Austrian GP – The Captain Claims His Crown

The picturesque hills of Spielberg played host to a weekend of pure drama, redemption, and rivalry as the Formula 1 Co-Op Season rolled into Austria for its sixth round of the season. At the heart of it all: two lifelong friends turned fierce competitors, racing side by side in Ferrari red—Kruimel and The Captain.

Coming into the Red Bull Ring, Kruimel held a commanding 49-point lead in the championship, and with the third sprint weekend of the season on the cards, it was yet another opportunity for him to tighten his grip on the title race. But The Captain, still recovering from a frustrating Canadian GP, had other plans.

Sprint Qualifying: Ferrari Lockout

The weekend began with a statement from Maranello. In Sprint Qualifying, it quickly became clear that the Ferraris were in a league of their own. Kruimel narrowly edged out The Captain by just 0.149 seconds, with both drivers four-tenths clear of the rest of the grid. Verstappen, Leclerc, and Alonso rounded out the top five, but it was clear the real battle was between the two scarlet cars on the front row.

Sprint Race: Verstappen Capitalizes, The Captain Cracks

A clean getaway saw both Ferraris working in tandem to shut the door on a fast-starting Verstappen. While they maintained position early, they couldn’t pull away. Verstappen and Leclerc remained menacingly close. The intra-team duel began in earnest by lap 3, with The Captain overtaking Kruimel using DRS—only for Kruimel to take the lead right back on the next straight.

The Ferrari squabble allowed Verstappen to pounce, momentarily taking second from The Captain, though he quickly reclaimed the place. On lap 6, The Captain surged past Kruimel again, this time finally breaking Verstappen’s DRS chain.

Then came heartbreak. Pushing hard to build a gap, The Captain took too much kerb in Turn 6 and lost the rear. He spun, rejoined in P8, and was out of contention. Verstappen slipped by Kruimel on the final lap to win in front of his home crowd, with Leclerc finishing third.

Kruimel had salvaged a strong P2, while The Captain was left nursing bruised pride.

Qualifying: Redemption and a Front Row Repeat

Qualifying for the Grand Prix saw a near repeat of the sprint shootout—only this time, the stakes were higher. Once again, it was a Ferrari front row lockout. The Captain seemed destined for pole until Kruimel, in the final seconds, put together a flawless lap to snatch it away. The Aston Martins and Red Bulls followed, but none could match the Ferrari firepower. The battle lines were drawn for Sunday.

Grand Prix: The Captain’s Masterclass

The Austrian GP started under clear skies, and the Ferrari duo launched cleanly off the line. The Captain gave Kruimel room through Turn 1, and the pair emerged with a small buffer thanks to a chaotic first corner involving both Aston Martins and Verstappen.

With over a second’s gap to the rest of the field by the end of lap one, the focus shifted to the fight for the lead. Kruimel set the pace, while The Captain stalked him with DRS in hand. On lap 4, the pass came—The Captain swept past with a strong move into Turn 2.

Kruimel stayed close but couldn’t immediately strike back. The Ferrari pit wall handed strategy priority to The Captain, who opted to extend his stint. Kruimel pitted first on lap 11, only to suffer a disastrous 5.0-second stop and rejoin behind traffic. The Captain pitted two laps later, but his stop was also poor—4.7 seconds—and he rejoined just ahead of Kruimel.

The fight resumed immediately. Kruimel, on warmer tyres, closed the gap and launched an attack into Turn 2 on lap 16. The Captain defended brilliantly and used DRS to reclaim the lead by Turn 3.

Lap 18 brought chaos. Another attack by Kruimel into Turn 2 was followed by contact at the exit—The Captain misjudged the closing speed and clipped the rear of Kruimel’s car, losing a piece of his front wing. Both continued, though The Captain now had damage.

Despite that, he refused to yield. He stayed within striking range, planning his final counterattack. On lap 23, The Captain reclaimed the lead once more with a perfectly timed DRS pass. Kruimel opted not to defend, aiming to respond in the final lap.

But The Captain had studied his rival. Into the final lap, he braked early into Turn 1, gaining better traction on exit and destabilizing Kruimel’s line. It worked. Kruimel lost precious tenths and entered the DRS straight 0.7 seconds behind—just enough for The Captain to hold firm.

He crossed the line in P1. 0.187 seconds ahead of his teammate. Lando Norris finished a distant third, 11 seconds adrift.

Reactions: A Victory Three Seasons in the Making

Kruimel was magnanimous in defeat: “He won it in Turn 1 of the last lap. I had a plan, but he read it perfectly. He deserves this.”

For The Captain, the emotions were overwhelming. “I’ve done it! I’ve finally done it! I beat Kruimel fair and square. I knew what he would try and I had an answer. We still need to fix our pit stops, but today, I just want to enjoy this.”

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur praised both drivers: “An incredible weekend for us. We dominated qualifying, and while our pit stops were unacceptable, our drivers delivered. We couldn’t ask for more.”

Championship Picture: The Gap Narrows

Despite the sprint disaster, The Captain claws back two points on Kruimel and jumps both Aston Martins in the standings. Alonso finished P7, while Leclerc retired with mechanical failure. The Captain now sits P2 in the championship.

But the real story is this: The Captain has finally proven he can beat Kruimel on raw pace and racecraft in equal machinery. The long shadow cast by his childhood friend just got a little shorter.

Next stop: Belgium, where the battle between Ferrari’s titans will resume.