Austrian Grand Prix: Preview

Austria made its first appearance in Formula 1 in 1964, at the unloved and featureless Zeltweg Airport, and when it made its full-scale championship return in 1970 it did so at the new Österreichring, a fast and undulating circuit in the hills above the village of Spielberg.

Austria was a fixture on the schedule through 1987, before it disappeared, re-emerging from 1997 until 2003 at the shortened and rebranded A1-Ring. 

Another absence followed, with the entire facility falling into a state of disrepair, before it was acquired and renovated by Red Bull. Formula 1 returned to Austria in 2014 at the renamed and refreshed Red Bull Ring.

At just 4.3km, and with only 10 corners, it is one of the shortest circuits on the calendar, and with lap times of around 65 seconds Austria provides one of the closest qualifying sessions of the season.  

For the fourth successive year there will be two ‘lights out’ opportunities in Austria. The venue hosted back-to-back grands prix in both 2020 – including the delayed season-opening event – and 2021, due to the pandemic.

Last season Austria returned to its single grand prix but hosted F1 Sprint. Once more the two-race format will feature this weekend, with separate qualifying sessions for the Sprint Race and the grand prix, as was first introduced in Baku in April. It will mark the second of six F1 Sprint events through the 2023 season.   

The Red Bull Ring brings back uplifting memories for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team. Its highest double finish of fourth and fifth came at the 2018 running of the event while last year both cars were classified inside the top eight in the grand prix.

Fifth, in 2018, represents Kevin Magnussen’s best Austria finish while Nico Hulkenberg took a high of sixth in 2015, prior to capturing a front-row grid spot for 2016’s race.

Guenther Steiner – Team Principal:

The Canadian Grand Prix saw highs and lows for the team in both qualifying and the race. Having had a few days away to further analyze the weekend – what can you share about the VF-23’s characteristics where it’s capable of such good one-lap pace in Saturday qualifying, evidenced by multiple Q3 appearances, but then struggles to keep tires alive in race conditions on a Sunday. 

“We’re investigating the very good performance we have in qualifying and not-so-good performance during the race at the moment. We’re trying to pinpoint it but for the next races we’re maybe going to try and find a sweeter spot between the two sessions, qualifying and the race, so something in the middle. We’re working hard on it and trying to find out what we can do over the next races to make it better.” 

 

In simple terms, what is the short and long-term prognosis for tackling the current issues with the VF-23 and will this impact work being undertaken on the VF-24?

“We’re working very hard to try and find out why the discrepancy of being very fast and not so good in the race is happening. We’ve got a few leads and for sure it will impact the VF-24 design. We obviously have to take that feature out of the car next year.”

Detailed feedback from both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg is obviously crucial to the development of the VF-23. Can you share what they both bring to the engineering table and what you’ve observed from them both this year as the season has progressed?

“I must admit, I’m actually very happy with both Kevin and Nico about how they’re an integral part in trying to sort the problem and find the solution, how we tackle the short and long-term fix for this, and they’re both very positive. Not about the performance in the race right now but positive that we can get out of the problem we have now.”

Looking ahead to the Austrian Grand Prix – the Red Bull Ring has often been a happy hunting ground for the team – with Sprint points and a double-points finish in last year’s grand prix. Mindful of the team’s current situation, how are you approaching this next race and will the short nature of the circuit allow the VF-23 to demonstrate some of its strengths?

“We’re going into this race partly a little bit like a test session as well. We have a lot of things to try and cure our problems with the race pace, so we have a few ideas. As we have two races now this weekend, we’ve got double the amount of time to try to do different things. Obviously, we always try to get the best result possible but also maybe we compromise the best result possible for really understanding what is happening with our car on race day.”