2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

[MtthsMlw]

Tire Choices


2017 Results
Qualifying


Race




2017 Pole Lap


2017 Race Highlights

[SiLo]

Surely this will be a great track for Ferrari with their slightly better drive from slow corners than Mercedes. I expect a Vettel pole and win here but I think the fight for 2nd - 5th might be very interesting.

[Vasconia]

A great track with a nice scenery. I also expect a strong Ferrari though I am careful because I still have to measure how much Mercedes has improved with the updated PU. Anyway, Ferrari and Vettel need to win this because is quite sure that Mercedes Will have a clear advantage in Silverstone.

3 races in a row, as a F1 fan I am more than happy haha

[FelixAustria]

F1 will bring a third DRS zone this year: The long, slightly bended straight connecting T1 and T3 going up the hill. So there's three DRS zones in a row, only separated with one curve each, which IMO is the very first time we'll gonna see something like that.

But thats a negligible gift for what wonderful attraction F1 has taken away from us: our marvellous grid-girls nicely dressed in traditional gowns will be dearly missed

[atanatizante]

So there`s a one-stop race and after the tyre allocation, we could easily see the France scenario once again, with Vettel at least starting on US and both Merc and RB on SS tyre ... although on second thought had the track temp is low we could see also Vettel on SS tyre starting ...

I also wanna see how much that 2.1 Merc PU has improved in traction out of the slow corners and what kinda downforce levels would deploy RB for this track ...

I hope this race will be a cracker for its layout with 3 long straights and maybe longer DRS zones, but most of all I would like to see some rain pouring in the middle of the race in order to see both best chassis and drivers around these conditions ...

[LM10]

For now, it seems that it's gonna be a dry and quite warm weekend.

[FelixAustria]

Don't put your hopes to high, current forecast for next Sunday (and also Saturday) doesn't sound like rain:
sunrise: 05:10 sunset: 21:01
humidity: 54% wind: 1m/s dew point: 9°C pressure: 1019mb
chance of rain: 1% visibility: 16km cloud cover: 25%

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Same compounds, but different Spec construction to the ones used in France!
Will this suit Ferrari better?
Will Mercedes struggle on this spec?

[Phil]

Considering how close it was last year, i’m thinking it’s gonna be close again. Very.

[JonoNic]

Will the third DRS zone make it closer or not?

[atanatizante]

Same compounds, but different Spec construction to the ones used in France!
Will this suit Ferrari better?
Will Mercedes struggle on this spec?

Same compounds and spec construction and even the same track characteristics (stop and go) as Canada, isn`t it?
And maybe will be the same track temps like in Canada, although I would like to see a wet race here, don`t you think?

Anyway, it`ll be interesting to see how it pans out, now that all top teams have their PU upgrades here ...

[dans79]

Same compounds and spec construction and even the same track characteristics (stop and go) as Canada, isn`t it?

The end of sector 2 and sector 3 makes it very different to Canada in my opinion, and plays to Merc's strenghs.

[nzjrs]

F1 will bring a third DRS zone this year: The long, slightly bended straight connecting T1 and T3 going up the hill. So there's three DRS zones in a row, only separated with one curve each, which IMO is the very first time we'll gonna see something like that.

But thats a negligible gift for what wonderful attraction F1 has taken away from us: our marvellous grid-girls nicely dressed in traditional gowns will be dearly missed

Do you really think they will drop the grid-girls in Dirndl? I thought Austria would still go ahead with them as I don't imagine Marko nor Lauda being fans of this American imposed prudishness. My understanding was that Liberty leaves it up to the local promoter to make those decisions.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to attending the race this weekend.

[atanatizante]

At the press conference after the race in France, Lewis said they should put emphasis on the qualy position here in Austria, cos it`ll be very, very hard to overtake even they will introduce a 3rd DRS zone (that`s my presumption).
In addition, he predicts that RB should be very fast around this circuit. Nothing about Ferrari, though it`s always in his mind, y`know ... so more compromised setup towards qualy it`s the key for victory, isn`t it?

[GPR-A duplicate2]

At the press conference after the race in France, Lewis said they should put emphasis on the qualy position here in Austria, cos it`ll be very, very hard to overtake even they will introduce a 3rd DRS zone (that`s my presumption).
In addition, he predicts that RB should be very fast around this circuit. Nothing about Ferrari, though it`s always in his mind, y`know ... so more compromised setup towards qualy it`s the key for victory, isn`t it?

I think the quali Vs race setup is myth I guess. What I really think is, Mercedes has traditionally preferred harder of the available compounds. They seems to now working towards basing the car for the softest compound available, which they did in France. They have done more or less similar for Austria too. They have to aggressively move the balance of the car to US, which should hold them into good stead for the quali. They have not complained about degradation problem in the races this whole season and even if there should be a compromise by favoring US, then it should be worth it.

So, I guess, if they focus on US, then good chances of pole.