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Post by RyRy on Jun 17, 2015 4:36:34 GMT
2015 FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS VON ÖSTERREICH AUSTRIA RED BULL RING (Spielberg)First Grand Prix | Number of laps | Circuit Length | Race Distance | Lap Record | 1970 | 71 | 4.326 KM | 307.02 KM | 1:08.337 BY MICHAEL SCHUMACHER (2003) |
Fri 19 – Sun 21 May 2015Practice 1 | Friday | 10:00 – 11:30 GMT+1 | Practice 2 | Friday | 14:00 – 15:30 GMT+1 | Practice 3 | Saturday | 11:00 – 12:00 GMT+1 | Qualifying | Saturday | 14:00 – 15:00 GMT+1 | Race | Sunday | 14:00 – 16:00 GMT+1 |
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Track LayoutSpielbergThe story of the Austrian Grand Prix begins, as with most Grands Prix, with a local group of motor racing enthusiasts in the 1950s. They created a simple L-shaped circuit with cones and hay bales in the town of Zeltweg. The first race held there in 1958, for international sportscars, was won by Wolfgang von Trips in a Porsche, but though the remarkably bumpy track drew criticism from some, the circuit went on to hold two rounds of the Formula Two Championship in 1959 and 1960. The organisers, however, dreamed of hosting a Formula One race, and in 1961 and 1963, Zeltweg staged non-championship events, won by Innes Ireland and Jack Brabham respectively.
The interest these events had stirred in Austria led to the rise of an Austrian superstar in Jochen Rindt. With Rindt ascending through the F1 ranks, Zeltweg pushed for a championship race, and in 1964 the dream was realised, with Lorenzo Bandini going on to claim his one and only victory in the sport. In 1965 Formula One racing decided not to return, but the sportscar event was still run and won by local hero Rindt in a Ferrari.
Rindt's success, coupled with a growing interest in F1 racing, led to enough funding being found for a purpose-built circuit to be created. The Osterreichring was located in a natural basin and proved to be one of the fastest tracks in the world. Its impressive corners, wonderful aesthetics and demand on driver skill would pass into Formula One legend.
The first Formula One race was held there in 1970. Rindt was dominating the season for Lotus and a win looked on the cards for the Austrian. But to the disappointment of the home fans it was not to be, with Jacky Ickx taking the chequered flag for Ferrari. There was always next year though. Tragically however, Rindt was killed just days later at that year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, becoming the sport's first, and to date thankfully its last, posthumous world champion.
The sport and the Austrian nation were devastated. Soon, however, Austria would have a new hero, in the form of Niki Lauda. In the mid-1970s, the home fans turned up year after year hoping to see Lauda triumph, but the Grand Prix developed a habit of providing unusual winners.
In 1975 Vittorio Brambilla won in torrential conditions for March, spinning out of control as he crossed the line. In 1976 John Watson gave Penske its first and only Formula One victory, in 1977 Alan Jones won for Shadow and in 1982 Elio de Angelis beat Keke Rosberg in one of the closest finishes of all time. A decade after entering Formula One racing with Ferrari, Lauda finally won in Austria, coming back from retirement to wow his home fans in 1984.
After numerous start-line accidents, arguments with local farmers over car parking and a general feeling that the circuit was unsafe, the Austrian Grand Prix at the Osterreichring was finally pulled from the calendar in 1987. The track continued to hold other events but gradually fell into disrepair until Austrian telecoms company A1 provided the funds to redevelop the circuit. Renamed the A1-Ring, it brought Formula One racing back to Austria in 1997. It would continue to host Grands Prix for the next six years - including the infamous 2002 event which saw Rubens Barrichello hand victory to Ferrari team mate Michael Schumacher within sight of the finishing line - before being dropped from the F1 schedule once more after 2003.
Over subsequent years, numerous improvement plans for the circuit stalled until it was eventually redeveloped and re-branded as the Red Bull Ring and reopened in 2011, since which time it has hosted series including DTM, World Series by Renault and European Le Mans.
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Post by Hammer on Jun 18, 2015 13:23:41 GMT
Interesting read from espn.
Focus on... Contenders or pretenders?
It's quite clear from the fallout to Canada that the 2015 season - and F1 in general - needs something other than a Mercedes victory this weekend. Ferrari hoped its engine upgrades ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix would find an additional 20 BHP - which would theoretically have seen it at least match Mercedes based on its performances in the early rounds.
Can a Ferrari driver win the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend
As we know now, that challenge never came to fruition. Maurizio Arrivabene was right to say circumstances exaggerated the gap to Mercedes in Montreal, how much so will be revealed in Austria. The longer run pace earlier in the weekend suggested Mercedes and Ferrari could be on a par, at least on the prime tyre. Kimi Raikkonen never stayed close enough to demonstrate whether that could have been a factor before his podium-costing spin. Add the fact Sebastian Vettel, who has had the stronger results this season, was battling from the back of the field and its easy (or hopeful) to think an uncomfortable afternoon turned into a routine walk in the park for Mercedes. Ferrari will need both drivers on form to stand a chance and Canada showed the danger of letting Mercedes lock out the front row. Splitting the Mercedes pair on Saturday with at least one car is an absolute must.
Away from Ferrari a third contender could pose a threat of an upset. It was in Austria, after all, that Felipe Massa recorded the only non-Mercedes pole position of 2014 as Williams locked out the front row. The long straights of Austria mean drivers spend 65% of the lap at full throttle, a stat which should worry any driver sitting in front of a Renault or Honda power unit this weekend. But for Williams this weekend represents a great opportunity to get back to the position it established itself in from Austria onwards last season.
Away from the front, McLaren (see below) and Red Bull should brace themselves for difficult weekends. Red Bull may start the second race at the Red Bull Ring from the back of the grid, with the team talking up the possibility of moving both drivers onto penalty-incurring fifth components at a circuit where a strong weekend seems unlikely. After struggling at the team's home race last year, Christian Horner publicly criticised Renault (something which has been more commonplace in 2015) so taking an engine penalty would at least avoid similar fallout this time around.
In need of points
McLaren left Canada in disarray after a double retirement and the first sign of frustration from either driver during a period of heavy fuel saving. The team will be up against it from the get-go in Austria - the Red Bull Ring's long straights and seven corners are hardly ideal for a team lacking power. Outwardly, it is hard to see the significant progress the team proclaims it is making. Performance is not the only issue; Fernando Alonso has retired from each of the last three races and still has nothing next to his name. For a team like McLaren and a driver like Alonso that situation has to be deemed unacceptable, new power unit or no.
In need of a podium
Ferrari failed to finish on the podium for the first time of the season in Canada. That was down to a number of circumstances which possibly masked the gains made with its upgraded power unit and allowed Williams to pounce. With Mercedes power Williams will be a threat at the Red Bull Ring, a circuit where it locked out the front row of the grid last year. At this stage of the season Ferrari cannot afford to be fighting for scraps with Williams if it has genuine ambitions of taking the fight to Mercedes.
Lundin/Sutton
It's hard to look past Lewis Hamilton in Austria. The reigning world champion has been in top form all season and seems to have found a measure over Nico Rosberg in qualifying, something which was not the case in 2014. With the Red Bull Ring a circuit Mercedes will excel at it's difficult to look past a one-two, though the team proved last year mistakes can be made. However, if it can avoid mistakes, this is another race between the Mercedes drivers which looks likely to be won and lost in qualifying. Williams will be a threat and we're backing Valtteri Bottas to split Hamilton and Rosberg on the podium.
Betting
Lewis Hamilton is favourite to win in Austria with odds of 1/2. The bookies have different levels of faith in the Ferrari drivers, with odds of 10/1 for Sebastian Vettel and 25/1 for Kimi Raikkonen. Fernando Alonso is 8/1 to be the first retirement.
Weather
Scattered rain showers are forecast for Friday and Saturday before a cooler, dry race on Sunday. This will be interesting for a number of reasons - it will force teams to run on wet tyres in practice, something we didn't see in Monaco or Canada, as it may have an impact later in the weekend. The heaviest chance of rain is at 70% for Saturday afternoon, just in time for qualifying.
Tyre talk
Prime: Soft
Option: Supersoft
Likely strategy: Two stop
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director, says: "Austria ends the run of soft and supersoft nominations that we see towards the middle of the season, on quite a diverse variety of tracks. The tyre strategy will depend on some extent to the weather: if it is warm we are more likely to see two stops, whereas if it's cool the balance might shift towards a one-stopper. Rain is also a distinct possibility in Styria at this time of year, as we saw during free practice last season, so the teams will basically have to be prepared for everything. This year, the drivers head to the Red Bull Ring with real data about the track for the first time, which will help them find the most efficient way to use the tyres. Obviously our aim is always to have between two and three stops at every race, so this is something that we will monitor carefully in future when it comes to nominations: we do have the possibility to make some minor changes if required. We're only expecting a small time gap between the two compounds in Austria, so this opens up a number of different possibilities as to how to run the race strategy."
Power play
Renault Sport details the stresses and strains the Red Bull Ring places on the main components of the power unit.
ICE: The circuit consists of four long straights, meaning the ICE runs at full throttle for over 60% of the lap. This figure is comparable with Spa and Monza. The longest straight is the 800m drag from Turn 1 through to Turn 2. The circuit falls slightly downhill from the first corner before climbing back up. The fluids in the internals of the ICE will be 'squashed' when the car drops and then unloaded when the car crests the hill. The straight from Turn 2 to Turn 3 sees the circuit descend once again. With the car carrying extra momentum, speeds peak at over 320kph just before the braking point to Turn 3.
Turbocharger: Correct drive and response on the exits of the corners is critical since five of the nine corners are followed by a long straight. Any hesitation from the turbo will compromise acceleration and, ultimately, lap time.
One of the main challenges of Austria is the high altitude. The circuit is around 700m above sea level, and oxygen content will be around 7% less. The turbo will therefore have to spin at a much higher rate to produce the same amount of power to compensate for the low ambient pressure. For the majority of the lap the turbo will be spinning at close to 100,000rpm, or 1,700 times per second.
MGU-K:There are really only seven corners at the Red Bull Ring, which will not give the MGU-K many opportunities to recover significant energy under braking. However teams will need the MGU-K to feed the ICE with extra power down the straights, so making efficient use of the little energy recovered will be extremely important.
The hardest braking spot on the circuit is Turn 2. The drivers will approach the blind entry in excess of 300kph and brake down to second gear and around 65kph. The circuit drops away after the apex so the driver is immediately on the throttle to maximise the acceleration onto the straight. The other big stops on the lap are Turn 1, 3 and 9. Each of the corners is taken at an average of 120kph and either third or fourth gear.
MGU-H: The long straights mean the MGU-H has plenty of opportunity to recover energy to store in the battery. With a lap time of around 70secs, 46secs (or 65% of the lap) is spent at full throttle. The flowing complex at the back of the circuit from Turns 4 to 7 is taken at an average of 200kph and between fourth and sixth gear. The driver feeds in the throttle to keep the momentum going and roll into the corners. This generates a steady stream of exhaust, which the MGU-H will recover to feed back to the battery or ICE directly.
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Power circuit, and it seems Pirelli has chosen the 'aggressive' option. On paper, this might put Ferrari (Vettel) in some sort of play to split the Mercs? And the Williams won't be shabby either, so a fun weekend in store.
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Post by Wß on Jun 19, 2015 4:01:30 GMT
This circuit reminds me of Fudgy the Whale.
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Post by CookinFlat6 on Jun 19, 2015 8:05:34 GMT
Poor Alonso, the worse humiliation so far is to find himself on the outside back row in the drivers press
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Post by Hammer on Jun 19, 2015 10:17:52 GMT
I feel more and more that the Fonz might not even see out his contract and head to LeMans or something for 2016.
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Post by RyRy on Jun 20, 2015 13:07:55 GMT
Well that was a weird qualifying...
Hamilton was really struggling with sector 2, he finally hooked one up 2 tenths faster than his team mate and went fastest overall but he was the driver that found out that the fastest lap is on your second lap so they needed to be warmed up.
Bottas and Massa were faster than Vettel but never hooked all 3 sectors up, Bottas was 0.5 faster than vettel and Massa was 0.4 faster, we might see Vettel under pressure in the race.
Mercedes again were their 0.7 faster than Ferrari
Impressive by Verstappen and Hulkenburg yet again
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Post by Wß on Jun 20, 2015 15:18:27 GMT
Nico must be really unfocused or something. Hamilton couldn't even give pole away! In any case, number 45 third in the all time pole setter list, not a bad day's work for Mercedes. It does seem like a very very tricky circuit to put together a fast lap in though. Deceptive I guess in how much speed you're carrying before turns in a couple of key points on the track.
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Post by CookinFlat6 on Jun 20, 2015 22:08:26 GMT
Lewis tells it how it is at Speilberg, and guess which driver had the least limit breaches or mistakes?
Guess which driver was actually proud of how he was aced practice and was P1 for a while until the braver 'spinning off' drivers (including his teammate) had worked out how to go faster?
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Post by racechick on Jun 20, 2015 22:22:45 GMT
Just watched Quali on playback....IM HOME!'! I must admit Id have been a tad worried during that session had I not known the result beforehand...I just had to listen to the news on the way back. Nico could have had that one .......but he didn't! Lady Luck was with Lewis for once. Im watching Rush now, it's on tele. I love this film.
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Post by RyRy on Jun 20, 2015 23:59:59 GMT
Don't know how Brundle and the Sky team missed it but Hamilton's spin was not down to his tyres being too cold or his cars harvesting...
His rear left tyre was on the white line, just prior to the spin so when he hit the brakes the car span because no grip on wet/damp paint.
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Post by Liam Catterson on Jun 21, 2015 0:13:35 GMT
Just watched Quali on playback....IM HOME!'! I must admit Id have been a tad worried during that session had I not known the result beforehand...I just had to listen to the news on the way back. Nico could have had that one .......but he didn't! Lady Luck was with Lewis for once. Im watching Rush now, it's on tele. I love this film. Rush is my favourite film of all time. Not a bias issue, just I love it better than any film. But yeah, I bet your heat skipped a couple of beats when you heard about Lewis. Still, at least you knew the results so you never had a body shutdown, I know I would
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Post by Hammer on Jun 21, 2015 3:33:16 GMT
Interesting that it was on this track last year when Lewis made his biggest mistake in qualifying, and this year again both Mercs messed up big time on big laps. Proves that there are so few corners here, these guys are having to push the limits to make that little bit of difference at every corner, whereas at other tracks they're more confident of their own individual ability to find the difference through certain areas anyway. This circuit should never leave the calendar!
I think Bottas could be a threat for the podium tomorrow. Massa as well, if he doesn't tear up in his helmet for whatever reason. Vettel might want to look out for them instead of thinking about the Mercs.
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Post by LewEngBridewell on Jun 21, 2015 11:54:02 GMT
I was so pleased when Austria returned to the F1 calendar last season. I love the circuit, and its beautiful Alpine setting! It's good to see F1 re-embracing its treasured European heartland of old for once, rather than trying to flatter far-flung countries which simply aren't interested.
Here's to a good race!
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Post by racechick on Jun 21, 2015 12:06:29 GMT
Goddamit!! Rosberg's got it!!! Jeez Alonso and Kimi!!!!
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Post by Wß on Jun 21, 2015 13:46:12 GMT
Good drive by Nico, well done. It's not often that we see him get a resounding win against Hamilton but today was it. Hasn't driven this authoritatively since Brazil last year.
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Post by Hammer on Jun 21, 2015 14:06:19 GMT
Yeah Nico did everything right, and Lewis has looked off all weekend. Still, I expected a bit more fire during the race but hammer time was non existent for once.
Enjoyed Bottas providing some action, but nothing else to say other than that. Liked Maldonados theatrics and Versteppen outbraking himself while looking at Maldonados circus acts in his rear view mirrors.
Oh and I'd like to call it now...Kimi is done with F1 at the end of this season.
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Post by the2ndcoming on Jun 21, 2015 14:20:19 GMT
This might be Lewis' only bogey track on the entire calendar. Something about Austria that makes him slightly off his game. Still, not too concerned. His favs are coming up...and we know how he is when he loses a race. Really good drive from Nico and Massa.
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Post by racechick on Jun 21, 2015 14:42:34 GMT
Yep, credit to Nico today. This one was on merit. Dead pleased for Massa too, even though it further screwed up my pool results!!!
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Post by Wß on Jun 21, 2015 14:47:58 GMT
Pretty lackluster race, nothing from Lewis as far as an attack. Couple of good back and forths between VES, MAL, BOT,PER and a solid performance by the HUL but the top end of the field was flat. The camera showed Massa only at the end and Ferrari's updates are leaving them still lagging behind the Mercs with no improvement whatsoever maybe even a step back overall after having been forced out of their dubious fuel flow "magic" solution.
I know Silverstone will at least get a little more life next time around but I have to say that I really like the Red Bull Ring. Deceptively difficult despite the simple appearance and a beautiful setting. Money well spent by Red Bull to get it back into the calendar.
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Post by Wß on Jun 21, 2015 14:52:57 GMT
Oh and I'd like to call it now...Kimi is done with F1 at the end of this season. I think you're very late in that call. The fact that Hulkenberg or Bottas is not driving for Ferrari is the core of the reason why I'm not a fan. Ferrari needs a conservative authoritarian control of the environment or they tend to look like just another F1 team. Way too little way too late to see the obvious especially with their driver choices.
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