#F1 @Rolex Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2020 Preview. #StyrianGP.

After Valtteri Bottas won a drama-filled season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, round two of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship, is once again held at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria for the Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Der Steiermark (Styrian Grand Prix) 2020.

 

 

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.

 

2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen holds the fastest lap record of the circuit set last year with a 1:06.957 in his Scuderia Ferrari SF71H.

 

Four-time World Champion Alain Prost and Jo Stiffert have the record for most wins in Austria with three each to their name.

 

Ferrari and McLaren are the most successful constructor in Austria with six victories each.

 

Onboard Lap of the Red Bull Ring

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Red Bull Ring from last weekend’s season-opening event set by race winner Valtteri Bottas in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W11 EQ Power+. The Finn set a blistering 1:02.939, which you can watch right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeHcml_DhdM

 

Tyres

 

Pirelli will be bringing the same tyres to Austria this weekend for the Styrian Grand Prix, the white side-walled C2 Hards, the yellow-branded C3 Mediums and the red-marked C4 Soft rubber along with the green-marked Intermediates and blue-branded Full Wet compounds in-case of rain.

 

All drivers will have two sets of hards (C2), three sets of mediums (C3) and eight sets of soft (C4) rubber available to them.

 

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.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

 

Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Bottas wins action-packed season-opening Austrian GP ahead of Leclerc and Norris

 

 

Valtteri Bottas won a drama-filled season-opening Austrian Grand Prix from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was hit with a five-second timed penalty.

 

Bottas reached the chequered flag 0.6 seconds ahead of the Briton, but Hamilton was immediately relegated to fourth, which gave McLaren’s Lando Norris his first podium in third.

 

Hamilton’s incident with Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon happened after the third safety car deployment and after Mercedes had to warn its drivers to stay off the kerbs due to reliability concerns.

 

When the 71 lap Austrian Grand Prix began, Bottas blew the field off the line and held a two second gap at the end of the opening lap, as Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen – the only driver in the top ten to begin on the yellow-branded mediums – had intense pressure behind from Norris after several drivers including Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc toured across the run-off at the turn one exit.

 

Bottas began extending his lead as the race started to settle down and was warned by his team to look after his F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer on lap three, as Verstappen focused his attention towards the Finn.

 

But the promise of Red Bull’s alternate strategy ended abruptly on the eleventh lap as Max Verstappen’s potential hattrick of Austrian Grand Prix victories at the team’s home circuit faded due to a sudden loss of power approaching the first corner. The Dutchman travelled slowly back to the pits trying to fix the problem – a suspected electrical issue – forced him to retire.

 

This left Hamilton to chase race-leading team-mate Bottas, as the reigning world champion earlier flew passed Albon’s Red Bull with DRS assistance on the run-down to turn four and rapidly began cutting down the Finn’s advantage.

 

As the initial stint went on, Hamilton lowered the gap to Bottas, but the soft-tyre run ended early due to the first deployment of the safety car due to Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen spinning out after suffering a brake failure as he was overtaken by Renault’s Esteban Ocon into the third corner.

 

Mercedes managed to double-stack both drivers, putting both on the white side-walled harder compounds, without losing any time – and when the race resumed, Bottas pulled away.

 

However, Hamilton started to mount pressure on team-mate Bottas and called on his engineer if he would be allowed to choose his own engine mode, as the Silver Arrows planned to turn the power down on the two F1 W11 EQ Power+ racers.

 

As the leaders converged closer, Mercedes alerted both drivers about a threatening gearbox sensor issue that could have spelt the end of the race for both cars. Bottas and Hamilton’s race engineers warned them to stay off the kerbs before the Silver Arrow’s Chief Strategist James Vowles intervened that the problem was critical.

 

As the pairing adapted their driving styles, Hamilton started to fall back from Bottas when the race suddenly brought out the safety car again as Williams Racing’s George Russell retired after being in P13 as his FW43 racer encountered a fuel pressure issue.

 

The two Mercedes and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez remained on their harder compounds, whilst Albon put on a set of softs, emerging in fourth.

 

Immediately after the race went green, it was Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who was the next retiree after just pitting for a set of softs and lost his front-right wheel through the penultimate corner.

 

However just before the safety car returned, Albon managed to jump ahead of Perez at the exit of turn three as the latter ran deep and locked up.

 

When the safety car was called in for the final time, Bottas blitzed away and on the following lap – Albon – who gave his position back to Perez, only to take third place while the Grand Prix was stabilised – attacked Hamilton around the outside on the run-down to turn four. The Thai-Briton looked to be in-front on the outside line but a collision between Hamilton’s front-left and Albon’s right rear sent the Red Bull driver spinning into the gravel – bringing back memories of last season’s Brazilian Grand Prix when both made contact.

 

As Bottas charged towards the finish line in what was an 11-lap sprint to the end, Hamilton was hit with a five-second penalty. This meant Ferrari’s Leclerc, who had been driving a quiet race before the safety cars turned the tables, finished second as he pitted for a fresh-set of mediums during the safety car deployment from the retirement of Russell.

 

He made short work of Perez with five laps remaining after a late move into turn three and was close enough to Hamilton take second off the Briton’s hands.

 

Norris clinched the final podium spot after surviving a late battle between McLaren team-mate Carlos Sainz and bumping by Perez, who had tried to make his long medium tyre stint work earlier in the Grand Prix, at the third corner. But Norris needed to rapidly close the gap to Hamilton and set the fastest lap of the race on the final loop to snatch third place by 0.1 seconds.

 

Sainz rounded out the top five with Perez sixth after receiving his own five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in eighth place and in-front of Renault’s Ocon with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi coming home in ninth.

 

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel claimed the final point position of tenth after misjudging his braking into turn three while running behind Sainz’s McLaren and bumped into the Spaniard causing him to spin.

 

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi finished his debut Grand Prix in 11^th, with Albon a late retiree alongside a long-list of casualties who suffered various mechanical issues – except AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat who retired in the closing stages due to a punctured left-rear tyre as he ran into the first corner with two laps remaining.

 

You can see the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors standings at the following link:2020 F1 World Championship Standings

 

The Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2020 weekend kicks off Friday July 10 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday July 11 and the 71 lap Austrian Grand Prix Sunday July 12.

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Formula 1 2020 Championship Calendar