The Belgian driver is the only one in history to have obtained pole position, victory in the Sprint Race and in the GP with fastest lap. But in Zeltweg he can even surpass himself
How do you drive a Formula 1 car at 110% for an entire race weekend, both in terms of concentration and performance? The only truly qualified to give us an answer could only be Max Verstappen, who in the sprint weekend of the Austrian GP in Zeltweg goes in search of the first four-pointer in the history of the GPs: after hitting the pole position on Friday, the world champion he brought home the best time in the Sprint Shootout and in the 100km mini-race on Saturday. If he were to confirm himself again today after 71 laps of the Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, it would be (another) record for Max.
the precedent of Imola
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It would certainly be a first, but it shouldn’t be surprising: on the other hand, the new format of the F1 Sprint weekend, with two qualifying sessions and two races in a single weekend, made its debut in Baku just a few weeks ago and reviewed here in Austria, where the second of the six “special” GPs on the calendar is being held. Yet, there is already a precedent in which a driver has dominated all the sessions that count in a sprint weekend, and it is always Verstappen: the Red Bull home champion had in fact collected pole positions, won the short race and the GP at Imola in 2022, in a weekend that had relaunched him in the race against his rival Charles Leclerc.
the super grand chelem
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The example of the Emilia-Romagna GP last season is also the only one in the history of F1 in which a driver managed to hit what we could define as the “Super” Grand Chelem, with pole position, victory and remaining in the lead for the whole race, fastest lap and, of course, also success in the Sprint. Until today, because the Dutch ace can even surpass himself, given that in Zeltweg he also took pole position in Saturday morning’s Shootout qualifying. Of course, to separate Max from the umpteenth career record that (also thanks to the state of grace of his Red Bull) seems to meet no limits, there will still be the 71 laps of the Austrian GP which starts today at 15.00, but the performances shown until at the moment in Zeltweg they don’t seem to leave much hope for their rivals.
towards perfection
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Again, the best thing is to let the numbers do the talking: Verstappen was the fastest in the first and only free practice on Friday, then he set the fastest time in Q1, Q2 and Q3, repeating himself also in the Q2 and Q3 Shootout of Saturday morning (Carlos Sainz was the fastest in SQ1) before dominating the Sprint Race from the first to the last of the 24 laps. The orange tide that colors the Red Bull Ring grandstands is waiting for Max to give an encore in the race: it would be 72 hours of domination without leaving (almost) anything to the opponents.
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