Austrian Grand Prix Archives

F1/Round 11: Preview & Sprint Race Results of 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Austria/9 pm in Malaysia

After the dramatic British Grand Prix at Silverstone last week, the F1 teams crossed the English Channel to head to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix, Round 11 of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship. For this round, a Sprint Race has been included which will be run on Saturday. This is the second Sprint race of the year, following the one at Imola in April.

The short race with a 100-km distance proved popular with drivers and spectators when it was first run at the British GP last year. Being run over a shorter distance, drivers will be flat out from start to finish, with no pit stops needed during the 24 laps. The best effort will be necessary as the finishing order will determine the starting positions for the main race (not the positions in Qualifying), so there is a chance to improve on the position gained in Qualifying. There are also points for the top three finishers of the race. There are also points for the top 8 finishers which are added to the overall championship points.

Although Austria has had a World Championship Grand Prix 35 times since 1964, it has not always been held at the Red Bull Ring. The Red Bull Ring was originally known as the Osterreichring and hosted the Austrian GP continuously from 1970 to 1987, as well as from 1997 to 2003. It was later bought over by Red Bull’s co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz and, after being renovated, renamed as the Red Bull Ring in 2013. From 2014, F1 rounds were held at the track as the Austrian GP and last year, the Styrian GP was also held there.

Each lap of the 4.318-km circuit is covered in two distinct sections. The layout has just 10 corners, so it is short and sharp and also a rollercoaster as it is on a hillside with constant elevation changes. Though it is not the shortest track, the Red Bull Ring has the shortest lap time of all the circuits in the 2022 calendar. The faster drivers will be crossing the start/finish line in just over minute. This allows them to do more laps, both in the practice sessions and in qualifying – provided they have enough sets of tyres.

“The asphalt at the Red Bull Ring offers reasonably low grip on a low-severity circuit, which makes it possible to bring the softest tyres in the range. This helps us in putting the focus on entertainment, at a venue that has often delivered exciting races in the past, thanks to a busy and compact lap that’s essentially a series of short corners. Our tyre nomination makes a variety of different potential strategies possible,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director.

The track puts huge demands on a car’s handling while, at the same time, demands good mechanical grip at low speeds and excellent performance at high speed. Ultimately, the engineers have to find a compromise when setting up the racing car and dial in the right amount of downforce.

*Gear positions and cornering speeds of Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS cars.*

There are 3 very hard braking zones in succession on the approaches to Turns 1, 3 and 4, and the brakes are unable to cool down sufficiently over the rest of the track as the lap is relatively short. This impacts the maximum pressure and general wear and tear experienced. For that reason, teams have to apply as much cooling as possible to the brakes, so the front tyres hardly get warmed up at all.

The Red Bull Ring is also notorious for its aggressive kerbs and is considered to be one of the toughest tests for the suspension. This applies especially to the kerbs at the exits of T1, T6 and T7, which take an exceptionally high toll on the cars because of their frequency (ie the gap between the highest and lowest points of the kerbs) and the speeds at which they are taken.

THE SPRINT RACE
There was a bit of confusion as the race was about to start and there was a short delay which meant another formation lap for the cars. In that time, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso had his car pushed back to the pits and he would not race, while Alfa Romeo’s Zhou GuanYu had engine problems that saw him having to start from the pitlane.

So 18 cars were on the starting grid when the lights went out, and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen – starting from pole position, got ahead of the rest. In the first few corners, the two Ferrari drivers exchanged positions with Carlos Sainz taking second initially and then losing it to team mate Charles Leclerc.

Sergio Perez, the other Red Bull, had cut through traffic to move 5 positions up from starting at 13th place. Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton had a poor start and dropped back to 11th behind Williams Racing’s Alex Albon. However, the other Mercedes-AMG driver, George Russell, was taking on Sainz.

By the 7th lap, Verstappen was pulling away, taking advantage of the duel between the two Ferrari drivers for second place. Russell was watching and watching for a chance to slip past as well. On the same lap, at TuRn 3, Albon caught the attention of the Stewards as he pushed McLaren’s Lando Norris off the track and he was given a 5-second penalty.

Perez was working very hard to move forward, passing Hass F1’s Kevin Magnussen to get to sixth and having Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in his sights.

On lap 11, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel slid into the gravel at the exit of Turn 6 after coming into contact with Albon’s car. Fortunately, he was not stuck and was able to get back onto the track but had dropped way down to 19th.

Down in ninth place, Hamilton was trying hard to overtake Michael Schumacher’s son, Mick, was who in the Haas F1. But the young German driver was able to hold off the 7-time world champion who must be finding it a new experience having to challenge youngesters.

With 3 laps remaining, Hamilton was still stuck behind Schumacher and complaining about it. Finally on lap 21, he managed to take over Schumacher’s position but the race was nearing the end anyway. But at least he would get one point at the end of the race which saw Verstappen taking the chequered flag.

F1/Round 9: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

As the cars lined up on the starting grid, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel did not take the eighth position he qualified in as he was given a 3-place penalty due to obstruction to Alpine’s Fernando Alonso during qualifying. This moved him down to 11th place.

Spectators were allowed into the Red Bull Ring, a big contrast from last year when the stands were empty. A large contingent of Dutch fans were cheering for Max Verstappen, who started from pole position.

As the lights turned green, the Red Bull driver got off to a great start up the slope, as McLaren’s Lando Norris dived in behind. However, Turn 3 saw Esteban Ocon caught between Haas F1’s Michael Schumacher and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, which resulted in his suspension being damaged and disabling his car.

Out came the Safety Car to convoy the racers as crews worked to get the Alpine out of the way, the first non-finisher of the race. Pirelli said the early Safety Car would favour the soft tyre runners by reducing wear and degradation at a crucial point in the race, when the cars were full of fuel.

The clearing operation was quick and by lap 4, the Safety Car was back in, and racing resumed. Verstappen shot off, and Norris found Sergio Perez, who had closed in while in convoy, starting to pressure him for the position. But the McLaren driver held his place tight and Perez had no choice but to go wide – into the gravel – and dropped down the field to around tenth. His departure allowed Lewis Hamilton to slot into third place.

The incident between Norris and Perez attracted the attention of the Stewards who discussed it and decided that the McLaren driver would receive a 5-second penalty. The news probably distracted Norris and additional bad news was that Hamilton had managed to sneak past him as well. As Hamilton took over second place, his team mate Valtteri Bottas started to close in on Norris as well, aiming to move him another place down.

Verstappen was 10 seconds away from Hamilton and was nearing the back markers, so things would get tricky.

On lap 31, Norris and Bottas came into the pits together. With the time penalty Norris had to serve, Bottas was able to get off ahead of the McLaren back onto the track. Verstappen also came in for hard tyres.

At the halfway mark, only two drivers – Carlos Sainz and Kimi Raikkonen – had yet to come into the pits. Both had started on hard tyres. All the other drivers had come in and returned, and Verstappen had a lead of 15 seconds.

The duel for seventh was a close fight between McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. As the Ferrari driver tried to get past Perez, contact occurred and Leclerc got bumped off into the gravel. Commentators expected that Perez would – or should – get the same penalty as Norris as the incident was largely similar.

On lap 47, Leclerc had caught up with Perez and tried again to get past – and the same departure from the track occurred! Perez was simply refusing to give up his sixth position.

As for Hamilton, damage to the rear end of the car was affecting his progress and the 20-second gap from Verstappen was way too big. Bottas was right behind and was asked not to hassle his team mate. In the end, the team decided that Nottas would go after Verstappen and Hamilton would try to prevent Norris from getting past.

But on lap 54, Norris slipped past Hamilton and that brought Hamilton in to switch to hard tyres. The pit stop didn’t lose him the fourth place but extended the gap to 21 seconds.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda Tsunoda was having a bad day. After one 5-second penalty for a pit lane infringement, he was again given a second one on lap 57 as he left the pit lane incorrectly.

With a 26-second lead, Verstappen could even come back in for another set of hard tyres to be on the safe side, and kept his position as 10 laps remained.

Leclerc’s forced excursions into the gravel had let Ricciardo grab sixth position and he was desperately fighting to move up as Perez kept moving further away.

As 4 laps remained and Verstappen’s win was almost assured, attention was on Williams’ George Russell who was performing impressively to move up to tenth, but Alonso was aiming to displace him. Alonso, the old driver had the experience but Russell was showing a lot of determination too. But on lap 68, the Alpine driver outsmarted him at Turn 4 and got by, denying the British driver of the points position.

In the closing stages of the race, as attention was focussed at the front, there was drama at the back as Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen collided, with both cars heading off into the gravel.

The Dutchman took the chequered flag again, making it four wins and though his race was fairly easy, he still set the fastest lap to claim and extra point.

F1/Round 9: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Austria/9 pm in Malaysia

As in 2020, when the Formula 1 World Championship calendar had to be revised and compressed into a 6-month period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Bull Ring in Austria is holding two rounds back to back. However, this year, the Styrian Grand Prix last Sunday was the first round and this weekend will see the Austrian Grand Prix as the second round.

Last week’s Styrian Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen beating Lewis Hamilton again, extending his lead in the Drivers Championship as well as his Red Bull Racing Team’s against the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Team. The Dutchman now has 156 points, 18 points ahead of the reigning World Champion. Red Bull Racing, with 252 points, has a 40-point lead.

*Max Verstappen winning at the Styrian Grand Prix at the same track last Sunday.*

A second race at the hillside circuit should see the small margins between rivals becoming even tighter. The teams have lots of data from last week and the weather conditions look likely to be similar, so strategies will be refined for the 71-lap race.

Made up of just 10 corners, the 4.318-km Red Bull Ring’s compact configuration and sequence of high-speed straights accents power delivery and traction ouf of the low-speed corners that link the three straights.

Different tyre offerings from Pirelli
A factor in the quest for that traction is Pirelli’s switch from the C2-C4 compounds used last Sunday, to a C3-C5 hard to soft spread for this weekend. Track temperatures though will certainly influence the tyre life – especially on the softs – and therefore the strategy.

“As expected with the softer compounds, we had some graining on the soft tyre in particular, which suggests that we might see some quite different strategies compared to last weekend: the whole idea behind changing the nomination for the second race weekend here,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing.

History of Austrian Grand Prix
Unlike the Styrian Grand Prix, which is only in its second year in 2021, the Austrian Grand Prix has been run 34 times as a F1 event, having started in 1964. In its first year, it was run at a disused airfield, and the moved to Osterreichring in 1970. Between 1997 and 2003, it was run at the A1-Ring and then moved to the Red Bull Ring in 2014.

Alain Prost has been the most successful driver in the event, having won 3 times – one with Renault and two with McLaren. Past winners who will be on the starting grid this Sunday will be Max Verstappen (2018 and 2019), Valtteri Bottas (2017) and Lewis Hamilton (2016).

The National Vaccination Program in Malaysia is free of charge.

F1 – Turkish Grand Prix cancelled, 2 races to be run in Austria

The Turkish Grand Prix, which was to replace the cancelled Canadian GP, has also been postponed and will possibly be cancelled altogether. Most of the F1 teams are based in the UK and stricter travel restrictions (imposed recently by the UK) relating to Turkey make it difficult for the teams to travel there.

The race promoters hoped that the situation will change later on and a new date on the 2021 calendar can be scheduled. This development means that there will again be two races in Austria, like last year. The first will be the Styrian Grand Prix on June 27, and the second will be the Austrian Grand Prix on July 4. Both races will be run at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

*Last year’s Turkish Grand Prix was a wet one,*

*This weekend, F1 will be back on the streets of twisty Monaco street circuit after not being able to run in 2020.*

This weekend will see the fifth round run in Monaco, which was forced to cancel last year due to worsening COVID-19 pandemic conditions. It was one of 7 races on the 22-round calendar which had to be cancelled.

2020 F1 championship to start in July with up to 18 races planned in 6 months

While the World Rally Championship managed to run its first three rounds this year before the rest of the series was suspended, the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship was not so lucky. Just as the opening round in Australia was about to start on March 15, a member of one of the teams was found to be infected with the COVID-19 virus. Earlier, some of the drivers had already been unhappy about proceeding with the race but flew to Australia anyway. And as things turned out, the Australian government clamped down on gatherings which forced the race to be cancelled.

Earlier, the organizers of the Chinese GP had already informed the FIA that they had to postpone their event scheduled for April. The pandemic was at its height in Wuhan and running a race was not a good idea. Bahrain also announced that it would run a race but not allow spectators into the circuit, relying on TV and internet to broadcast the race that was to run on March 22.

F1 China — *The 2020 Chinese GP, to have been held this month in Shanghai, was the first round to be postponed as the pandemic worsened.*

As the pandemic worsened globally, Bahrain and then Vietnam announced that their events would be postponed. Eventually, the first 7 races of the season would not be run as lockdown conditions in the European venues made them impossible. There was hope that the races could start in Canada but earlier this month, the organizers of that event also said they had to postpone.

Next on the list was the French GP, scheduled for June 28. However, this too won’t be possible as the French government will not allow major events until at least the middle of July. So that’s 10 events that have not been run. While accepting that safety issues are a priority, the teams must not only be frustrated by also under financial pressures with their sponsors and partners also facing challenges.

The eleventh round is scheduled to be held in Austria at the Red Bull Ring on July 5. Chase Carey, the CEO of the F1 Group which manages the business side of the sport, has expressed confidence that racing in Europe will start from July in Austria. Rescheduling will see the other races resuming in Eurasia, Asia and the Americas and finish in the Middle East venues of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. It total, he expects 15 to 18 races to be run by December.

Red Bull Ring Austria — The first race is planned to be held at the Red Bull Ring in Austria but it will be a closed event, so there won’t be the huge crowds that usually turn up to watch. The same condition has also been planned for the British GP at Silverstone.

“We expect the early races to be without fans but hope fans will be part of our events as we move further into the schedule. We still have to work out many issues like the procedures for the teams and our other partners to enter and operate in each country. The health and safety of all involved will continue to be priority one and we will only go forward if we are confident we have reliable procedures to address both risks and possible issues,” said Carey.

“While we have been moving forward with our 2020 plans, we have also been working hard with the FIA and the teams to strengthen the long term future of Formula 1 through an array of new technical, sporting, and financial regulations that will improve the competition and action on the track and make it a healthier business for all involved, particularly as we engage the issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

Ferrari — *Initial plans are for no spectators and only essential team members who will have to be screened for their health condition before being allowed in.*

On the part of the FIA, the governing body of motorsport, the only statements have been that they are ‘closely monitoring the evolving situation with its Member Clubs and relevant authorities including Governments and WHO, under the direction of FIA Medical Commission President’.

COVID-19 pandemic disrupts motorsports around the world

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