"Our main aim for Sunday was to destabilise Verstappen" - Ferrari details how putting 'pressure' on Max Verstappen helped them succeed at 2022 F1 Austrian GP

Ferrari's strategy director Iñaki Rueda revealed that they used Red Bull’s weakness to pressure Max Verstappen during the 2022 F1 Austrian GP. The Maranello-based team identified Red Bull's tire issues and accordingly pressurized the Dutchman during the race, which made his tire compounds wear out quickly.

Speaking in a team debrief video, the Spaniard said:

“Come Sunday for the main race, we knew that one of the biggest problems would be tyre management. We knew that the soft would be too soft for the race, that left us with a race with hards and mediums, and we believed it would be in between a two and three-stop race. Our main aim for Sunday was to destabilise [Max] Verstappen. We were second and third [on the grid], and our aim was to put pressure on Verstappen and persuade him to stop very early for a suboptimal two-stop race.”

According to the Ferrari strategist, they had observed Red Bull’s weakness at the Austrian circuit, which was their tire degradation, which helped them chalk out a strategy to destabilize Max Verstappen in the race. Rueda revealed that they deliberately had Charles Leclerc pressuring the Dutchman so that the driver would be forced to pit for tires before them most of the time.

Revealing more of the strategy to outsmart Red Bull, the 43-year-old Ferrari man said:

“Charles [Leclerc] put [on] enough pressure to actually overtake Verstappen, and Carlos [Sainz] was coming to overtake him. This persuaded Verstappen to stop very early, as early as Lap 13. This was too early for an optimum two-stop race, so we had reached our first objective.”

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Ferrari are confident they will be able to get ahead of their reliability woes

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto revealed they have new and improved parts on their powertrain to avoid future power unit and supply train failures on their cars. Addressing Carlos Sainz's retirement after the 2022 F1 Austrian GP, the Italian believes that the engine blow-up is a concern but is confident they will be able to resolve the issue.

Speaking to RaceFans and on-site media after the Spielberg race, Binotto said:

“I think we’ve got only two engine failures so far. Obviously, we need to look at what happened today. Is it the same we had already as the one in Baku with Charles? Very likely... It’s certainly a concern. But the people back at Maranello are working very hard trying to fix them, which is not solved yet and obviously looking at what happened to Carlos, it has not been solved yet. But we have new elements and I know how strong they are working, how good they are, and then I can count on them that it will be addressed very soon, hopefully as soon as possible.”

The reliability issue that caused Sainz to retire from the 2022 F1 Austrian GP has dented his title hopes just a week after he won the 2022 F1 British GP. The Maranello team’s biggest weakness has been their reliability issues, which have been prominent over the last few race weekends. Ferrari are currently 56 points behind Red Bull in the constructors' championship halfway through the F1 season.