2023 Austrian GP Preview – After Max Verstappen scored a dominant victory at the Canadian GP to extend his championship lead and equalled the late great three-time world champion Ayrton Senna with 41 wins to their respective names, round 10 of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Red Bull Ring this weekend in Spielberg, Austria for the Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2023. This will be the 36th running of the Austrian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the sport began in 1950. This weekend also features the second Sprint Race Format weekend of the year.
2023 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.
Four-time World Champion Alain Prost, Jo Stiffert and Max Verstappen have the record for most wins in Austria with three each to their name.
Ferrari is the most successful constructor in Austria with seven victories to their name.
2023 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 RB18 RBPT-Honda. The Dutchman posted a solid 1:04.984, which you can watch right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUS03TWmZEI
2023 Austrian GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2022: Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari. 2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2020: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1. 2019: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2018: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 Austrian GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Verstappen scores comfortable Canadian GP victory
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen equalled the legendary Ayrton Senna of 41 victories with a comfortable win at the Canadian GP as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton completed the top three.
Verstappen lead from start-to-finish with a flawless drive to increase his championship lead and also gave the Milton Keynes based-outfit their 100th victory in Formula One.
When the 70-lap Canadian GP began, polesitter Verstappen makes a solid getaway into turn one, behind the Dutchman, Hamilton made the jump over Alonso to snatch second from the Aston Martin driver.
At the end of the opening tour, Verstappen lead 1.166 seconds from Hamilton with Alonso third, Mercedes’ George Russell fourth, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon completing the top five.
On the 4th tour, Alonso got within DRS range of Hamilton in the fight for second place, and Hamilton did not have the adjustable rear wing for use to defend – because the Briton was too far behind the Red Bull driver.
On lap five, Alonso had a heavy tap with the wall, on the exit of turn four, but was lucky to not suffer any damage. Behind him, Russell was asking his team for strategy options.
On the lap seven, Alonso was in DRS range to Hamilton as he came down the main-straight but he was too far behind to make any move.
Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant was the first retiree of the race and parked his FW45 racer at the exit of turn six.
The virtual safety car was brought out briefly for less than a lap for the FW45 to be cleared.
At the beginning of lap ten, Verstappen increased his gap 3.354 seconds over Hamilton with Alonso third, Russell fourth, and Ocon rounding out the top five.
On the 12th tour, Russell made contact with the wall at the exit of turn nine chicane after taking too much kerb, and the rear-right of his F1 W14 hit the wall and sustained damage, which brought out the safety car.
The top three pitted for a fresh set of hards along with the two McLaren’s of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, promoting the two Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who are yet-to-pit were up into fourth and fifth respectively as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez completed the top six. Russell managed to continue on, stopped and emerged in P18.
When the race resumed on lap 17, the order remained stable with Verstappen clearing quickly from Hamilton with a 1.232 second gap, with Alonso third, Leclerc and Sainz fourth and fifth.
On lap 22, Alonso made the jump past Hamilton into second place picking up the slipstream on the back straight and overtaking the Mercedes ahead of the final chicane and held position down the main-straight to make the move stick.
There was no further action taken by the stewards for the unsafe release between Hamilton and Alonso.
On the 25th lap, Verstappen held a 3.388 second gap over Alonso with Hamilton third, and the yet-to-pit Leclerc and Sainz rounding out the top five.
Race leader Verstappen was complaining of losing grip with his harder compounds, but the others around him were doing the same.
At the halfway point of the Grand Prix, Verstappen was slowly increasing his lead over Alonso, up to 5.233 seconds, Hamilton was third and the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz completing the top five.
On lap 38, Perez pitted from sixth for a fresh set of mediums and emerged in seventh place behind Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon.
A tour later, Sainz also stopped for a fresh set of hards and came out comfortably ahead of Williams’ Albon and Red Bull’s Perez.
On lap 40, Leclerc pitted for a fresh set of hards and emerged in-front of team-mate Sainz and remained in fourth.
On the 41st tour, Hamilton came in for a second time to switch for a set of mediums to try and trigger Alonso into a stop, which the Spaniard does a lap later to try and cover the Mercedes.
Alonso came out comfortably ahead of Hamilton and remained in second place.
Race leader Verstappen pitted a lap later also for a fresh set of mediums and came out comfortably clear of Alonso.
On lap 45, Verstappen held a 4.617 gap to second-place Alonso as third placed Hamilton scored the fastest lap of a 1:16.003, the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz followed in fourth and fifth respectively as Perez completed the top six.
In the battle for second, Hamilton was taking time out of Alonso with the latter being told by his Aston Martin team to lift and coast.
Alonso was seen making a mistake, going through the turns eight and nine run-off area.
With 20 tours remaining, Verstappen held a 5.693 second lead to Alonso with Hamilton third, Leclerc fourth and Sainz rounding out the top five.
On lap 55, Mercedes’ Russell was forced to retire due to a brake problem.
With 10 laps remaining, Verstappen held a 7.836 second gap to Alonso with Hamilton 1.528 seconds behind the Spaniard in the battle for second place, the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz were fourth and fifth respectively as Perez completed the top six.
Hamilton was told by his team that Alonso was struggling with a rear brake issue.
With seven laps remaining, Alonso was told from the Aston Martin team that Hamilton was 1.9 seconds behind with the Spaniard responding, “leave it to me”.
In the battle for second with four tours left, Alonso increased his gap to 2.9 seconds over Hamilton.
Verstappen crossed the line to take his 41st-career victory, equalling the amount of the legendary Senna with Alonso second and Hamilton completing the top three.
Both Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz recovered from their 10th and 11th starting positions on the grid to claim fourth and fifth respectively as Red Bull’s Perez claimed sixth place and the fastest lap bonus point.
Williams Racing’s Albon was seventh and ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took eighth and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished his home race in ninth with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas rounding out the final points place.
McLaren’s Piastri and Norris ended the race in 11th and 13th with the latter being hit with a five-second time penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, which demoted him from his original finishing points spot of ninth. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly split the pairing in 12th.
Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda placed 14th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who finished the Grand Prix 15th and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who came 16th in the order.
Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries who had a tangle with each other followed in 17th and 18th respectively and were the final two runners of the race.
2023 Austrian GP Preview – The Situation
Formula 1’s second Sprint weekend is here as the sport returns to Europe for the Austrian Grand Prix following a trip to Montreal, where Red Bull took their 100th victory.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen cruised to take his sixth win of the season and extended his World Driver’s Championship lead to 69 points over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
Perez could only recover to sixth after a poor qualifying and will need to lift to start cutting the deficit down in the standings to the Dutchman to stand a chance of winning the championship.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had an intense race-long fight for second place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with the former coming out on top.
Behind the two former McLaren team-mates, Ferrari showed impressive race pace and will be bolstered by Charles Leclerc’s victory a year ago, which was the Maranello-marque’s last win.
Verstappen heads to Spielberg sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship standings with 195 points, and a 69-point lead over Red Bull team-mate Perez who is second on 126 points whilst Fernando Alonso is a further 78 points in third on 117 points.
Oracle Red Bull Racing returns to its home circuit on top of the World Constructor’s Championship with 321 points, and a 154-point advantage over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team who are second on 167 points, while Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team are a further 167 points behind the Milton Keynes based-outfit in third place on 154 points.
The Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2023 weekend kicks off Friday June 30 with Free Practice 1 and Qualifying, followed by the Sprint Shootout and the 100km F1 Sprint Saturday July 1 and the 71 lap Austrian Grand Prix Sunday July 2.
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