Austrian Grand Prix Preview

Formula 1 is back in the Styrian mountains for the tenth round of the 2023 season. There’s double the racing action – and more championship points on offer – this weekend, with an additional Sprint event on Saturday afternoon.

It’s home turf for Red Bull, who’ve obliterated the competition so far this year. The Red Bull Ring – formerly known as the A1 Ring and the Österreichring – returned to the F1 calendar to host the Austrian Grand Prix in 2014. It has since hosted the event every year, in addition to the Styrian Grand Prix in 2020 and 2021.

Red Bull searching for a tenth win a row

For the third time in their history, Red Bull achieved a streak of nine consecutive wins at the Canadian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen’s Montreal win saw Red Bull take a milestone 100th victory. The next challenge for Red Bull is to win ten races in a row – something which they have never previously managed. Doing so at their home track would be the cherry on the cake.

There have only been five occasions on which a team has taken ten successive wins in Formula 1, the most recent team to have done so being Mercedes, in 2019. McLaren and Ferrari are the only others to have achieved the rare feat.

With other teams legitimately finishing within 20 seconds of Red Bull for the first time in 2023 last time out, there is a sense that the rest of the pack may be taking small steps in catching up to the frontrunning RB19. However, the chances of any team other than Red Bull taking a win at the Austrian Grand Prix – barring any unusual circumstances – appear slim.

It’s no surprise that Verstappen is the firm favourite to triumph this weekend. He’s won four of the last seven races in Austria and is on a streak of four successive wins in the 2023 season. Another this weekend would see him equal his own longest winning streak in F1.

Impressively, Verstappen has led the last three races from start to end. If he does so again this weekend, he’d be the first driver to lead four consecutive races from start to end since Alberto Ascari in 1952.

Perez needs a strong result

Red Bull have enjoyed one of their most dominant periods in Formula 1 yet Sergio Perez has failed to finish on the podium or qualify in the top ten in any of the last three races. It’s a strange turn of events for Perez, who had begun the season with two wins in the first four races.

Perez now sits 69 points behind his team-mate in the standings and, with Fernando Alonso hot on his heels in the battle for second, any chances of a genuine title challenge this year are all but gone.

Perez has never previously finished on the podium at the Red Bull Ring – but surely this weekend he can turn his recent form around and make his way back onto the podium.

One year since Ferrari’s last win

It has been almost a year since Ferrari last won a Grand Prix. Their most recent victory came at the Red Bull Ring in last year’s Austrian Grand Prix, where Charles Leclerc beat Max Verstappen to the line by just over a second.

So far this year, Ferrari have picked up only a single podium finish, with Leclerc finishing third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Baku race was also a Sprint event, at which Leclerc took pole position for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix.

The Canadian Grand Prix saw the team finish with both cars in the top five for only the second time this year. Will the Scuderia maintain their momentum at the Austrian Grand Prix?

Gasly’s Sprint Race curse

Pierre Gasly never seems to have much luck on sprint weekends. Of the seven sprint events to date, he’s never picked up a point. Furthermore, in the following day’s Grand Prix he has scored only once, with a seventh place finish at the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Gasly’s team, Alpine, have been on strong form in recent races, with a run of results which included Esteban Ocon’s podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix. In the last four events, Gasly’s 12th place in Canada is the only time that one of the team’s drivers has not picked up a point.

Can Gasly beat his sprint race curse and return to the points in the Austrian Grand Prix?

Can Norris keep up his 100% points scoring rate in Austria?

McLaren are introducing the first stage of their upgrade package at the Austrian Grand Prix. BothLando Norris and Oscar Piastri have qualified in the top ten at the last two races but failed to pick up any points. It’s hoped that the upgrades – which will be rolled out in full over the next three
rounds – will help McLaren convert their top ten starts into consistent point scoring Sunday
afternoons.

Norris has never failed to score at the Red Bull Ring. He’s finished in the top seven on all six of his appearances to date, including two podium results. Will Norris maintain that 100% points-scoring rate in 2023?

The challenges of a ten turn track

A lap of the Red Bull Ring typically takes less than 65 seconds to complete in a Formula 1 car. Officially, there are only ten corners at the track – though you could lower that number if you want to argue what the definition of a “corner” actually is.

The circuit’s layout allows for plenty of action in more ways than one. Firstly, we should see plenty of overtaking in both Saturday’s Sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix thanks to the relative ease of overtaking on this track.

Secondly, the track can become easily congested when all 20 cars are out on track for qualifying. In the past, we’ve seen many blocking incidents throughout the qualifying hour at the Austrian Grand Prix. It’s likely to be a talking point again this weekend – especially in the shorter Sprint Shootout qualifying.

Track limits can also be an issue, with it being easy to exceed the white lines at the outer perimeter of the tarmac. Having a lap time deleted – and then facing the further issue of traffic to navigate – could lead to some surprising names finding themselves well down the order on the grid.