All info you want to see before next Austrian GP starts
The 2020 F1 Season Starts in Austria not Australia
Here we are, again! The 2020 Formula 1 World Championship season starts on Sunday at Spielberg. If the excitement was really high back in March when we thought the season was about to begin at Melbourne, now it just would be redundant to emphasize how we´re all eager to see some racing.
The first day of December 2019 is the date of the last Grand Prix held to date and seven months and four days after, we will have Formula 1 action in the Red Bull Ring at Austria. What to expect? Well, at this point we might be going into the weekend a little bit blindsided, given how far back winter testing was and how some teams —not Ferrari, according to them— have been working on big upgrade packages for their machines.
Silver/Black Arrows?
Anyway, winter testing did show us some teams that went on different work paths from the previous years, at least aerodynamically, and it is interesting to see if they can be really competitive. Of course, Mercedes is expected to be out front, while Red Bull and Ferrari should preserve their places as the main challengers, perhaps even being ahead of the former Silver Arrows on some weekends. Yeah, former Silver Arrows, because in a push for diversity and a bid to help end the tragic reality of racism, the German brand will be racing black cars —stunningly beautiful black cars, we must say—.
Record Breaking Season for Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton’s quest for a seventh title has not really been the main talking point in recent weeks, however, once racing resumes, the British legend is in for another shot at Formula 1’s golden history. At the end of this season, Hamilton might be the all-time leader in wins, the joint all-time leader in World Drivers’ Championships won, the all-time leader in podiums and just the third to win at least four straight titles (Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel did it before).
Did we mention Sebastian Vettel? Of course, the German, a four-time World Champion, will be competing in his sixth and final season for Ferrari, after both parts decided they were better off continuing without each other in the upcoming years. Despite many talks about his commitment and his recent body language, we might see a rejuvenated Vettel in 2020. Of course, his teammate Charles Leclerc could be Ferrari’s main priority from the start of the year so it will be an interesting dynamic to follow as the season progresses.
Returning to Hamilton’s chances of glory, Max Verstappen and Red Bull are, again, expected to take good shots against the number 44 driver and Mercedes. Starting the season on home soil offers a good chance for Red Bull and their main driver, who has won in the last two outings at Austria and is aiming for a great start to the season.
Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s teammate, won last year’s inaugural race at Australia and has had some success at Austria in his career. The Finnish driver achieved his first podium at Austria in 2014 with Williams and won at the Spielberg’s great track in 2017 with Mercedes. Also, he finished last year’s race at Austria ahead of Hamilton and qualified on Pole in 2018, so he might have something to say on Sunday.
Midfield is a war zone
The midfield should be a war zone again, with many teams fighting closely for a chance to line up behind the top three. McLaren led the middle area last season, while Renault showed underperforming treats on most races. Teams like Racing Point, Alfa Romeo or AlphaTauri —previously Toro Rosso— would be expecting to compete constantly for points. Racing Point, on their part, performed fantastically in winter testing with their Mercedes-like car.
Lance Stroll, Racing Point RP20
If Racing Point are going to join the fight of the top three or lead the midfield comfortably, they might be in with a chance of a podium in the first races, before some of the big teams bring some new upgrades. Of course, it is a long shot to imagine Racing Point going for podiums, but the team have shown in the past they are quite opportunistic on the track and steadily competitive from the technical side.
Drivers from outside of the top teams, such as the Ferrari-bound for 2021 Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo —who will leave Renault and join McLaren next year—, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly or even George Russell, have a lot more to show in this season.
Sainz would want to leave McLaren on a high, while Ricciardo would need to be very tough-minded if he is to endure what might be a hard environment inside the Renault team. For Ocon, it would be about displaying his talents after more than a year and a half without racing and Russell would want to continue his dominance inside the Williams team to try and earn a Mercedes seat in the future.
As for Gasly, if he is to earn another shot at a big team, he would need to keep the consistency he showed in the closing stages of 2019, where he scored points in five of the last nine races and achieved a podium at Brazil.
2020 Austrian GP Facts & Figures
The 2020 Austrian Grand Prix will begin 217 days after the previous Formula 1 race, the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This was the longest drought without any type of Formula 1 racing (there were 266 days between the 1950 and the 1951 season and 223 between the 1961 and 1962 season. However, there were non-championship races held during those periods).
Jochen Rindt smoking a cigarette in Austria (1970)
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, the late Jochen Rindt made his F1 debut an 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 at Italy.
Jackie Stewart achieved his second World Title at 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 at 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.
2002 Austrian podium: Barrichello gets trophy from Schumacher because he had to give away the win
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.
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.
Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and Verstappen are the only drivers to win twice in a row at Austria. However, the Dutchman has the chance to become the first driver to win three straight races in the Austrian ring.
Prost leads the drivers’ table with three wins at the track, while McLaren leads the teams with six victories at Austria.
The Red Bull Ring
The track, although is a relatively "new" circuit, has some old-school style to it and is a pure racing venue on its own right. The shortened version of the original super fast Österreichring, now named 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 hotspots of the track, Turn 1 is often an overtaking place, 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, last year’s race was amazing and this year’s tandem of two GPs should be thrilling.
The circuit length is 4.318 km and the lap records are held by Charles Leclerc (outright record: 1:03.003 seconds in 2019) and Kimi Raikkonen (Fastest Lap during the race: 1:06.957).
What happened in the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix?
Leclerc started from Pole Position after setting the outright lap record of the track on Saturday. Hamilton had qualified second but was given a penalty for impeding Raikkonen during qualifying, so Verstappen was second on the grid.
Start of the race, 2019 Austrian GP, Red Bull Ring
The Dutch racer had a truly bad start which saw him fall to eighth place at the first corner. Vettel started from ninth after trouble in qualifying and was earning places from the start.
As the frontrunners pitted quite early, Verstappen stayed out longer and was hoping for a good difference in tyre wear so his chances of a big result could return after his bad start. Hamilton had a similar strategy to Verstappen’s but he knocked his front wing on the kerbs and had a long pitstop.
Verstappen pitted on lap 31, nine laps after the leader Leclerc and started his charge. He overtook Hamilton on the pits and then got Vettel on lap 50 for third place, Bottason lap 56 for second and had a great battle with Leclerc for the lead.
The Dutchman took advantage of his tyres and overtook the Monegasque on lap 69 and went on to win the race. It was Honda’s first F1 victory since the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix, won by Jenson Button.
The win was Red Bull’s first since the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix and the first for a non-Mercedes driver in 2019 (ninth GP of the year). Also, it was the first time of the 2019 season with Hamilton out of the first two podium places.
Carlos Sainz had a great race too, starting from 19th and finishing eighth. Leclerc and Bottas completed the podium, while Vettel and Hamilton had to settle with fourth and fifth. Lando Norris tied his best F1 result with sixth, followed by Gasly in the second Red Bull (he was lapped by his teammate). The two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi closed the top 10.
2020 Austrian Grand Prix - Tyres
The tyres will be the same from last year in Austria: the C2 (white-colored hard tyre), the C3 (yellow-colored medium tyre) and the C4 (red-colored softest tyre). The compounds, as voted unanimously by the teams, are the same from the previous campaign, after the 2020 tyres were tested during practice for the 2019 US Grand Prix and were unpopular amongst drivers.
Also, Pirelli will be deciding the tyre allocation for each team. Each driver will receive two sets of hard tyres, three sets of mediums and eight sets of soft tyres.
Since its return to the calendar in 2014, the winner of the Austrian Grand Prix has had more than one stop only twice (2014 and 2016).
Apart from 2014 and 2016, the race has generally been a one-stopper.
Since the change to wider tyres in 2017, the race has seen only one point-scorer who stopped more than once (Sebastian Vettel last year).
The podium finishers of the race have had the same number of pit stops in five of the six Austrian GPs since 2014.
Last year, Kevin Magnussen managed to do 51 laps with the C2 compound tyre on his Haas. It might be useful information for those trying to pit early in the race behind the Safety Car or a VSC (Virtual Safety Car).
2020 Austrian Grand Prix Weather Forecast
The weather forecast for Austria has been quite lineal in the last years, with every race since 2014 held under dry and hot conditions.
Friday, July 3rd - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Showers and a heavier t-storm
Max. temperature: 20°C
Chance of rain: 65%
Saturday, July 4th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Periods of sun
Max. temperature: 23°C
Chance of rain: 25%
Sunday, July 5th - Race
Conditions: Partly sunny and comfortable
Max. temperature: 27°C
Chance of rain: 1%
Who will be on the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix Podium?
The 2020 Austrian Grand Prix is probably the most anticipated Formula 1 race in recent years simply due to the emptiness provided to F1 fans since the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Covid-19 pandemic is all to blame, but we´re finally closing in on the first race of a season highly anticipated. Of course, the top three teams are expected to scrap for the podium places and, hopefully, for the win.
2019 Austria GP podium: 1. Verstappen, 2. Leclerc, 3. Bottas
Hamilton goes to Austria probably looking to reverse his luck from the last three years in the Styrian region. In 2017, he had to start off his regular places due to a grid penalty and could not reach the podium, while 2018 brought a bad decision from Mercedes while leading (not pitting during a VSC period) and then he had a mechanical failure. In 2019, Mercedes struggled with the high temperatures and Hamilton did not improve his chances by damaging his front wing.
On the other hand, Hamilton’s main threat not only for this race but for the title for many, Verstappen, comes from three straight podiums at Austria and two wins. Red Bull would want to continue pushing for wins as they did in various races at the end of 2019. Ferrari, on their side, will put the same version of the SF1000 they tested during the winter test, according to the Team Principal Mattia Binotto. In a racetrack where they had arguably the best car last season, they should be competitive.
The top midfield teams from last season McLaren, Renault, Toro Rosso (Alpha Tauri) and Racing Point, should have an amazing battle for the points spots behind the big three.
After many teams have tested older cars and some other teams like Red Bull or Racing Point took advantage of their Filming Days of 2020 to test their current challengers, all seems to be set and ready to go in the season which celebrates 70 years of F1.
As to the likely podium finishers, we must take into consideration all six drivers from the top three teams, including Alexander Albon, who had a solid second part of the season with Red Bull last season and is still looking for his first podium. Of course, Albon had a big chance at a podium last year at Brazil, but tangling with Hamilton in the late stages has him still thinking about spraying champagne for the first time.
Of course, we are here to make a prediction, so here it goes.
Our podium prediction for the 2020 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix is 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lewis Hamilton, 3. Charles Leclerc. We had the same prediction for the race that did not happen at Australia back in March and with a more favorable track for Red Bull and not so for Hamilton, Verstappen emerges as the favorite again.
What's your prediction?
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