The Official Austrian GP Thread 2014***SPOILERS***

[Justaredbadge]

Back to the A1ring, now called the Red Bull Ring.

It's a track with a long history in various iterations. Quite a short lap time, but with three very good overtaking spots.

Red Bull will be hoping for a repeat performance of Canada, but I would be very surprised if Mercedes suffered the same issue here.

McLaren are to bring a large update to this race and they think It could suit their car. Button's largely unrecognised fourth place in Canada showed that their car comes to the driver later in the race. Ferrari will be hoping for a miracle accident at the first corner leaving their cars unscathed.

This circuit is heavy on brakes, but the temperatures should be lower than they were in Canada, so issues such as Mercedes and Force India had should not show themselves.

Anyway, keep the discussion civil and enjoy the race.

[rallycross]

Great to have this circuit back in use by F1.

Hope it rains and we see some different people at the front.

[RichB]

Crikey, is it this weekend!

[Jasandjules]

RichB said:

Crikey, is it this weekend!

I am hoping it is next weekend..

[RichB]

Was surprised to see the thread up so soon

[anonymous-user]

Justaredbadge said:

Back to the A1ring, now called the Red Bull Ring.

It's a track with a long history in various iterations. Quite a short lap time, but with three very good overtaking spots.

Red Bull will be hoping for a repeat performance of Canada, but I would be very surprised if Mercedes suffered the same issue here.

McLaren are to bring a large update to this race and they think It could suit their car. Button's largely unrecognised fourth place in Canada showed that their car comes to the driver later in the race. Ferrari will be hoping for a miracle accident at the first corner leaving their cars unscathed.

This circuit is heavy on brakes, but the temperatures should be lower than they were in Canada, so issues such as Mercedes and Force India had should not show themselves.

Anyway, keep the discussion civil and enjoy the race.

Buttons 4th place was courtesy of a retirement and a collision or would have been 7th. Maybe 9th on true pace, were it not for Alonso and Hulkenberg running wide. I don't think there's any evidence to show the McLaren comes to the driver later in the race any more than most of them do, as the fuel load falls.

[wasserboxer]

REALIST123 said:

Buttons 4th place was courtesy of a retirement and a collision or would have been 7th. Maybe 9th on true pace, were it not for Alonso and Hulkenberg running wide. I don't think there's any evidence to show the McLaren comes to the driver later in the race any more than most of them do, as the fuel load falls.

Isn't that racing, though?

You either pick up places through being noticeably quicker, or by opponents making mistakes trying to keep a faster pace than you?

The collision was fortunate for JB, but he did what he always does - brought the car home safely, often in a position higher up than expected.

[anonymous-user]

wasserboxer said:

REALIST123 said:

Buttons 4th place was courtesy of a retirement and a collision or would have been 7th. Maybe 9th on true pace, were it not for Alonso and Hulkenberg running wide. I don't think there's any evidence to show the McLaren comes to the driver later in the race any more than most of them do, as the fuel load falls.

Isn't that racing, though?

You either pick up places through being noticeably quicker, or by opponents making mistakes trying to keep a faster pace than you?

The collision was fortunate for JB, but he did what he always does - brought the car home safely, often in a position higher up than expected.

Absolutely, I'm not taking anything away from Button, just don't think there was any evidence in Montreal to show the car was that much better compared with the others at any stage as the first post implies.

All I said was that it's true pace was around 9th and most of the cars get faster later in the race. Arguably they're further behind Williams and RBR, not to mention MB, than in Australia.

[zac510]

I know not everybody did but I used to enjoy the races at this circuit (in the 90s).

Have they changed the layout at all?

[Pwig]

Ok here's a question for you.

What drivers racing there this year will have raced on it last time it was used in F1?

Raikonnen?
Button?
Alonso?
Massa?

[wasserboxer]

Kimi and Jenson, isn't it?

[Mr_Thyroid]

Pwig said:

What drivers racing there this year will have raced on it last time it was used in F1?

Raikonnen?
Button?
Alonso?
Massa?

The full answer is this:

It was last used in 2003. Raikkonen (McLaren), Button (BAR) and Alonso (Renault) raced on it that year. Massa (Sauber) has also raced F1 there, but in 2002 - he didn't have a drive in 2003.

[zac510]

zac510 said:

Have they changed the layout at all?

To answer my own question I did some research and they have not changed the track layout since the last F1 race.

[Drive Blind]

do they still have the big run off area at turn 1?

from memory the last few times F1 raced there the cars were fully off the track almost every lap.

[Jungles]

Yup, it was customary to use the run-off to get a good lap time. And it's still there.

But I think with the tightening of off-track rules in the past couple of seasons, the drivers might be dissuaded from using the run-off.

Onboards:

Formula Renault 2.0 test
http://youtu.be/Kj3HXBbZMBs

GP2 in BOSS series
http://youtu.be/HcmPLj1mCz8

Raikkonen in 2003 qualifying (with Brundle's commentary):
http://youtu.be/CIZ-T8y9_9c

Edited by Jungles on Sunday 15th June 06:05

[StottyEvo]

Why was the A1 ring taken off the calendar?

[Altrezia]

Because it makes the new Tilke tracks look dull, presumably. Awesome place!

[zac510]

It is a Tilke track (well, modified by him)!

[danfilm007]

Jungles said:

Yup, it was customary to use the run-off to get a good lap time. And it's still there.

But I think with the tightening of off-track rules in the past couple of seasons, the drivers might be dissuaded from using the run-off.

Onboards:

Formula Renault 2.0 test
http://youtu.be/Kj3HXBbZMBs

GP2 in BOSS series
http://youtu.be/HcmPLj1mCz8

Raikkonen in 2003 qualifying (with Brundle's commentary):
http://youtu.be/CIZ-T8y9_9c

Edited by Jungles on Sunday 15th June 06:05

Good job Johnathan Palmer doesn't own it or he'd be having a paddy by now! :P

[Esseesse]

Don't think he has to win, but Hamilton really needs to finish ahead of Rosberg in Austria.