ll corner Verstappen at Austria, if at all that’s a possibility?