Spielberg follows Silverstone in delivering much-needed intrigue as F1 season reaches halfway stage

The season desperately needed this. After a period of Red Bull domination stretching from late-April to the end of June – and six race victories on the trot – a return to conventional tracks in Europe has spiced up a campaign which was in danger of becoming a formality by the summer break.

Now at the halfway mark, 11 races into a 22-race calendar, Max Verstappen’s 38-point cushion at the top of the world championship table could conceivably have been far greater. Victories at Silverstone and Spielberg could have made the Dutchman realistically uncatchable. Yet two Ferrari wins – one apiece for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc – keeps the race alive and maintains intrigue amid a European mid-season swing which will define which direction Formula One heads in 2022.

Yet look beyond the leaderboard for a moment and the enthralling manner of the racing in the space of the past week or so is the greatest indicator that a Verstappen procession to a second title is far from set in stone. While the aggressive drama of Silverstone will be difficult to match as indisputably the race of the year so far, Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix saw 67 overtakes.

Race-winner Leclerc had to jaunt past Verstappen three times to consolidate his spot at the top of the podium. The new regulations designed to improve wheel-to-wheel racing finally look to be having an impact on the track.

Ferrari’s pace over the course of the weekend was strong and a one-two finish looked inevitable heading into the final 15 laps. But the Prancing Horse’s reliability problems returned, with Sainz’s engine failing and his car rapidly catching fire. It is a problem which is unravelling Ferrari’s hopes in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, alongside questionable strategy calls.

Yet there have been indications in the past two races that the scarlet red can indeed recapture the form shown at the beginning of the season and halfway through, it is significant that Leclerc has in fact led more laps in 2022 than Verstappen; 259 to 253.

Red Bull remain the favourites though, despite a stale Sunday for Verstappen at the team’s home track. A comfortable sprint race triumph on Saturday was not repeated a day later, with Christian Horner revealing that tyre degradation was the source of the world champion’s problems throughout the longest race (in terms of laps) of the season.

Since a retirement in Australia, however, Verstappen has only finished off the podium once and a consistent accumulation of points, week after week, has formed the building block for the defence of his title – something Leclerc must match from here in. Sergio Perez, for a time, looked like a potential contender, too, but incidents such as the first-lap collision with George Russell alongside a P13 qualification placement due to track limit breaches exemplify his shortcomings right at the top of the tree. Still, he plays an invaluable support role in a well-oiled Red Bull behemoth.

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And then there’s Mercedes. Clearly ahead of the midfield but short of the leading duo, Toto Wolff has consistently described his team as in “no man’s land” this season. Yet much like Ferrari, a return to Europe has triggered signs of improvement, with the much-maligned bouncing and porpoising seemingly a feature of the past heading into Circuit Paul Ricard in France in a fortnight.

Lewis Hamilton has recaptured some form in the past month – with three successive podium finishes – and remains the only driver on the grid to have finished every race so far this season. Russell battling up the leaderboard from 19th to fourth under the glare of the Styrian mountains proves the race-pace of the Mercedes is not to be underestimated as well. A grand prix victory this year is most certainly attainable.

So with teams and drivers now enjoying a week off ahead of the final two races in Le Castellet and Budapest before the summer shutdown, what the past week has given us is promising. Because in a sport characterised by one-team domination from 2014-2020, all the momentum of 2021 could have been lost with further Red Bull victories, with competitive action the most essential component for eyeballs around the world.

Silverstone and Spielberg have left us salivating, even expectant, for more battles on the horizon.