In the world of Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, Red Bull driver Sergio Perez found himself in a difficult position during the sprint qualifying for the Austrian GP. Sandwiched between Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, Perez was unable to secure a higher grid position and ended up in seventh place. This was a blow to Perez, who was hoping to break his streak of poor performance. The short laptime in Austria, with Max Verstappen’s pole position lap taking just 64.686s, might have made things easier. However, the need for drivers to create gaps caused issues for those at the back of the queue.
The first seven drivers to start their laps had a reasonable amount of space between them. The Mercedes drivers were the first to be released from the garage, with Lewis Hamilton beginning his flying lap with 62 seconds left on the clock. George Russell followed 12 seconds later, Oscar Piastri 10 seconds after that, Lando Norris 34 seconds later, Carlos Sainz 24 seconds later, and Verstappen 17 seconds later. The size of these time gaps revealed where the problem arose. The cars were nose to tail in a queue at the pit exit, and they had to build gaps before joining the track.
This situation proved to be detrimental to those at the back of the queue, including Ocon, Perez, Leclerc, and Gasly. Leclerc was exempt from this issue due to a problem he encountered in the pitlane, which prevented him from starting a lap before the chequered flag. For the final three drivers, there simply wasn’t enough time to create ideal spacing. Ocon, in particular, created a larger gap than necessary between himself and Verstappen. He started his lap 13 seconds behind Verstappen, with only four seconds remaining on the clock. Even if Ocon had been closer to Verstappen, one of the cars behind him would still have been compromised.
Perez found himself in a frustrating position behind Ocon. He was aware of the limited time and had to close the gap to Ocon in order to make it to the finish line without being overtaken by Gasly. With just three seconds remaining, Perez started his lap but was frustrated with Ocon’s pace. He expressed his disappointment, stating, “I don’t know what Esteban was doing there. He apparently had to drive really slowly, and I did my final lap within half-a-second of him, and basically there was no chance. It’s a shame because we had more promising pace today, but we weren’t able to maximize it.”
Gasly, on the other hand, faced delays at the pitexit. Despite starting to exit the garage with 2 minutes and 44 seconds remaining, he had to wait for a significant amount of time due to the congestion. Gasly found himself behind Leclerc, but the Ferrari driver’s issue didn’t affect Gasly’s time. The real problem was the number of cars ahead of him. Gasly attempted to put pressure on Perez at the exit, questioning the actions of the drivers ahead. Once he finally got out, Gasly was advised to focus on a fast outlap, with little expectation of making it in time.
During the lap, Gasly received updates on his position relative to where he needed to be. He was about 18 seconds behind the target at the hairpin and was instructed to push for the second half of the lap. However, he had Perez just ahead of him, who in turn had Ocon ahead. Gasly expressed his frustration, asking, “What is Esteban doing?” in reference to the gap Ocon had created. Gasly crossed the line two seconds before the chequered flag, directly behind Ocon and Perez. Ocon, on used soft tires, was slower than his performance in SQ2 on medium Pirellis, resulting in his seventh-place finish. Perez, on fresh rubber, took eighth place, with Gasly finishing behind him in frustration. Given that Gasly had used soft tires and the Alpine was the fifth-fastest car, it is unlikely that he could have climbed much higher.
These situations are becoming increasingly common in Formula 1 and highlight the issue of cars being sent out of the garage late. This was the downfall of Red Bull, in Perez’s case, and Alpine in Austria.