Austrian Grand Prix 2016: Preview and Weekend Times

Opening hours

Friday July 1

Free 1: 10:00-11:30 (Sky Sport F1 HD)

Shifted to 14pm on RaiSport 30

Free 2: 14:00-15:30 (Sky Sport F1 HD)

Full broadcast at 18pm on RaiSport 30

Saturday July 2

Free 3: 11:00-12:00 (Sky Sport F1 HD)

Full broadcast at 15pm on RaiSport 30

Qualifying: 14pm (Sky Sport F00 HD)

To be defined

Sunday July 3

Race: 14pm ̶ 00 laps ̶ 71km (Sky Sport F307,146 HD)

To be defined

Direct:  SKY Sports F1 HD (full broadcast of the grand prix on Rai channels: for more information on Thursday evening we will publish the flash preview with updated times)

Previous race

The European Grand Prix two weeks ago saw the return of Nico Rosberg to the top step of the podium, thanks above all to the complicity of Hamilton, who as they say didn't get anything right on the Baku street circuit. For once, the Ferraris fared reasonably well, managing to limit the damage as much as possible, except for the penalty received by Raikkonen which cost him the podium. The lowest step of the podium was reserved for Sergio Perez, who managed to keep up with the big names with Force India, taking his second third place this season. The Red Bulls, on the other hand, did poorly, as after a good qualifying they were unable to deliver in the race, finishing in the lower part of the Top Ten.

Predictions from F1GrandPrix.it

It's difficult to see it otherwise, the Mercedes are the single-seaters to beat. Hamilton's debacle aside, we are sure to see a duel between him and Rosberg, like last year, more in strategies than on the track given the difficulty of overtaking here. Immediately behind was a large group made up of Ferrari, Red Bull, Force India and Williams: fast cars with aerodynamics that are well suited to this atypical non-city track. The qualifying phase and especially the start will count a lot, we'll see who does it best.

Circuit

Name: Red Bull Ring.

Place: Spielberg, Styria, Austria.

Construction: The birth of this historic route dates back to the 50s, when racing car enthusiasts created the first route with a few cones and simple hay bales. In 1958, an international sports car race was held on the then track, while in the following two years it was Formula Two that stopped in Austria. In the early sixties the Zeltweg track hosted two Formula 1 championship events not valid for the world championship. In the wake of the successes of local idol Jochen Rindt, it was decided to build a new track, the Osterrichring. 1970 was the year of the inauguration, and the first Formula 1 race took place on the 5,911 km long circuit and was unexpectedly won by Jacky Ickx. Over the years the track underwent some changes, but the most important occurred in 1988, when the track had already been canceled from the world championship calendar, when the width of the main straight was changed and the Bosch curve was modified. However, the track as we know it now dates back to 1997, after numerous modifications and a new project by the Austrian company A1 which created a new track inside the old one. After the last edition in 2003, the track was taken over by Red Bull which financed the works for a modernization of the paddock structure which took place in 2010, without changes to the track. The track as we know it now hosted events from other championships before returning to the major series calendar last year.

Distance per lap: xnumxkm.

Number of curves: 10, six on the right and four on the left.

Direction of travel: hours.

Technical data:

Aerodynamic Load:	Low	Medium	High
Throttle opening: 60% of the lap.
Fuel Consumption per Lap: 1,4 kg/rev
Full speed: 328 km/h
Safety Car possibilities: 65%
Travel time in the pit lane with stop: 22 seconds.
Overtaking possibilities:	Easy-to-use	Medium	Difficult
Winners from Pole Position: 7 out of 28 editions on this track.
Worst Starting Position for a Winner: fourteenth (Jones 1977)

Characteristics of the Track:

Brakes:

Circuit Category:	Light	Medium	Hard
Number of Brakes: 7
Time Spent Braking: 17% of the lap.
Energy Dissipated in Braking During the GP: 143 kWh
Total Load on the Brake Pedal during the GP: 67.237 kg
More challenging braking: the second detached at turn two.

Rubber:

Tires 2015:	ultrasoft	supersoft	Soft Drinks	Medium	Hard
Tire Stress	1	2	3	4	5
Lateral stresses	1	2	3	4	5
Abrasiveness Asphalt	1	2	3	4	5
Grip Asphalt	1	2	3	4	5
Total number of Pits 2015: 21
Winning Strategy 2015: Supersoft -> Pit Lap 33 Soft
Longest Stints 2015: Supersoft 36 Laps (Vettel) – Soft 50 Laps (Ricciardo)

DRS zone: one on the main straight between Turn 9 and Turn 1 with detection point before Turn 9; on the straight between turn 2 and turn 3 with detection point before turn 2.

Previous Editions

Last 3 Editions:

2003 edition: the Austrian GP was not reconfirmed due to the ban that would become active the following year regarding the prohibition on displaying cigarette brands. From the technical point of view the Renault it is the only one to bring news with a more powerful engine, as well as a completely redesigned front wing; both updates are tested in a private session held on Friday. Free practice: in the only session on Friday the fastest is David Coulthard (McLaren – Mercedes), ahead of Jarno Trulli (Renault) and Antonio Pizzonia (Jaguar – Cosworth). In the Saturday morning session Rubens Barrichello sets the fastest lap ahead of Montoya (Williams – BMW) and his teammate Michael Schumacher. Qualifying: the German obtains yet another pole position with a time of 1'09''150, preceding an aggressive Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren – Mercedes) by just 39 thousandths of a second, followed in the second row by Montoya and a surprising Heidfeld on Clean – Petronas. Race: the starting procedure had to be repeated twice in a row due to Da Matta, whose car had a launch control problem which caused the engine to shut down. On the third attempt the start took place regularly: Schumacher maintained the lead of the group while Montoya moved in behind him. At the back of the grid Verstappen has a problem and remains stopped on the main straight: the race direction brings the Safety Car onto the track. The car was removed and the race restarted on lap 5, when a few drops of rain began to fall on the circuit without, fortunately, causing any unexpected events. Michael Schumacher continues to lead first until the pit stop scheduled for the 23rd lap, when problems occur with the fuel filler, something that also happened shortly before with Barrichello: some fuel leaks out and causes a small fire, which is put out almost immediately. Montoya took advantage of all this, taking the lead ahead of Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher. The Colombian was then forced to retire due to the failure of the BMW engine. Meanwhile Schumacher takes the lead again; in the meantime Barrichello overtakes Button and takes third position. The top three positions remain unchanged and so Schumacher wins the Austrian GP for the second time in a row.

 

2014 edition: after eleven years the race is back on the calendar thanks to the owner of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz. In free practice on Friday the Mercedes immediately imposed themselves, first with Rosberg and then with Hamilton, with Alonso firmly behind them in the Ferrari. In FP3 it was Valtteri Bottas on Williams who set the best time ahead of Hamilton and his teammate Massa. At the end of qualifying the Brazilian took the monopoly of pole starts away from the Mercedes duo, with Bottas immediately behind: Williams hadn't had two cars on the front row since 2003. Second row for Rosberg and Alonso, while Hamilton is only eighth after wasting his fastest lap in a spin. Race: at the start Massa maintains the lead of the group while Bottas initially passes behind Rosberg, only to then see himself slipped away again. Great start for Hamilton who immediately gains four positions, while Sebastian Vettel (RBR – Renault) experiences a drop in power and is forced to slow down to set the control unit; his race will last until the 34th pass. From the eighth to the fourteenth lap the leaders go to change tyres, where the Mercedes are the fastest: Massa even finds himself fourth after his own pit, also passed by his teammate. At the 25th^a Daniil Kvyat (STR – Renault) retired due to suspension problems. Between lap 38 and 42 last pit stop for the leading four, where Hamilton manages to gain second position against Bottas. Nothing changes thereafter and so Nico Rosberg he goes on to win his sixth career race ahead of Hamilton and Bottas, for the first time on the podium. In the world rankings the German extends to 165 points, compared to 135 for the Englishman.

 

2015 edition: Friday at the Red Bull Ring opens with Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), while in the afternoon at the end of FP2 it is Sebastian Vettel who records the best time in front of the compatriot and teammate. And again in FP3 on Saturday morning the German with his red car set the best time, but this time it was Hamilton who placed behind him, trailing by just 17 thousandths. Qualifying: surprisingly in FP1 Iceman is eliminated, who, to leave more space between himself and the other cars, goes for his flying lap when the checkered flag has now been waved. The two Mercedes imposed themselves right from the start and at the end of Q3 it was Lewis Hamilton who set his 45^a pole position, followed by Rosberg and Vettel. Race: at the start Rosberg has a better start and takes the lead, but the race is immediately cooled by the entry of the safety car, following an unspecified collision between Räikkönen's car and that of Alonso, who has a really bad time for a few moments, fortunately emerging unscathed. At the restart the situation did not change at the front, while at the back we witnessed overtaking by Pérez (Force India) and Valtteri Bottas (Williams). From lap 34 the top four return to the pits and Rosberg maintains his lead, while Hamilton is given a 5 second arrival penalty for crossing the white line when exiting the pits. In third place goes Massa, who takes advantage of a complication in the Ferrari pits to overtake Vettel. Despite a series of attacks the German fails to get on the podium and so after the Mercedes duo the Brazilian gets on the podium, his first of the season. Rosberg is just 10 points behind Hamilton in the championship now.

Best Edition For Authors:

1975 edition: on the eve of the Grand Prix the atmosphere becomes tense, as Niki Lauda on Ferrari could become world champion for the first time if he finished in the points ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi and Carlos Reutemann. Between Friday and Saturday several accidents occurred including those of Wilson Fittipaldi, Carlos Pace and Brian Henton. Pole position was taken by Niki Lauda in 1'34''850, with James Hunt on the Hesket on the front row – Cosworth, third Fittipaldi; the times taken into consideration are those of Friday, since due to persistent rain it was not possible to complete fast laps on Saturday. On Sunday, during the warm up, Mark Donohue's tragic accident occurred: due to a tire that exploded mid-corner, the driver could do nothing to control the US Penske, which went off the track and ended up against some advertising hoardings. The still conscious pilot died three days later after an operation to remove a blood clot from his head; Two track workers also died in the accident. Race: At the start Lauda is ahead of Hunt and Patrick Depailler, who made an excellent start. Behind the Tyrrell driver were Fittipaldi, Stuck, Regazzoni, Pace and Vittorio Brambilla. During the first lap Pace is passed by the Italian. Shortly afterwards Brambilla also passes Regazzoni, afflicted by gearbox problems, and the following lap Fittipaldi, who was also overtaken by Stuck shortly before. The driver of the March sponsored "Beta" also passes Stuck and Depailler between the fifth and sixth lap, placing himself behind the Lauda-Hunt duo. On lap 15 Lauda was passed by both Hunt and Vittorio, while the rain increased in intensity in the meantime. On lap 19 Brambilla takes the lead, taking advantage of Hunt's indecision in a lapping phase. However, the weather conditions were such that the race direction decided to suspend the Grand Prix. Vittorio Brambilla wins for the first time in his career, also setting the fastest lap. Given the short duration, only half of the expected points were awarded to the top six drivers. Lauda finishes sixth with half a point gained, which does not allow him to win the world title, which will arrive shortly thereafter.

Best Edition For Readers:

This time we had a tie, so both editions of your choice will be reported.

 

1982 edition: Renault announced that from 1983 it would also supply its turbo engines to Lotus. For the first time the French company became a supplier for another manufacturer. Championship leader Didier Pironi, injured in practice for the German GP, ​​was no longer in danger of dying but his participation in the world championship was now over. Qualifying: the very hot day made the tires very soft, so much so that they lasted just one lap. Nelson Piquet He achieved the best time on Friday, with 1'27”612, followed by teammate Riccardo Patrese, while the Renaults and Tambay's Unica Ferrari suffered technical problems. On Saturday there were no drivers capable of beating the two from Brabham and it was BMW's first pole position as an engine manufacturer. Race: the poleman maintained the lead at the start, leading ahead of Alain Prost and Riccardo Patrese. But already at the end of the first lap the Frenchman had been overtaken by the Italian, while the two Alfa Romeos and Daly's Williams withdrew. On lap 18 Piquet entered the pits for the scheduled tire change but he did so too soon, taking his mechanics by surprise and he rejoined the race fourth. On lap 23 his teammate also changed tires: this was much quicker and this allowed the Italian to return to the race first, ahead of Prost, de Angelis, Piquet and Rosberg. It's a shame that just 5 laps later Patrese broke his engine and was forced to retire, as did Piquet who had electronic problems in 32^a returned. On lap 49 the fuel failure forced Prost to retire. Elio de Angelis began to lead, for the first time in his career, but with Rosberg ever closer. The Finn managed to close the gap to zero so much so that he followed the Italian driver after the last corner, but was unable to overtake him by just 0, at the time the second smallest gap for a Formula 050 race. It was the first victory in career for the Italian.

 

1999 edition: due to the accident at Silverstone, Ferrari replaces the injured Michael Schumacher with the Finnish Mika Salo, while the expectations of taking home the drivers' championship are all concentrated on the second driver, Eddie Irvine, officially fighting with Mika Häkkinen (McLaren – Mercedes). On Saturday at the end of qualifying there seems to be no hope for the Maranello team: two o'clock McLaren I'm ahead of everyone with Mika first, ahead of his teammate Coulthard, while Irvine is third, one second behind. Race: the unexpected happens. At the start Häkkinen is joined by Coulthard: the two proceed together until the second corner, when the Scotsman attempts an attack on his teammate but ends up touching him. The Finn spun, restarting in last position, while Coulthard continued undisturbed at the head of the race. At the same time, further back Salo (starting 9th) hits Johnny Herbert (Stewart – Ford): as a result the Ferrari driver has to replace the nose of his car, while the Englishman loses the rear wing, restarting from the pits with several laps behind . Lap after lap Coulthard maintained the lead until his pit stop, around halfway through the race, when Irvine took first place and pushed hard until he refueled on lap 42. When the Ferrari driver returns to the track he is ahead of his rival: Coulthard tries to overtake him until the finish line, but has to settle for second place. Irvine thus achieved his second victory of the season and of his career, ahead of Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen, author of a great comeback from the back of the group. From a world perspective, the Finn is first with 44 points, second to the Northern Irishman who with the unexpected victory brings himself back to just two points, leaving the title still to be decided.

RECORD

Test lap: 1:07.908 – M Schumacher – Ferrari – 2003
Race lap: 1:08.337 – M Schumacher – Ferrari – 2003
Distance: 1h24:04.888 – M Schumacher – Ferrari – 2003
Driver victories: 3 – At Prost
Team victories: 6 – McLaren
Driver pole: 3 – N Piquet/ N Lauda/ R Arnoux
Pole team: 7 – Ferrari
Best driver laps: 3 – D Coulthard
Best team laps: 8 – McLaren
Driver podiums: 5 – D Coulthard
Team podiums: 20 – Ferrari

Hall of Fame

1. 1964 L Bandini – Ferrari
2. 1970 J Ickx – Ferrari
3. 1971 J Siffert – BRM
4. 1972 E Fittipaldi – Lotus-Ford Cosworth
5. 1973 R Peterson – Lotus-Ford Cosworth
6. 1974 C Reutemann – Brabham-Ford Cosworth
7. 1975 V Brambilla – March-Ford Cosworth
8. 1976 J Watson – Penske-Ford Cosworth
9. 1977 A Jones – Shadow-Ford Cosworth
10. 1978 R Peterson – Lotus -Ford Cosworth
11. 1979 A Jones – Williams -Ford Cosworth
12. 1980 JP Jabouille – Renault
13. 1981 J Laffite – Ligier -Matra
14. 1982 E de Angelis – Lotus-Ford Cosworth
15. 1983 At Prost – Renault
16. 1984 N Lauda – McLaren-TAG Porsche
17. 1985 A Prost – McLaren-TAG Porsche
18. 1986 A Prost – McLaren-TAG Porsche
19. 1987 N Mansell – Williams-Honda
20. 1997 J Villeneuve – Williams-Renault
21. 1998 M Häkkinen – McLaren-Mercedes
22. 1999 E Irvine – Ferrari
23. 2000 M Häkkinen – McLaren-Mercedes
24. 2001 D Coulthard – McLaren-Mercedes
25. 2002 M Schumacher – Ferrari
26. 2003 M Schumacher – Ferrari
27. 2014 N Rosberg – Mercedes
28. 2015 N Rosberg – Mercedes

 

Andrea Villa, Matteo Bramati.

Sources: Brembo, Pirelli.