Howdy, MiniFans! Yesterday’s S-Race didn’t disappoint, with its short length filled with overtakes, battles and drama, but none as spectacular as the first turn incident, which ended up with both McLarens out, helping Verstappen in his quest to a title that seemed out of reach just a few races ago. Lucky for them, the repairs were easy enough and they were both on track for a qualifying session that went way better for Norris, who was only behind a magnificent Verstappen, than for Piastri, who had to make do with sixth place and a handful of fast cars in between hi drvierm and his championship rivals.
The high temperatures didn’t manage to get Leclerc away from a soft tyre that helped him get pararel to Norris in the first corner on the outside and eventually get past. He tried to do the same on Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver’s experience allowed him to take advantage of the short battle happening behind him to start opening a gap. Behind, Piastri had managed to get past Russell, dropping the number of cars between him and his teammate from three to one, but the Brit didn’t back down and stayed in the DRS zone even when he wasn’t finding a gap to regain his grid position.
Leclerc’s softs barely lasted three laps before Norris caught back up. A fight broke out, benefitting Verstappen as they both lost time and Hamilton kept a close eye, but the Monegasque still had a trick or two up his sleeve. He managed to shake Norris off and drop him out of his DRS zone before a virtual safety car came out. A crash between Sainz and Antonelli, with the Spaniard trying to overtake the Italian and colliding in the apex, prompted the slowing down of the race in order for marshalls to be able to retreive the Williams from the side of the track, whereas the Mercedes wobbled back to the pits, his damage easily repaired.
The restart had Hamilton very close to Norris, who had to start looking in the mirrors for the red blob until he could drop him and get back to his purpose of catching up to Leclerc, who had been the most benefited by the VSC, as his softs got a break. The gaps in the top ten had widened to the point that mostly everyone was now conserving tyres: the few that had chosen the hards to start weren’t having a great time, prompting everyone to try and avoid them by going further with their mediums. Meanwhile, only one driver seemed to be struggling with tyres to the point of the one behind him noticing: Piastri’s comment over the radio was amplified by Russell, who quickly let his team know of his observations. The other McLaren was having a better time, as fifteen laps in, Leclerc’s tyres finally seem to be hitting the end of their life.
Leclerc’s defense was remarkable despite his struggles, protecting his position fighting tooth and nail, clearly knowing Norris couldn’t exactly take many risks, at least in theory, with his track limits hitting three warnings with less than half the race having gone by. The first few attemps were unsuccessful, and as he kept on trying to find a spot, his teammate started to get good news, with praise from the team for his tyre management. Norris was promptly informed of his black and white flag for track limits as Ferrari pitted Leclerc after a close call with Hamilton, avoiding telling them to change positions.
Leclerc pitting raised a few questions: How much management was everyone doing with their mediums? Could his own set of fresh yellow tyres last to the end? Could Norris catch up to Verstappen? Each driver’s tyre management would be key in answering them, as Norris wasn’t exactly closing in on Verstappen, but Hamilton could not keep up with him either, dropping several seconds behind. Leclerc’s fresher set was allowing him to put in faster times than those on older sets, overtaking the midfielders who understood it wasn’t their battle, and putting pressure on Norris.
McLaren needed to turn their eyes to Piastri and, in their usual stride, asked his opinion on the strategy to follow. Bowing to him, they pitted him before Russell to try their hand at an undercut. In a similar fashion, it seemed like it was Norris asking to pit, whom a slow stop added to the already lost time dropped him behind Leclerc. Verstappen soon followed into the pits, also opting for a soft tyre that was now the norm, with only Leclerc differing at the front.
With twenty laps to go, Russell started to hack at the gap to Piastri, who seemed to still be struggling despite the tyre change, while Norris had his sight locked on Leclerc. The McLaren’s softs had a very small window where they’d be better than Leclerc’s mediums, so he was slightly forced to make an early move or it’d be much harder later. The extra grip gave him an advantage that he hadn’t had at the start, but now there was one extra point of contention: one more track limit would mean a penalty, so an overtake needed to be planned to perfection. He took his time so much that he eventually dropped behind as his tyres lost the edge they had at the start. Verstappen wasn’t exactly having the time of his life either, complaining about sliding a lot on the soft compound and being adviced to take care of the set, as it still needed to do a bit over ten laps to cross the finish line. He quickly adapted and kept the gap to Leclerc stable, whereas McLaren needed to coach Norris through it, reassuring him that he still had the pace despite his feelings.
The pep talk seemed to work at the beginning, with the gap dropping to under two seconds, but Leclerc responded with a fastest personal time, keeping him at bay temporarily. Norris did catch up eventually, but it was a repeat of their earlier encounter: needing extra care due to the track limits warning, the Brit couldn’t just let the brakes go, but rather work at finding a gap that would let him through. His first attempt, in turn one, almost ended up with him going off track, but Leclerc’s quick thinking got him back in front. The second attempt did stick, with Norris bravely getting into the dirty side of the back straight, but the risk paid off. Leclerc’s instructions were now to keep the pressure on as much as possible, but Norris managed to shake him off pretty quickly, securing second behind Verstappen, both shortening the distance to the championship leader, and leaving Leclerc in third as the three of them cruised to the finish line.
In a weekend where McLaren had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, Verstappen became their nightmare again. The Red Bull driver, now with a better machine thanks to a new floor that has erased some of the problems the car was causing, has locked in for the last part of the season, making it look like recent years instead of the season where McLaren has secured the constructor’s title with many races to go. There’s five weekends left on the calendar and only forty points splitting the top three, with the pursuer stronger than the chased, setting us up for an exciting last leg of the calendar.
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