Back in the day the German GP used to be followed a week later by the Austrian GP. This was when Hockenheim was a bizarre flat out blast out in to the forest and back again with a mickey mouse stadium section to pull the punters in. Hockenheim was neutered to create more grandstands and make it more TV friendly.
Austria was probably the most majestic circuit on the calendar with long, sweeping curves set in the Styrian hills which were a challenge for cars and driver alike. The Osterreichring, like Hockenheim, was then neutered to make it, supposedly, safer and dump more spectators in and around the circuit. It was renamed the A1 ring from 1993 to 2006, presumably as an homage to the London to Edinburgh trunk road. In 2011 it became the Red Bull Ring after the fizzy drink company rebuilt all the infrastructure whilst keeping the layout the same.
Now, one week on from the Austrian GP we have another race but this time not requiring the teams to drive about 450 miles and set up the whole circus again as we are staying at the Red Bull Ring and a new race has been created, the Styrian Grand Prix. Styria is, of course, the region of Austria where the track is located.
Last Sunday F1 won me back, for a week at least, with an exciting, incident packed race around the "The Ring". I suspect we will not see the same this weekend but I do hope that Verstappen's car will allow him to have a go at the Mercs and Albon won't have his race ruined again. Look for some sort of reaction from Lewis Hamilton after the series of troubles he experienced last Sunday.
A few notes of trivia. Racing drivers Helmut Marko and Jochen Rindt are/were both from the region as are Dietrich Mateschitz (well durr) and Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition to these luminaries Styria gave us the Eurovision winner in 2014, Conchita Wurz. However, Conchita wasn't the first Eurovision winner from Styria, the lead singer of Teach-In came from here as well, and they won the competition for Holland in 1975.
Final piece of Trivia, two winners of Miss World come from here in 1969 and 1987.
Austria was probably the most majestic circuit on the calendar with long, sweeping curves set in the Styrian hills which were a challenge for cars and driver alike. The Osterreichring, like Hockenheim, was then neutered to make it, supposedly, safer and dump more spectators in and around the circuit. It was renamed the A1 ring from 1993 to 2006, presumably as an homage to the London to Edinburgh trunk road. In 2011 it became the Red Bull Ring after the fizzy drink company rebuilt all the infrastructure whilst keeping the layout the same.
Now, one week on from the Austrian GP we have another race but this time not requiring the teams to drive about 450 miles and set up the whole circus again as we are staying at the Red Bull Ring and a new race has been created, the Styrian Grand Prix. Styria is, of course, the region of Austria where the track is located.
Last Sunday F1 won me back, for a week at least, with an exciting, incident packed race around the "The Ring". I suspect we will not see the same this weekend but I do hope that Verstappen's car will allow him to have a go at the Mercs and Albon won't have his race ruined again. Look for some sort of reaction from Lewis Hamilton after the series of troubles he experienced last Sunday.
A few notes of trivia. Racing drivers Helmut Marko and Jochen Rindt are/were both from the region as are Dietrich Mateschitz (well durr) and Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition to these luminaries Styria gave us the Eurovision winner in 2014, Conchita Wurz. However, Conchita wasn't the first Eurovision winner from Styria, the lead singer of Teach-In came from here as well, and they won the competition for Holland in 1975.
Final piece of Trivia, two winners of Miss World come from here in 1969 and 1987.
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The rendering of their National Anthem was something else ! And all the little children ......? All of them white of course.
