It's back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring
The eighth and ninth round of the 2021 Formula 1 Calendar take place at the Red Bull Ring, nestled in the mountains of Styria in Austria. As the name suggests, the circuit is currently owned by the Red Bull brand and has been since they renovated the circuit back in 2008 for a 2011 return. The circuit has consistently hosted a range of fast and thrilling races from various motorsport series since, with Formula 1 visiting every year since 2014. Formerly known as the Österreichring (1969-1987) and the A1-Ring (1996-2003), this circuit has dipped in and out of the Formula 1 Calendar and seen two very different layouts. The circuit today is 4.318km of pure speed and has seen many exciting battles throughout the years. The official full name for the Styrian Grand Prix is 'Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2021', and the Austrian Grand Prix is 'Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis Von Österreich 2021'.
Last year in 2020, the Red Bull Ring hosted two Grand Prix at the start of the calendar. This was the return of Formula 1 racing after a 217 day winter break - the third longest ever. The reason behind it as I'm sure we all remember was the outbreak of Covid-19, which is still prevalent to this day, however we can now operate safely enough to keep to the original, intended calendar (almost). Initially, Austria was only supposed to host the single race this season, however the cancelation of the Turkish Grand Prix has left a spot in the calendar that will luckily be filled with another Austrian Grand Prix rather than none at all. The two races are differentiated with different names much like they were in the 2020 season, with the Styrian Grand Prix (Styria is the state name) on 27/06 and the Austrian Grand Prix on 04/07. These conclude a triple header.
With thunderstorms on the horizon from a spell of hot weather, it is hard to predict the conditions for the races. I don't know about you, but I've got my fingers crossed for some rain!
This year, we have the all-female W series supporting the Formula 1 race for the Styrian Grand Prix, which will be the start of their season. The W series will also support the Austrian Grand Prix, along with Formula 3. Although we won't be covering the events in detail, you for sure do not want to miss them! Keep your eyes peeled for additional articles relating to these series in the future.
The finer details...
The Red Bull Ring, as aforementioned, is situated in the Styrian mountains of Austria and has been hosting motorsport races for many years. 71 laps around the 4.318km circuit equates to a 306.452km total race distance. Don't let the short laps fool you; this circuit has a lot packed into it. Three separate DRS zones allow for some incredible speeds to be reached around the circuit, and is comparable to a rollercoaster because of its 65m elevation changes and twisty corners to connect the straights. The cars have DRS available for over a third of the lap - the most of any other circuit. In total, this clockwise circuit features ten corners, six to the right and four to the left. After the passing of Formula 1 legend, Niki Lauda, the first corner of the circuit was renamed in his memory in 2019.
Around here, the cars are at full throttle for over three quarters of the lap thanks to the straights and change gear, on average, 32 times during a lap. The lap record was set by Carlos Sainz in 2020 - a 1:05.619. This is the shortest lap time of any other circuit on the calendar.
The run from the grid to turn 1 is just over 215m, where the drivers will need to brake heavily to get their cars slowed down enough for the medium-speed uphill corner. We often see a pinching effect as the drivers squeeze their way through, which could lead to some clumsy bumps and tangles should someone make an error or misjudge the width of their car. From there, drivers climb up the bumpy hill at full throttle (this is also a DRS zone) all the way up until turn 3, which is a tricky right-hander - yellow curbs line the outside of the circuit to punish anyone who pushes a little too hard. A change in camber in the middle of this corner could make traction difficult for the drivers so they'll be wanting to minimise that. From there, yet another DRS zone separates corners, however for turn 4, drivers must brake downhill and to the right with a huge gravel trap staring them straight in the face, just waiting for a driver to make a mistake. This gravel follows the drivers, taunting them as they sweep right for turn 5, and then switches to the other side as they turn left for braking into turn 6. Turn 7 is a fast corner and drivers need all their focus to not dip a wheel into the gravel as they push their cars to the limits. This quickly switches to the right-hander of turn 8 to guide drivers along a straight to the final two corners of the circuit. Turns 9 and 10 can be taken at speed with minimal braking, however it is easy to get too greedy and have the back end of the car step out from beneath the drivers. From turn 10, they round back onto the start/finish straight, activating DRS to cross the line and complete a lap around the Red Bull Ring.
This year, teams are bringing the middle range of Pirelli to the Styrian Grand Prix: C2, hards; C3, mediums; C4, softs. For the following race, the tyres will each go one step softer: C3, hards; C4, mediums; C5, softs - this might force teams into a two-stop if degradation is high for these softer tyres. Teams will want to be running higher-downforce setups for these races and a lot of focus will be on making the best strategy work. Unlike some other tracks on the calendar, we can expect to see overtaking here, whether it be a straight-forward pass along the straight, or a dive into one of the corners, or even a brave trip around the outside.
A look back at previous races...
The First Race
Formula One first arrived at the Red Bull Ring or A1-Ring as it was previously called, in 1997, a year after it was reopened after Tilke was brought in to modernize it into a shorter track. In its debut race, we saw Jacques Villeneuve take the win after quite the spectacular crash between Jean Alesi and Eddie Irvine. The Benetton of Alesi was seen climbing the front end of Irvine’s Ferrari and being launched airborne, in what must’ve been a heart-stopping incident for both.
Austria 2019...
Moving forward in time to more recent years, we are taken to the Austrian Grand Prix 2019. The main action throughout the race was the battle between the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc for the race win. After a horrible start from P2, Verstappen fell down the order into P9 by the end of the lap, seemingly out of contention for the win. However, after some impressive speed shown, the Dutchman managed to put a significant amount of pressure on Leclerc by the late stages of the race. The two hailed future world champions battled it out with only a few laps to spare, it was anyone’s guess who would come out on top.
With two laps to go, Max overtook Charles in a decisive yet controversial move at the top of the hill at T3 that would require the investigation of the stewarts. Despite Verstappen crossing the line ahead of Leclerc, it was unclear if the results would remain unchanged after the stewarts completed their examination of the pass.
Several hours later, the stewarts finally announced that they concluded that the pass was legal and that no further action was required. The controversy stemmed from the undeniable fact that while overtaking Leclerc, Verstappen had forced him off of the track. However, since the stewarts had deemed that the Red Bull was significantly alongside the Ferrari heading into the corner, it was legitimate.
This confirmed Max Verstappen’s win at the Red Bull Ring, his 6th win in Formula One, and at his team’s home race. This also resulted in Red Bull’s engine supplier, Honda, to achieve their first win in Formula One since 2006, an impressive feat after their disappointment a couple years prior while supplying McLaren. Yet, even with these results being confirmed much to the celebration of the Orange Army, there were many fans who questioned why it took so long and expressed that it took away from the celebrations as the results were uncertain. Also unhappy was Charles Leclerc, who felt that the move was unfair and as a result, missed out on the chance to become a Formula One race winner.
It was a disappointing performance for now 7 time world championship winner Lewis Hamilton as he ended his streak of podium finishes. Some stand out performances included; Lando Norris finishing in 6th in his rookie year and managing to keep the Red Bull of Pierre Gasly behind, Carlos Sainz finishing in 8th after starting from the back of the grid, and the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi rounding out the top 10 in 9th and 10th respectively - the Italian achieving his first points in Formula One.
Austria 2020...
We fast forward a year to 2020, where due to COVID-19 rescheduling, we open up the season with a double-header in Austria. The first race of the season saw plenty of action, starting off with Max Verstappen losing power in his Honda engine on lap 11 and being forced to retire, a stark contrast to his performance the year previous. On lap 31, after a safety car restart, we saw some wheel-to-wheel action between Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel, which resulted in the Ferrari spinning out at T3.
We cannot talk about Austria 2020 without talking about the infamous Albon-Hamilton crash on lap 61/71 that made Alex yet again lose out on a podium, though in this case he might’ve been in contention for a win. In what seemed like an instant replay from Brazil 2019, a coming together between the two drivers sent the young Thai driver into a spin off the track and out of reach from the race win. It truly was a day to forget for Red Bull.
As a result of the reigning championship winner’s actions, Hamilton was again given a 5-second penalty and lost out on a podium with a McLaren there to take his place. This time however, that McLaren was the young, fan favourite Lando Norris, who’s impressive performance throughout the race weekend meant that he was there to pick up the pieces of the Mercedes driver’s mistake.
It can’t be said that Norris did not work to achieve his first ever podium in Formula One, even allowing McLaren to start off their season with a podium for the first time since 2014. This was in fact, the origin story for the notorious “Last-Lap-Lando” as he did the lap of his life to get within a 5 second window of Lewis. The young brit indeed managed to achieve this, getting within 4.8 seconds of Hamilton as he met the chequered flag and setting the fastest lap of the race for good measure.
Styria 2020...
The next race weekend in 2020 takes place yet again at the Red Bull Ring, although this time it is the Styrian Grand Prix. While perhaps a less exciting race than the previous two, that doesn’t mean it was completely without action.
Much like how the previous weekend was a race to forget for Red Bull, the same could very much be said about Ferrari in Styria. One lap 1, the two cars of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc collided at T3, the damages resulting in a double retirement for the historic team.
Most of the action was seen in the later stages of the race, where for instance, we saw some great racing between Bottas and Verstappen that ultimately ended with the Finn coming out on top. On the penultimate lap of the race, Perez went for a move on Albon that almost identically resembled the one that gave Hamilton a 5 second penalty the previous weekend. Thankfully for the Thai, Alex did not spin this time and Sergio only received front wing damage for his efforts.
While this action was happening, further down the field, we received a return of “Last-Lap-Lando”. On the last two laps of the race, Norris managed to move up from P8 to P5 thanks to a questionable move made by Lance Stroll on Daniel Ricciardo that forced them both off at T3 and the previously mentioned wing damage for Perez. This resulted in an edge of your seat, photo finish for both Racing Points of Perez and Stroll as well as the Renault of Ricciardo as they crossed the line.
Closing Remarks...
So what can be learned from the previous races at the Red Bull Ring? Well for one, it is known for producing some fantastic racing. If the last three races are anything to go by, we should be expecting some serious excitement over the next two race weekends, and with rain forecasted - it is bound to be a great race that you don’t want to miss.
When To Watch: Styrian Grand Prix
Formula 1:
(FRIDAY) The first practice session starts at 11:30 local time (10:30BST, 05:30EST) and ends an hour later.
(FRIDAY) The second practice session begins at 15:00 local time (14:00BST, 09:00EST) and finishes an hour later.
(SATURDAY) The third and final practice session commences at 12:00 local time (11:00BST, 06:00EST) and concludes an hour later.
(SATURDAY) Qualifying starts at 15:00 local time (14:00BST, 09:00EST). This session determines the order of the race start and varies in length depending on its events, such as crashes that require barrier repair, but is due to finish an hour after starting.
(SUNDAY) The Styrian Grand Prix 2021 starts at 15:00 local time (14:00BST, 09:00EST) and lasts for 71 laps or 120 minutes, whichever comes first.
W Series:
(FRIDAY) The one and only practice session starts at 13:10 local time (12:10BST, 07:10EST) and lasts for half an hour.
(FRIDAY) Qualifying commences at 16:30 local time (15:30BST, 10:30EST) and lasts for half an hour, although this can fluctuate if any incidents occur, and decides the starting grid for Saturday's race.
(SATURDAY) The W series race starts at 16:30 local time (15:30BST, 10:30EST) and lasts for 30minutes + 1lap.
When To Watch: Austrian Grand Prix
Formula 1:
(FRIDAY) The first practice session begins at 11:30 local time (10:30BST, 05:30EST) and finishes an hour later.
(FRIDAY) The second practice session starts at 15:00 local time (14:00BST, 09:00EST) and concludes an hour later.
(SATURDAY) The third and final practice session commences at 12:00 local time (11:00BST, 06:00EST) and lasts for an hour..
(SATURDAY) Qualifying begins at 15:00 local time (14:00BST, 09:00EST). This session determines the order of the race start and varies in length depending on its events, such as crashes that require barrier repair, but is due to finish an hour after starting.
(SUNDAY) The Austrian Grand Prix 2021 will begin at 15:00 local time (14:00BST, 09:00EST) and lasts for 71 laps or 120 minutes, whichever comes first.
W Series:
(FRIDAY) The one and only practice session starts at 12:55 local time (11:55BST, 06:55EST) and lasts for forty minutes.
(FRIDAY) Qualifying starts at 16:30 local time (15:30BST, 10:30EST) and lasts for half an hour, although this can fluctuate if any incidents occur, and decides the starting grid for Saturday's race.
(SATURDAY) The W series race will commence at 16:30 local time (15:30BST, 10:30EST) and lasts for 30minutes + 1lap.
Formula 3:
(FRIDAY) The only practice session begins at 09:30 local time (08:30BST, 03:30EST) and finishes after forty-five minutes.
(FRIDAY) Qualifying starts at 13:50 local time (12:50BST, 07:50EST) and is expected to last for around half an hour. This determines the starting order for race three, and the top twelve will be reversed for the start of race one.
(SATURDAY) The first race begins at 10:35 local time (09:35BST, 04:35EST) and finishes after 24 laps or 40 minutes, whichever comes first. The top ten finishers of this race will be reversed for the starting order of race two.
(SATURDAY) The second race commences at 17:45 local time (16:45BST, 11:45EST) and lasts for 24 laps or 40 minutes, whichever comes first.
(SUNDAY) The third and final race starts at 11:05 local time (10:05BST, 05:05EST) and, once again, lasts for 24 laps or 40 minutes, whichever happens first.
(All times collected and calculated from the official Formula 1 website)
(Information for this post uses previous race data collected from the internet and official sources. No copyright intended)
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