#Formula1 Rolex #AustrianGP 2020 Preview. #F1 #F1IsBack

The stage is now set for round one of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship, which returns to the Red Bull Ring this weekend in Spielberg, Austria for the season-opening Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2020. This will be the 34^th running of the Austrian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the sport began in 1950.

 

 

The opening rounds of the 2020 campaign were either cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic after the aborted round one in Australia, which prompted the sport’s governing body, the FIA, to draft a new calendar.

 

The start of the championship was delayed until this week with the Red Bull Ring hosting the Austrian Grand Prix and next weekend the Styrian Grand Prix. Back-to-back races in Austria will mark for the first time that a country has hosted two races in succession since 1995 when Japan hosted the Pacific and Japanese Grands Prix (Also worth noting that the season-closing 1995 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide and the 1996 season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne marked the last time that a country has hosted consecutive Grands Prix). This will also mark for the first time in Formula 1’s history that the same venue and layout would have host back-to-back World Championship races.

 

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 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 Charles Leclerc in his Scuderia Ferrari SF90. The Monegasque-youngster posted a blistering 1:03.003, which you can watch right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KJGKeW1FoY

 

The Last Five Winners

 

 

2019: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2018: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2017: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1.

 

Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing to Austria this weekend, 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.

 

Team and Driver Line-ups

 

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – The reigning champions enter their fourth season with the same stable driver line-up, with six-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton teaming up with Valtteri Bottas, with the former chasing his seventh title crown to equal the legendary Michael Schumacher.

 

Scuderia Ferrari – The Scuderia keep their driver pairing of four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc as they aim to bring a title back home to Maranello for the first time since the 2008 campaign.

 

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – Max Verstappen enters his fifth season with the Milton Keynes-based outfit, whilst having been promoted from junior squad Toro Rosso to the senior team replacing Pierre Gasly at the mid-way point of 2019, Alexander Albon has the chance to show how he stacks up against his Dutch team-mate over the course of the season.

 

McLaren-Renault F1 Team – After an impressive campaign in 2019, the Woking-based outfit opted for stability as Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris team together in the Renault-powered MCL35, the first car under Technical Director James Key’s guidance.

 

Renault F1 Team – Daniel Ricciardo takes on his second team with the French-Enstone alliance and whilst sitting on the sidelines as Mercedes test and reserve driver, Esteban Ocon returns to the Formula 1 grid to partner the Perth-born Australian.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri-Honda – Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly have been kept on by the Faenza-squad, with Kvyat driving a fifth season in one of the Italian team’s cars in the 2020 season.

 

BWT Racing Point F1 Team – Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll partner up for their season together at the Silverstone-based outfit with the former now spending his seventh campaign under their various guises.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN – Antonio Giovinazzi once again teams with 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, who will celebrate his 41^st birthday at this year’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

 

Haas F1 Team – Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen enter their fourth season in a stable line-up as the Kannapolis-Banbury squad’s drivers.

 

ROKiT Williams Racing – George Russell contests his second campaign with the Grove-based team, while running alongside the Briton is 2019 Formula 2 racer Nicholas Latifi, the only new driver on the grid in the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

 

Formula 1 2020 Pre-Season Testing Re-cap

 

 

If testing is anything to go by back in February, its reigning champions Mercedes that will head to the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix as the clear favourites – however, there are concerns over its power-train reliability.

 

Testing rarely shows the full picture of how the pecking order will stand, seen most like last year when Ferrari showed its early promise at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya before a disappointing start to the season.

 

A look at the time-sheets and charts suggests that Mercedes will once again be the team to beat at the Red Bull Ring after topping every single chart.

 

Valtteri Bottas showed a glimpse of the F1 W11 EQ Power+’s potential, when he blasted the fastest lap of a 1:15.732, putting the Finn only three tenths adrift of his lap record at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

 

His benchmark remained unbeaten throughout the final testing week, giving Bottas half a second difference over the entire field, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen runner up on the time-sheets, 0.537 seconds off the Finn’s effort. Bottas’ final day quick lap of a 1:16.196 meant he ended both tests with the two fastest laps.

 

Verstappen moved his Honda-powered RB16 to second on his qualifying simulation run in the final hour of testing on the C5 softer rubber. The Dutchman suffered some spins throughout testing, giving him some concerns on the way the RB16 handles, but Verstappen insisted there was nothing to worry about.

 

Defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton held the fifth-quickest time in pre-season testing for Mercedes, with the Briton leading mileage charts with ease despite a few setbacks. Hamilton clocked up 466 laps of mileage over the six days (seven Spanish Grand Prix distances) – ending the test 20 laps more than McLaren’s Carlos Sainz.

 

Mercedes were the kings of the mileage charts as Hamilton and Bottas completed the test with 903 laps in total, 59 more than Ferrari.

 

However, a series of engine problems for Mercedes and customer outfit ROKiT Williams Racing – often the issue coming from the oil system – fired up some reliability concerns. Williams were forced to go through three engines through pre-season testing, whilst Mercedes had a couple of separate problems – as Hamilton called it a “difficult winter.”

 

Ferrari took a radical approach compared to its other testing years, focusing on basic programme running after its underwhelming start to the 2019 campaign. The Maranello squad still trailed Mercedes’ lap count but was only 150 laps adrift of its 2019 total when it had a two extra days of running – showing its change of approach.

 

BWT Racing Point F1 Team and ROKiT Williams Racing gained more than they did in 2019, with the latter after last year’s dismal woes – ending testing with 737 laps compared to 567 in five and a half days of running in last year’s test. Without engine troubles, the Grove-based outfit could have been very high on the lap charts.

 

Racing Point showed great promise at the end of the first day of pre-season testing, showing the RP20’s strong reliability and quickness. The Silverstone-squad ran 782 laps over the six days. In 2019, it completed 625 in eight days. Sergio Perez was seventh overall on the timing sheets, but four tenths adrift of second-placed Verstappen’s effort.

 

The stability of the regulations meant all the ten teams could hit the track running and reach some huge mileage numbers. Haas F1 Team, however, were the only team in the field to end 100 laps adrift of the other nine outfits, completing 649 in total.

 

This weekend at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, we will see a clearer picture of how the field will stand, but if testing is the clear idea of the way the pack will stack up, it’s Mercedes that will once again dominate its rivals from start to finish at the Red Bull Ring.

 

The Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2020 weekend kicks off Friday July 5 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday July 6 and the 71 lap Austrian Grand Prix Sunday July 7.

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Checkout the 2020 schedule here: Formula 1 2020 Championship Calendar

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