Austrian Grand Prix: a challenge for cars and drivers alike

Eleventh race on the 2024 calendar, the Austrian Grand Prix will welcome F1 drivers this week at the legendary Red Bull Ring. Located in the municipality of Spielberg, the circuit takes advantage of the beautiful Styria hills and offers a breathtaking landscape for the many fans who have come to witness the event.

This year, the Austrian Grand Prix takes over from the Spanish Grand Prix won by Max Verstappen. This fast and technical circuit promises an intense competition that will start right from the qualifying session.

The Spielberg circuit

Inaugurated in 1969 under the name Österreichring, the circuit has been hosting the Austrian Grand Prix since 1970. Victim of numerous renovations, notably in 1996 and more recently in 2006 after its acquisition by Red Bull, it was long neglected. Deemed dangerous, it was abandoned several times before making its official comeback to the calendar in 2014 under the name of Red Bull Ring.

Currently, the circuit measures 4.318 km and will have to be traveled 71 times on Sunday. It is one of the shortest circuits still on the calendar. It includes 10 corners that integrate into the middle of many straight lines. The challenge for the teams is not only to have a good strategy, but also to have a racing car capable of reaching a high top speed to make overtaking maneuvers in these long straight lines with an open DRS. This circuit mixes tight corners and long fast corners highly soliciting all the characteristics of the cars on the grid.

Despite Max Verstappen’s 4 wins, it is Valtteri Bottas who holds the record for the fastest lap with a time of 1:02.939 set during the 2020 qualifying session.

What can be expected from the race

While the name of the winner of the championship this year may not be so obvious, what is certain is that the competition in Austria starts from the qualifying rounds. With two races this weekend, the Sprint session and the traditional race, it is an opportunity for the lagging teams to climb up the hierarchy and score big points.

But the Austrian track, magnified by its famous bull, is not an easy beast to tame. Due to its short distance, the Red Bull Ring is known to be one of the most challenging circuits in terms of traffic: « There are circuits where it is very easy to control traffic, while others are much harder to manage […] it will be difficult in Austria […] because it’s a short track, only four kilometers, everyone is trying to find gaps. But well, you also don’t want to hinder anyone » reported Pierre Gasly during the press conference on Thursday in 2023.

Despite everything, the Red Bull Ring remains a preferred circuit for test sessions and a crucial stage on the calendar. Thanks to its affiliation with the Red Bull team, the Red Bull Ring attracts many fans every year and this is unlikely to stop, especially after the modifications made to the circuit this week. However, we can still expect to see penalties for exceeding track limits again, as during last year’s race weekend.