Grand Prix 2022 Austrian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Barely have we had enough time to say “Toodle pip old boy” to the British GP before we are all on a ferry across the ditch and on the drive across Europe to the country of Austria. Home of the Spanish Riding School, Red Bull GmbH and of course, Bernie Ecclestone’s second favourite dictator.

The Osterreichring was once an extremely fast circuit made up of fast, long, sweeping corners. Driver safety was well catered for by a range of poorly placed catch nets, armco barriers, grass banks and ditches, all of which could safely collect the remains of cars and drivers in a variety of part shedding, fireball billowing ways. A peak was reached at the 1987 Grand Prix where it took 2 hours and 3 attempts to start the race after 4 cars crashed on the first go and 12 more thought that looked like such fun, they’d join in at the second attempt. Amazingly, thanks to the long-lost days of “spare cars” 25 of the 26 cars managed to make the third start.

With the track now clearly far too entertaining for F1 it lost is place on the calendar for a number of years. In an effort to regain its place it was quickly realised that with a little help from everyone’s favourite track wrecker they stood a very good chance. Herman Tilke answered the call and out went the long sweeping curves, mostly by his usual trick of simply lopping off any parts he didn't like, and in came the standard straight, tight bend, straight, tight bend mix. Tilke’s ability to take a track and design it to improve overtaking by eliminating any corner where overtaking was previously possible has long been admired by teams who are able to dominate F1 races from pole.

Austria’s return to the grid only lasted a few more years and much like the career of Alex Wurz, it never matched the Austrian’s that came before it. By 2004 most of the track facilities had been demolished and it looked like that was that. Then, in 2008 Red Bull decided they needed a track of their own and started the huge and costly refurbishment of what would now be called “the Red Bull Ring”. Initially some lesser series were persuaded to return to the track and then in 2012, when it was announced that the 2013 New York GP (remember that?) would not take place that year, up popped Red Bull to offer their nicely refurbished track. FOM gratefully accepted and the Austrian GP was back on and has been on ever since.

As this is Red Bull’s home track, and with a huge number of Dutch fans likely to make their way to the stands, it’s going to be nothing more than a lights to flag victory for Max Verstappen. Thanks to the efforts of his closest rivals at Ferrari and Mercedes the young Dutchman is well on course to take his debut world drivers championship.

At Ferrari, Charles Leclerc has claimed a line on his “how will Ferrari **** it all up this time” bingo card and will now be looking to go for a full house. Carlos Sainz will be demonstrating the same level of delusion that Sergio Perez suffered from earlier in the season where they consider themselves, having won a race, to be the equals of their teammates.

Mercedes will now need to demonstrate what looked like genuine pace at the back end of the British GP can be translated into the same level of pace at a higher downforce track and finaly prove they have turned the corner.

This race will also see the return of the much loved “sprint race” which has already proved so popular at previous weekends and has enabled drivers to blast around, on full attack without having to worry about tyre or fuel management just as they asked for. As a result of this, the sprint races have provided almost no entertainment and no difference to the grid line up. Herman would be proud.

So, it’s time to don your racing lederhosen, grab a stein and raise it to the memory of Niki Lauda.

Race Timings:

First Practice8 July12:30
Qualification8 July16:00
Second Practice9 July11:30
Sprint9 July15:30
Race10 July14:00
 
Leclerc’s throttle was stuck open to about 30% during the race. Whilst I suspect it won’t be a problem because of the VSC, i do just wonder what the impact on fuel consumption would be - for an entire race it could have the impact of pushing a car over the maximum fuel consumption
 
There was lots of excitement, changes for the lead, but I can't help but feel something was missing from the race today.
I know what you mean. All I can think is Max didn’t put up a fight, I don’t know why. Really unlike him.
 
what weird alternate universe, Perez at Ferrari, Sainz At Red Bull & Max Verstappen at Mercedes
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very enjoyable GP not as good as British GP but that 1 of was 1 of greatest to watch, very surprising result. i didnt see that coming after he dominated the sprint race but they really struggled on tyre degradation but whether it was strategy or impatience but he was on back foot straight away because it was a 2 stop which looked for all to see maybe a 3 stop as i dont know what wouldve happened on lap 62 if sainz hadnt happened because he was struggling after 25 lap stints

im glad leclerc managed to hold on, just to keep some kind of championship battle going for us. because 52pts behind & chucking away another victory. wouldve all but finished it. espically how dominant max has looked recently

Russell i thought was harshly dealt with but what can you do, as we say we want consistency from the stewards & they were giving 5 second penalty for that appartantly in previous years & over this weekend. Gasly needs chatting with 3 crashes in 7 days in racing conditions Zhou, Hamilton & vettel
 
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Leclerc - happy for him that he showed Verstappen there is a way to pass him and lets hope he has full backing of the team from now on

Sainz - cruel luck but surely he must cede now to help Leclerc

Verstappen got away again with damage limitation in my opinion as Ferrari have shown their car was the fastest package over the weekend but they did not maximise

Perez / Russell clash why do these incidents always involve a Red Bull because Verstappen got away with the win back in 2019 as it with his wheel in front pretty much as long you stick your front wheel in front the onus seems to be on the second driver to cede the place or crash and risk a penalty

Hamilton/ Russell - a messy weekend so good result for both but we won't know if they were on the pace or not truly but it seems like they are beginning to threaten the front two teams


Ocon - quietly went about his race which was good for him outperforming Alonso

Schumacher Jnr - loves the track and finally shows some of his ability but definitely not a Ferrari promotion yet

Perez - No 2 for the rest of the season mate

Albon - deserves a mention as he beat some faster cars behind him bar the Aston Martin which appear to the slowest car and should have been in Q3 were it not for the stewards cock up

Vettel - a dreadful weekend not as bad as Gasly - his credentials to be in a top car took a nosedive in the past 7 days

Norris/Ricciardo - minor points for the Woking team which shows you they've gone backwards compared to last year's car

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The fans abuse .. there is some dreadful postings on facebook but some of the specific incidents are absolutely disgusting what some fans experienced just because they were supporting their favourite driver
 
The fans abuse .. there is some dreadful postings on facebook but some of the specific incidents are absolutely disgusting what some fans experienced just because they were supporting their favourite driver
the stories from stands & campsite. including 1 ive read about what a mercedes supporting female went through is absolutely disgraceful, ive not seen it the other rumours but from ive seems its the tip of the iceberg.
 
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the stories from stands & campsite. including 1 ive read about what a mercedes supporting female went through is absolutely disgraceful, ive not seen it the other rumours but from ive seems its the tip of the iceberg.

but, who knows appartantly i have problem with right & wrong over the last few days :D

I think we will hear more horror stories about some atrocious behaviour
 
yeah schumacher has done very well, i wouldnt say he is in russell, leclerc, norris, verstappen level yet, but he is certainly in ocon, gasly, albon group & he could yet improve
 
but he is certainly in ocon, gasly, albon group & he could yet improve
I disagree, he's only just managed to score his first points and Magnusson continues to hand him his ass on a plate at almost every race weekend.

Perhaps now he has a bit more confidence and a pair of top ten finishes, the remainder of the season may play out differently than the first half. He is clearly in a car that is good enough for consistent top ten finishes which is what he needs to do.
 
I disagree, he's only just managed to score his first points and Magnusson continues to hand him his ass on a plate at almost every race weekend.

Perhaps now he has a bit more confidence and a pair of top ten finishes, the remainder of the season may play out differently than the first half. He is clearly in a car that is good enough for consistent top ten finishes which is what he needs to do.
He is an expert at this track very go kart like style layout

He was better than Magnussen no doubt but let's see if he can maintain it now

He could improve but needs to be a drastic one if he is going to replace Sainz or Leclerc at Ferrari
 
I disagree, he's only just managed to score his first points and Magnusson continues to hand him his ass on a plate at almost every race weekend.

Perhaps now he has a bit more confidence and a pair of top ten finishes, the remainder of the season may play out differently than the first half. He is clearly in a car that is good enough for consistent top ten finishes which is what he needs to do.
i was thinking he was solid midfield driver i wouldnt class him in the latifi, stroll, Tsunoda class where they on the way out. but i wouldnt have it in the same bracket as top tier drivers that will drive for a big team contending for titles

he just average. actually thinking about i expect him to be a perez. until red bull. do a good job driving for midfield teams
 
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