All Info You Want to See Before the 2024 Austrian F1 GP Starts

The 2024 Formula 1 season continues with the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix in the European Alps. It's the 11th round of the campaign.

Third Sprint Weekend of the Season

The race will also be the third Sprint weekend of 2024, with the Chinese and Miami Grand Prix being the first such weekends of the year. Max Verstappen and Red Bull are coming off a couple of solid victories in Canada and Spain, with big competition from McLaren and, at some point, Mercedes.

Still, the Austrian team still looks like the best of the grid in all aspects, and its RB20 car is still leading the field and creating favorable circumstances on race day. Verstappen's quick overtake on George Russell (Mercedes) to take the lead in the Spanish Grand Prix resulted in a big advantage over his closer followers, mainly Lando Norris (McLaren).

The low-difficulty overtake on Russell should give us a glimpse of Red Bull's solid advantage as the fastest, while the McLaren of Norris struggled to get past cars, even with fresher tyres.

On his side, Max Verstappen is leading the World Drivers' Championship comfortably with seven wins in 10 races and 219 points. After the race in Monaco, where Ferrari won with Charles Leclerc, Verstappen did not have his usual huge lead in the WDC. However, consecutive wins in Montreal and Barcelona have now put him 69 points clear of the rest of the field.

Lando Norris is now second for McLaren with 150 points, followed by Leclerc with 148. Carlos Sainz is fourth for Ferrari with 116 points, with Red Bull's second driver Sergio Pérez in fifth (111 points).

Oscar Piastri (87 points) is sixth for McLaren but the Mercedes pair of George Russell (81) and Sir Lewis Hamilton (70) is getting closer.

George Russell defends against Max Verstappen during the 2024 F1 Grand Prix of Spain

Red Bull (330 points) leads the World Constructors' Championship comfortably now, as Ferrari (270) has faded away in the last two weekends. McLaren is third with 237 points and is clearly contending to take the second spot from Ferrari later in the year. Mercedes has had consecutive 3-4 finishes in the last two races and sits fourth with 151 points.

Aston Martin (Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll) has struggled lately and went scoreless in the last outing in Spain. The team is fifth in the WCC with 58 points, comfortably ahead of RB (28 points with Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo).

Alpine (Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon) has scored points in four of the last five races and has finished with both cars in the points in the last two Grands Prix. The French team has eight points and is now seventh in the championship.

Haas (Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen) is eighth with seven points, while Williams (Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant) is ninth with a couple of points.

Kick Sauber (Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu) remains scoreless in last place.

2024 Austrian GP Facts & Figures

The 2024 edition of the Austrian GP will be the 37th in F1's history.

The Austrian Grand Prix was first held as a World Championship race in 1964 at Zeltweg and Lorenzo Bandini won it for Ferrari. In the 1964 race, Jochen Rindt made his F1 debut and he would become the first Austrian to win the World Title in 1970.

From 1965 to 1969, the race was not part of the World Championship. In 1970, the Österreichring made its first appearance in the World Championship calendar and Ferrari won again, this time with Jacky Ickx behind the wheel of the beautiful 312B. Sadly, the 1970 Austrian Grand Prix was Rindt’s final race start before he tragically lost his life during practice in Italy.

Jackie Stewart achieved his second World Title in Austria in 1971, while Vittorio Brambilla, John Watson, and Alan Jones became Grand Prix winners in the Austrian circuit. Also, Elio de Angelis took his first Formula 1 win in Austria in 1982. The race was scrapped from the F1 calendar after 1987 and returned with a revamped circuit and renamed as the A-1 Ring, which was safer than the previous layout, where American driver Mark Donohue sustained a horrible accident in 1975 that eventually took his life.

Hermann Tilke was in charge of the modernization of the track and it provided some good races from 1997 to 2003. However, there was controversy in 2002, when Ferrari ordered Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher through. Schumacher was leading the championship comfortably and Barrichello had dominated the weekend.

Eddie Irvine driving his Jaguar on the A1 Ring (Austria 2002)

The circuit returned in 2014, again renamed, this time as the Red Bull Ring, with the brand as the owner. Mercedes dominated from 2014 to 2017 with Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull was finally competitive enough in 2018 and 2019 and Verstappen took two great victories, especially in 2019 with great overtaking.

Bottas won the 2020 edition, while Verstappen won the 2021 race. On his side, Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari its sixth win at the circuit in 2022. Verstappen again triumphed for Red Bull in 2023, while also taking home the win in the Sprint Race.

In 2020 and 2021, the circuit also hosted the Styrian Grand Prix, with Hamilton winning in 2020 and Verstappen in 2021.

Max Verstappen leads the drivers’ table with four wins in the Austrian GP (Verstappen has five wins at the track), while McLaren and Ferrari lead the teams with six victories in the venue.

Red Bull Ring Track Info

The track, although a relatively new circuit, has some old-school style to it and is a pure racing venue in its own right. The shortened version of the original Österreichring, now known as the Red Bull Ring, is a beautiful place to see F1 machines fighting and going around the circuit at truly awesome speeds.

As for the hot spots of the track, Turn 1 is often a site of battles while Turn 2 and Turn 3 normally see real action due to the long acceleration zones preceding them. With DRS on the main straight and the next two acceleration areas since 2019, there have been many overtaking opportunities lately and on-track battles have been fairly entertaining.

The circuit length is 4.318 km and the lap records are held by Valtteri Bottas (outright record: 1:02.939 min in qualifying for the 2020 race) and Carlos Sainz (Fastest Lap during the 2020 race: 1:05.619 min.)

2024 Austrian Grand Prix - Tyres

The dry tyres for the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix will be the C3 compound as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow medium, and C5 as P Zero Red soft.

A press release from Pirelli explained the tyre choice for the upcoming weekend: "The second leg of the first triple-header of the season, the Austrian Grand Prix, takes place at Spielberg. Several unusual features make this a unique track on the championship calendar.

First of all, it boasts the lowest number of corners (10) and the shortest lap time, even if its 4.318 kilometre length make it the fifth shortest track. The circuit owned by Red Bull is second on the list of tracks with the biggest change in altitude, with a difference of 63.5 metres between its highest and lowest points, second only to the 102.2 metre change at Spa-Francorchamps.

As usual for this event, Pirelli has chosen the three softest compounds from the 2024 range, namely the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft. The Spielberg track surface is quite old and therefore is highly abrasive, but the lateral forces exerted on the tyres are decidedly lower than the average for the season, resulting in very limited wear overall.

Traction out of the slow corners and stability under braking are key contributors to being competitive at this track. It is important to manage the tyres in such a way as to avoid overheating, especially if they run at high temperatures: those drivers who don’t manage to keep them cool enough could end up finding it difficult to fend off attacks from other cars, especially in the first and last sectors.

Therefore, another important factor will be the ambient temperature at a venue where the weather is often rather variable. For the past two editions of this race, the two-stop strategy proved quickest, running the Medium and Hard tyres and last year, no driver gambled on the Softs.

The Styrian hills have been Formula 1’s only home in Austria, with 37 races held on the circuit now known as the Red Bull Ring and one, in 1964, on a track laid out at Zeltweg’s military airfield, the two venues separated by just a few hundred metres as the crow flies. This Sunday’s race will be the 37th Austrian Grand Prix and the races have been held in three periods of time.

Following the first race at Zeltweg, the next ones were run at what was then known as the Österreichring from 1970 to 1987, followed by the A1-Ring from 1997 to 2003 and finally with its Red Bull Ring nomenclature from 2014 onwards. In the years 2020 and 2021, the track also hosted the Styrian Grand Prix.

Although he has yet to turn 27, Max Verstappen is already the driver with the most wins (4) at this event, to which can be added victory in one Styrian Grand Prix.

25 drivers have made it to the top step of the Austrian podium at least once and of those, 11 have been crowned world champion at least once: the aforementioned Max, Alain Prost, Alan Jones, Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Emerson Fittipaldi, Niki Lauda, Nigel Mansell, Jacques Villeneuve and Lewis Hamilton. Of the teams, Ferrari and McLaren lead the way with six wins apiece, although Mercedes can claim the same number of wins at this venue, thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.

This weekend, the Red Bull Ring hosts the third Sprint format weekend of the season, which means just one free practice session on Friday followed by Sprint qualifying. The Sprint race takes place on Saturday followed by qualifying for Sunday afternoon’s Grand Prix.

This format has been used here three times, every year since 2022. To date, there have been 14 Sprint races and, hardly surprising, Max Verstappen has claimed the lion’s share, winning nine of them. Valtteri Bottas has won two, while Sergio Perez, George Russell and Oscar Piastri have one win each."

The minimum starting pressures for the dry tyres are 23.0 psi (front) and 20.0 psi (rear).

2024 Austrian Grand Prix Weather Forecast

Friday, June 28th - FP & Sprint Shootout
Conditions: Mostly cloudy, a thunderstorm in parts of the area; warm
Max. temperature: 29°C
Chance of rain: 40%

Saturday, June 29th - Sprint Race & Qualifying
Conditions: Partly sunny and warm
Max. temperature: 32°C
Chance of rain: 3%

Sunday, June 30th - Main Race
Conditions: Mostly sunny and warm
Max. temperature: 29°C
Chance of rain: 25%

Who will be on the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix Podium?

Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 2nd, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1st , Laurent Mekies, Racing Director, Ferrari, and Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercede, 3rd, on the podium during the 2023 Austrian GP

Red Bull and Max Verstappen have dominated the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring since 2018.

The Dutch driver has won a record five races in Austria and two Sprint events. Verstappen won the Austrian round in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023. Moreover, the Dutchman won the Styrian Grand Prix in 2021.

It is quite unlikely to see Red Bull not taking the win in the upcoming weekend, but things have looked quite close lately and the weekend could be competitive.

Still, the Red Bull Ring seems to be Verstappen's best track and it'd require a massive performance from the rest of the field to beat him.

Our podium prediction for the 2024 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix is 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lando Norris, 3. Charles Leclerc.

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