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Formula 1 Qatar Airways Austrian Grand Prix 2024 Race Start, Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. 2025 Austrian GP Preview, Austrian Grand Prix Preview, Formula 1 Austria Preview, 2025 F1 Austria Preview.
2025 Austrian GP Preview – After George Russell scored his first victory of the 2025 season for the Silver Arrows at the Canadian GP and his initial since last campaign’s Las Vegas GP, round 11 of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Red Bull Ring this weekend in Spielberg, Austria for the Formula 1 MSC Cruises Austrian Grand Prix 2025. This will be the 38th running of the Austrian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the sport began in 1950. This is a double header weekend with the British Grand Prix.
2024 Austrian GP Preview – A look at the Red Bull Ring
The Red Bull Ring (Formerly A1-Ring) is a permanent racing facility in Spielberg, Styria, Austria.
The race circuit was founded as Österreichring and hosted the Formula One Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from 1970 to 1987. It was later shortened, rebuilt and renamed the A1-Ring, it hosted the Austrian Grand Prix again from 1997 to 2003. When Formula One outgrew the circuit, a plan was drawn up to extend the layout. Parts of the circuit, including the pits and main grandstand, were demolished, but construction work was stopped, and the circuit remained unusable for a few years before it was purchased by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz and rebuilt. It was renamed the Red Bull Ring, and the track was reopened on 15 May 2011 and hosted a round of the 2011 DTM Season and a round of the 2011 F2 Championship.
The old Österreichring was often referred to as being located at Zeltweg, which is bigger and better known. However, the circuit was only modified and never relocated.
In addition, the one-off 1964 Austrian Grand Prix was held at Zeltweg Airfield, so the name was already known.
The Red Bull Ring is a medium downforce circuit featuring fast straights and slow and medium-speed corners with historically just the first three taken in low gear. As such, lap times were low with sub-1:10s lap. Average speeds were high, with the 2003 race seeing Michael Schumacher win with an average speed of 213km/h.
The circuit runs in a clockwise direction and is 4.318km (2.683 miles) in length with ten corners.
The race distance is 306.452km with 71 laps in total.
Carlos Sainz holds the fastest lap record of the circuit set at the 2020 event with a 1:05.619 in his McLaren Racing-Renault MCL35.
Three-time World Champion Max Verstappen holds the record for most wins in Austria with four to his name.
Ferrari is the most successful constructor in Austria with seven victories to their name.
2025 Austrian GP Preview – Onboard Pole Lap of the Red Bull Ring
Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Red Bull Ring from last year’s event set by Max Verstappen in his Red Bull Racing RB20 RBPT-Honda. The Dutchman posted a solid 1:04.314, which you can watch right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dogj-U9_XoI
2025 Austrian GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2024: George Russell, Mercedes AMG F1. 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2022: Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari. 2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2020: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1.
2025 Austrian GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing to Austria this weekend the softest tyres in its range, the white side-walled C3 Hards, the yellow-branded C4 Mediums and the red-marked C5 Soft rubber along with the green-marked Intermediates and blue-branded Full Wet compounds in-case of rain.
Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two of the harder tyres.
2025 Austrian GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be three DRS Zones at the Red Bull Ring. The first zone detection point is 160 metres before turn one, with the activation point 102 metres after turn one. The second zone’s detection point is 40 metres before turn three with the activation point 100 metres after turn three. The final DRS zone’s detection point is 151 metres before turn ten with the activation point 106 metres after turn ten.
2025 Austrian GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Russell captures Canadian GP victory as both McLaren’s tangle
Mercedes’ George Russell scored victory in a dramatic Canadian GP, which saw McLaren championship contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris collide as the latter retired, and the race ended under the safety car. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen crossed the line second as Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his first-career podium for the Silver Arrows.
This was Russell’s first victory since the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix and a solid 1-3 result for the Silver Arrows with a win and third placed result with Antonelli’s becoming the third youngest driver to score a podium.
In terms of the Driver’s Championship as a result of the collision between the two McLaren drivers, Piastri’s lead over his team-mate Norris increased to 22 points (198-76).
When the 70-lap Canadian GP began, pole-sitter Russell got a solid start to cover Verstappen into turn one as all drivers managed to get through turns one and two unscathed.
Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli managed to overtake Piastri around the inside into turn three to move up into third place.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg made his way up into ninth, passing Williams’ Alexander Albon who went wide and caught Alpine’s Franco Colapinto out.
At the beginning of the second tour, Russell held a 0.783 second lead over Verstappen with Antonelli holding third, Piastri fourth, Hamilton fifth, Alonso sixth, Norris seventh, Leclerc eighth, Hulkenberg ninth as Colapinto completed the top ten.
On the third lap, Verstappen was within a second of Russell, had DRS at this stage of proceedings. Antonelli was starting to fall back, and this would compromise Piastri’s race as a result. Hamilton was all over the back of the McLaren, and a DRS train was already forming in the top 10. But overheating would become an issue in the not too distant future of the race.
Russell was pushing hard out there to build a lead, but he had Verstappen in tow. And there were question marks over how long these mediums would last. Verstappen was able to hang in the dirty air, he was just half a second back. Antonelli had dropped 1.7 seconds back.
Russell’s lead at lap five was at 0.569 seconds over Verstappen who remained in DRS range with Antonelli third, Piastri fourth as Hamilton rounded out the top five.
Piastri looked set to play the long game, in management mode and keeping his medium compounds alive. The Australian was 1.5 seconds behind Antonelli and would be a factor later on in the Grand Prix.
Norris on the hards was down in seventh, his C4 harder tyres likely to come into their own in a few laps.
Russell cannot shake Verstappen on lap six. They are on the same compound the mediums, and their tyres the same age. And the reigning world champion was able to stay in the dirty air. His tyres would surely overheat at some point – but Russell was having to push harder than he wants to. And Mercedes are not always kind to their tyres in the higher temperatures.
On the eighth tour, second-placed Verstappen was out of DRS range from race leader Russell with the former’s mediums crying out for fresh air and had fallen 1.3 seconds off the Mercedes.
The gap went up by 0.5 seconds on lap 10 as Russell’s lead increased to 1.842 over Verstappen with Antonelli third, Piastri fourth, Hamilton fifth, Alonso sixth, Norris seventh, Leclerc eighth, Hulkenberg ninth as Colapinto completed the top ten.
In the battle for sixth, Alonso ran wide at the hairpin as Norris slipped up the inside and with DRS the latter jumped up to take the position on the back straight before they reached the final chicane.
Verstappen had just radioed to say his tyres “are not good, very fragile.” As he tried to protect them, Antonelli had closed up and might have had DRS next time around. Mercedes pulling a brilliant movement here.
On the 12th tour Antonelli had a look on Verstappen was the first driver to pit on lap 13 as the latter dived into the pits for a fresh set of the C4 white side-walled harder compound and emerged in ninth place behind Hulkenberg’s Sauber.
Race leader Russell was told to pit to react to Verstappen’s stop and obliged on lap 14 and pitted for his fresh set of the hards and came out in seventh place behind Alonso.
Antonelli was also given the call to pit a tour later and emerged on his hards down in ninth place behind Verstappen.
Meanwhile the battle out-front saw Norris overtake Hamilton around the outside on the back straight as the latter was also told to box as the Ferrari driver came out in tenth behind Ocon’s Haas while Alonso also pitted and came out at the back.
Verstappen breezed his way past Hulkenberg’s Sauber to move up into fifth place.
Piastri then pitted from the lead and emerged in seventh place behind Antonelli as the championship leader bolted on a set of hards.
Antonelli also made short work of Hulkenberg passing the C47 at the turn eight right hander to move up into fifth.
Further back, Piastri then made his move on Hulkenberg, passing the German on the back straight with DRS range to take sixth place.
As well as the earlier than expected pit stops, the C4 hard tyres were starting to open up. Tyre degradation was high out there, and the front left on Norris’ car did not look too pretty.
On the 20th lap, Norris’s lead was at 3.274 seconds over Leclerc as the top two began the race on the harder tyre and are yet-to-pit, Russell was third, Verstappen fourth, Antonelli fifth, Piastri sixth, Ocon seventh, Hamilton eighth, Sainz ninth as Albon completed the top ten.
Hamilton then made his way ahead of Ocon at the final chicane to snatch ninth place off the Haas after being held up.
Williams had left Albon out there too long for the two stop – they need to switch him to a one stop. or at least that’s what the Thai-Briton driver was thinking, as he plead with the team. He was outside the points in 11th but was starting to drop like a stone down the field.
On lap 23, Norris remained in the lead of this race on his original C4 harder tyres, seemingly trying for a one-stop strategy, he had three seconds on Leclerc, and pole-sitter Russell was still closing in on the front two.
On the 24th tour, Hamilton was the big loser in the first round of pit stops – not in terms of position, but time. He was a second behind Piastri and now was 11 seconds back at this stage of proceedings.
Albon had finally pitted, an only okay 3.0s stop for the Williams driver and emerged at the rear.
On the 25th lap, seventh-placed Hamilton’s lacklustre pace, saw the Briton carrying damage, which was affecting his downforce. And his second-placed team-mate Leclerc was another arguing strategy, he is told Plan B and immediately says no, no, he wanted Plan C.
Just before lap 27, Russell with DRS on the back straight and his fresher rubber compared to Leclerc made his way past the Ferrari just before the final chicane to move up to second place with the former now having race leader and the yet-to-pit Norris in his sights.
Verstappen was now all over the back of Leclerc’s Ferrari as the latter was told to pit and the Monegasque driver came in for another set of the harder tyre confirming he will be doing a two-stop strategy and emerged in sixth place behind Piastri’s McLaren.
Norris then pitted on the 30th tour, relinquishing the lead to Russell as the former put on a set of the C5 yellow-marked mediums and came out in-front of Leclerc in fifth place.
Russell’s lead on lap 30 was at 2.088 seconds over Verstappen with Antonelli third, Piastri fourth, Norris fifth, Leclerc sixth, Hamilton seventh, Ocon eighth, Sainz ninth as Alonso rounded out the top ten runners.
On the 32nd lap, fifth-placed Norris was warned to be careful on his tyres in case the team do want these to last to the end. His response was a new fastest lap of the race. The Briton was 7.5 seconds back on his team-mate Piastri, who almost certainly needed to stop again.
In the battle for ninth, Alonso passed the yet-to-pit Williams of Sainz on the back straight with DRS assistance to take the position from his fellow Spanish-compatriot.
At half race distance, Russell’s lead over Verstappen was at four seconds with Antonelli holding third, Piastri fourth, Norris fifth, Leclerc sixth, Hamilton seventh, Ocon eighth, Alonso ninth as Sainz completed the top ten.
On lap 38, second-placed Verstappen pitted for another set of the harder compounds and came out in sixth place in clear air and behind Leclerc.
A lap later, Antonelli then stopped for a fresh set of the C4’s and a solid 2.2 second stop saw the Italian just be overtaken by Verstappen out on pit-exit – with the latter pulling off the undercut to perfection with a brilliant undercut to keep the Mercedes behind in sixth.
On the 40th lap, there was no sign of race leader Russell coming in just yet. Behind the Mercedes, Piastri in P2 was asked about going to the end – but the Australian said he could already see a band of blisters opening up on his front-left tyre. Norris said his medium tyres are good, but he did put them on much later than his McLaren team mate.
On the 41st lap, Bortoleto, Gasly, Tsunoda, Sainz and Ocon were all yet to pit today, so the hard tyres will do 41 laps plus here. And they all ran the hard with those full fuel loads too. Up-front, Russell went around again – not responding to Verstappen’s stop again.
On the 43rd tour, race leader Russell made his final stop and for a fresh set of the C4 harder compounds, with a slightly slow 3.3 second stop, the Mercedes driver came out in fourth place and ahead of Verstappen with the Briton losing two seconds to the Red Bull driver.
Lap 44, saw Piastri back in the lead on the hard tyres, with Norris behind him on the mediums. Three seconds between those two. But the question was can either of them one-stop? They were both pushing on, so it looked unlikely that either will be going to the end here.
Lap 45 saw Piastri box for a new set of the harder tyres and emerged in sixth place as behind the McLaren, Hamilton stopped for Ferrari and a fresh set also of the C4’s and the seven-time world champion came out in seventh place just ahead of Alonso’s AMR25 entry.
On the 47th lap, Norris pitted for his fresh set of hards and came out in sixth place behind team-mate Piastri. Further back, the stewards noted a moment where home favourite Lance Stroll seemed to squeeze Gasly onto the grass when they were fighting for the lower positions on the back straight. Gasly was furious over the radio.
On lap 49, Stroll was hit with a 10-second-time penalty for forcing Gasly off the track whilst Albon was the initial retiree of the race with a power-unit issue – peeling off at the hairpin.
Lap 50 saw the yet-to-pit second stopper Leclerc with a 1.5 second lead over Russell with Verstappen third, Antonelli fourth as Piastri completed the top five.
On lap 52 – “A straight fight” was what Piastri was told between himself, Antonelli and Verstappen in the battle for third.
Out-front, Leclerc was having another heated discussion with his Race Engineer about strategy. The Monegasque driver wanted to pit, Ferrari were worried about too long a final stint on the medium compound, which Leclerc preferred.
Leclerc made his final stop on lap 54 for his fresh set of C5 mediums and emerged in sixth place behind Norris. This released Russell back into the lead, and he was 2.3 seconds ahead of Verstappen. Antonelli was 1.4 seconds back, Piastri was all over the back of the Italian as Norris was also chasing hard at this stage of proceedings.
Piastri had a look on the Mercedes in the battle for third on laps 55 and the beginning of 56 but could not get by on Antonelli’s Silver Arrow.
On the 57th lap, RB’s Liam Lawson was forced to retire and was the second of the race.
Out-front, the battle might not be done – Verstappen had suddenly started to eat into Russell’s lead bringing the gap down to 1.6 seconds on lap 58 as in the battle for third Antonelli, Piastri and Norris were all negotiating their way through the traffic. Piastri being the big loser in this as it brought team-mate Norris right behind his championship-leading team-mate and allowing Antonelli to have a bit of a breathing gap to the McLaren.
With ten laps remaining Russell’s lead over Verstappen was at 1.9 seconds with Antonelli third, Piastri fourth, Norris fifth, Leclerc sixth, Hamilton seventh, Hulkenberg eighth, Alonso ninth as Ocon completed the top ten runners.
Just before lap 62, Norris with DRS had a look on team-mate Piastri but the former could not make a move on the latter and remained behind.
Norris had a look once more on his team-mate on the back straight – Piastri held on once more to keep fourth.
McLaren have said both their drivers are free to race all season, and they don’t seem keen to intervene here. Which meant Norris needs to make the move stick by himself. Four tenths between the two McLaren drivers, but Piastri had DRS next time around as he got closer to Antonelli ahead.
With five tours left, Verstappen was struggling earlier on, but he was being helped no end by the fights behind. The was on course for P2, and more valuable points – not to mention a nice, clean Grand Prix. He was 2.5 seconds behind Russell, but crucially 2.2 seconds ahead of Antonelli behind. Piastri had DRS, Norris had DRS… But the Australian had not put a foot wrong in defence yet.
On lap 66, Norris made a late dive up the inside of Piastri into the hairpin as the former overtook the latter and then Piastri re-passed his team-mate into turn 13.
Then onto the main straight with DRS on lap 67, Norris tried to make a move on the inside On Piastri, but the gap was not big enough as the former ran into the back of his team-mate damaging his front wing and the Briton retired from the race as the safety car was deployed.
Watching the helicopter replays, Piastri was ahead, and they were heading down the pit-straight, and Norris braked too late and ran into the back of Piastri’s MCL39 entry. “I’m sorry, all my bad, all my fault. Sorry, stupid from me,” Norris said taking responsibility for the incident.
On the 68th tour, Piastri was holding fourth, but had some damage to the rear of his car. Norris was out of the car and walking away, as his car caught fire behind him.
On the penultimate lap, Verstappen has just wound up ahead of Russell behind the Safety Car, after saying Russell “aggressively braked.”
Russell captured the Canadian GP victory under the safety car ahead of Verstappen as Antonelli scored his first ever podium.
Piastri despite his clash with team-mate Norris, came home fourth and ahead of Ferrari pairing Leclerc and Hamilton who were fifth and sixth respectively.
Aston Martin’s Alonso took seventh and in-front of Sauber’s Hulkenberg who placed eighth as Haas’s Ocon and Williams’ Sainz rounded out the final points places.
The turn two incident involving Ocon and Sainz is currently investigated by the race stewards for driving erratically.
2025 Austrian GP Preview – The Situation
The hills are alive as the sound of Formula 1 engines hit the Red Bull Ring this weekend for the Austrian Grand Prix, with the title race heating up.
Oscar Piastri leads McLaren team-mate Lando Norris by 26 points in the World Driver’s Championship standings after the two collided in Montreal last time out, which saw the latter retire.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen made up ground as the Dutchman now remains 43 points behind the Australian but will be hoping to give Red Bull a victory on home tarmac, where he’s won four times.
George Russell won last season’s event and gave Mercedes their first victory of the 2025 campaign at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli taking his maiden Formula 1 podium.
Ferrari are set to bring in an upgrade to Austria in a bid to push Charles Leclerc and Sir Lewis Hamilton to the front.
The Scuderia will also give reserve and current F2 driver Dino Beganovic a run in the SF-25 in Free Practice 1 in place of Leclerc.
FIA Formula 2 and 3 return this weekend to be Formula 1’s support categories at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Piastri heads to Spielberg sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship standings with 198 points, and a 26-point lead over McLaren team-mate Norris who is second on 176 points whilst Verstappen is a further 43 points off the Australian in third on 155 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team returns to its home circuit on top of the World Constructor’s Championship with 374 points, and a 175-point advantage over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team who are second on 199 points, whilst Scuderia Ferrari are a further 191 points behind the Woking based-outfit in third place on 183 points.
The Formula 1 MSC Cruises Austrian Grand Prix 2025 weekend kicks off Friday June 27 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday June 28 and the 71 lap Austrian Grand Prix Sunday June 29.
