If Baku gave us a soap opera the Red Bull Ring produced a more pure race, albeit one which failed to deliver much in terms of drama.
The final laps of the race were undoubtedly tense as Sebastian Vettel hunted down Valtteri Bottas and the other Mercedes closed on the podium. But neither really ignited into a true battle.
The Austrian Grand Prix was rated 5.8 out of ten by F1 Fanatic readers. That’s not the worst score a race has had this year, but it’s a long way from the best. Here’s what you said about it:
Just a plum average race. Couple of OK overtakes, bit of interesting strategy being played out. But no one will be taking about this race a few weeks from now. It wasn’t switch it off or fall asleep poor.
Philip (@Philipgb)
This was just one of those races that could or should have been exciting. However, the weather stayed dry, there was not much room for strategic battles, there were no Safety Cars and the cars spent almost all of the race in their deserved positions so some 90% of the race was basically a procession. Still, the start was nice and the last couple of laps were really tense; there was a real battle for the top positions, which is never a given. It’s all good.
@Girts
I thought it was alright, not much battling for most of the race but the cars looked on the limit at least, and some different strategies.
@George
The intrusive trackside advertising was not popular:
Just want to mention the track advertising. I found it extremely distracting with that massive beer bottle flying across the screen. Credit to them, it was very effective advertising but extremely annoying. The position of the cameras made it look like there were beer bottles racing on track. The little action there was was easy to miss today but maybe it was just me.
@Brawngp
But some wanted to see the race go on longer:
Why does it always seem like a race should have had 3-5 more laps?
The ending built up to a thrill, but prior to that it was a bit of a bore. That said, I did enjoy a nice clean race with no Safety Car interruptions (unlike Baku, which while flashy, got a bit annoying).
Good recovery by Williams too, despite the retirements of others they also made up places on their own.
@Phylyp
I think this race was one of the better races from the last couple of years. While I agree that the first portion was not that action packed, you always had the sense that it was building towards something.
This was the first race I can remember in a long time that the director didn’t know where to focus in the final laps because there where two great battles happening.
It just goes to show that you don’t need passing to have an exciting race that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
@Macca
Rate the Race: The Twitter verdict
Well, the last two laps of the Austrian GP were great. The other 69 laps or whatever? Not so much. #F1
— ⓢⓒⓞⓣⓣ (@scottaw) July 9, 2017
Formula one was so average today argh. #AustrianGP
— 200 Bear. (@TwoBear_) July 9, 2017
Big #F1 fan but the @CNBC coverage is unbearable… ads are crazy. @libertyglobal US market deserves better…no timeouts in F1…
— Nicola Morini (@nicmorbia) July 9, 2017
#AustrianGP dull as dishwater & procession, with commentators trying to make it sound interesting, @SkySportsF1, should've watched #ENGvSA
— Colin Sanderson (@colinofstoney) July 9, 2017
Tyres are lasting almost full distance n Less drama during the race. @F1 should bring in more excitement during the racedays? #Pireli #F1
— KIRAN (@meetkiran18) July 9, 2017
It was an absolute thrilling race #AustrianGP
— AABIR BURUD (@aabir909) July 9, 2017
Not the most interesting race of the season but will take the result @ScuderiaFerrari #AustrianGP
— NeilR (@neilr1975) July 9, 2017
Huge well done to @ValtteriBottas for winning tonight's #AustrianGP. The race was a snoozefest until the last 5 laps. That was tense! #F1
— Trystan Spooner (@TrystanSpooner) July 9, 2017
That was the #AustrianGP and my first live race. Very sad to leave this place tomorrow. Hope to come back in Belgian 2018. #AustrianGP #F1
— F1PerSempre (@ED_Thatch) July 9, 2017
Happy about the result but this race was anti-climactic #AustrianGP
— Jurriën (@OneDerpian) July 9, 2017
I say it every year they go there: the track in Austria is the worst on the @F1 calendar. Just a dreadfully boring race there, as always.
— Danny Belkin (@dannybelkin) July 9, 2017
What a finish in the f1….lewis just didnt have enough to get there
— mark taylforth (@marktaylforth) July 9, 2017
2017 Rate the Race Results
| Race | Average score |
|---|---|
| 2017 Australian Grand Prix | 6.408 |
| 2017 Chinese Grand Prix | 7.534 |
| 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix | 7.957 |
| 2017 Russian Grand Prix | 4.900 |
| 2017 Spanish Grand Prix | 7.869 |
| 2017 Monaco Grand Prix | 4.936 |
| 2017 Canadian Grand Prix | 7.545 |
| 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix | 8.790 |
| 2017 Austrian Grand Prix | 5.821 |
Rate the Race
View more Rate the Race results:
- Rate the Race: The F1 Fanatic Top 100
- Rate the Race: The F1 Fanatic Bottom 10
- Rate the Race: Circuit ratings
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2017 Austrian Grand Prix
- Second Driver of the Weekend win for Bottas
- Modest score for underwhelming Austrian GP
- Bottas admits he “gambled” on start in Austria
- Top ten pictures from the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix
- 2017 Austrian Grand Prix Star Performers
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
14th July 2017, 16:30
Second-lowest and underachieving. This season is mixed.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
14th July 2017, 16:56
With 5 races above 7,5 out of 9 races we shouldn’t complain.
Oli (@dh1996)
14th July 2017, 22:19
We shouldn’t complain, we should vote better.
7.5 means a great race. Not perfect, but really good. Look at that “Top 10 worst races” list here, #10 is a 4.9, which is practically the definition of an average race. You see a 9.5 race every decade or so, an eight maybe once a season.
Austria was a three, at best.
NS Biker
14th July 2017, 16:56
As I missed the live broadcast, went back and looked at the recording.
What was interesting, unfortunately NOT the race …. was that the order for the top 10 on lap 9 was identical to the final result save for Lewis and Kimi changing places. There may have been position swaps due to pit stops and what-ever, but they could have stopped it on lap 9 and not much would have changed.
Guess I didn’t miss much in the first place.
Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
14th July 2017, 21:27
Maybe the scores would have been different if there had been another lap.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
15th July 2017, 8:57
I really wonder what people actually want in a race.
It was patently obvious from fairly early on that there was going to be a number of really close battles at or near the end, which meant that there were going to be some good mini battles and overtakes needed by those chasing to get there.
For me it was a great race that had me interested right from the start. I’m struggling to see what more needs to occur before people say “what a great race”.
Leo B
15th July 2017, 10:56
I’ve explained it before, but I’ll do it again ;-)
Look for example at the Tour de France.
So far we’ve had many sprint stages. A small group of riders go in the break away. With 40 km to go the sprint teams gather, catch the break away, there’s some hectic battles for position and then there’s a sprint. These stages are called boring and predictable by almost everyone. Maybe the last km is spectacular, but it’s a waste of time to watch the first 6 hours of the race.
Then there are the mountain stages, last weekend and yesterday. There are a lot of things happening all the time. Different strategies being played out, constant changes of position, a lot of unpredictable developments. Riders dropping back and recovering, unexpected names in the lead, etc. These stages are called highly exciting by almost everyone and they are a joy to watch from beginning to end, even if it may take six hours to do so.
The Austrian GP is obviously like the former. Frankly, due to the regulation changes of 2017 with regards to aero and tyres, most races this year will be like a TdF sprint stage. We really need the weather (China), an inconveniently timed Safety Car (Bahrain), extremely abbrasive tarmac (Spain) or many drivers collectively screwing up (Baku) to make a race somewhat like a TdF mountain stage.