Fiery failure cost Ferrari more than just an 'easy' 1-2

In Austria, Ferrari were poised to gain meaningful ground on Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, until their engine exploded.

Ferrari won the battle for the Austrian Grand Prix, but they took a devastating hit in the war with their reliability gremlins.

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said post-race that the team must make every effort to solve the problems.

“I am sure we can do it,” he said.

During the race, Charles Leclerc took his first win since April’s Australian Grand Prix, but he wasn’t joined on the podium by teammate Carlos Sainz.

Instead, fewer than 20 laps from the end, Sainz was perched on the side of the circuit, holding his head in his hands, struck down with what was likely an overarching sense of disappointment.

His Ferrari blew up. A spectacular power unit failure engulfed his car in flames.

“It’s difficult to find the right words today,” Sainz said. “It cost the team and myself an important number of points for both championships.”

To be exact, it cost Ferrari 18 points.

It also threw away an opportunity to claw back even more points on Red Bull - who have stretched their advantage in recent months. Between Imola and Canada, they scored six consecutive wins.

A Ferrari 1-2 finish in Austria, which was almost certain until the power unit explosion, would have been the perfect follow-up to Sainz’s maiden win in Britain the week before.

A 1-2 would’ve rewarded Ferrari with 43 points and reduced Red Bull‘s Constructors’ Championship advantage to just 35 points.

That obviously didn’t happen - and so the gap is actually now at 56 points.

Also, had Sainz finished 2nd, he would’ve also drawn level with Sergio Perez in the Drivers’ Championship (for 3rd).

All of this was lost because of an unreliable power unit - an Achilles heel that has hindered Ferrari all season. It is surely their biggest threat to winning this year’s championship.

In Spain and Azerbaijan, Charles Leclerc had to retire from the lead of the race. On both of those occasions, Max Verstappen inherited the wins.

Haas and Alfa Romeo, which both use Ferrari power units, also suffered multiple issues in Monaco. Kevin Magnussen had to retire from the race.

Magnussen had another issue in Austria too.

“I was just praying to God that it wouldn’t blow up, which it didn’t, so I’m super thankful for that,” he said of the power unit after finishing 8th.

After the race in Austria, Charles Leclerc said reliability was a concern, and specifically pointing to his teammate’s retirement, he added: “today shows even more that it is a concern”.

“We really need to look into that to make sure that it does not happen again during the season,” Leclerc said.

Author’s Note: For more on the Ferrari vs Red Bull fight, I wrote this piece below a few months ago when Ferrari was the team to beat. I said that they were setting the pace and then posed a fateful question: Can it stay that way?

The hurdles between Ferrari and a championship