For those despairing at the state of the competition in the 2019 F1 season ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, mark this: Last year Mercedes swept the front row of the grid at the Red Bull Ring, but neither car saw the chequered flag.
Will that happen again this year? Probably not. But the beauty of Formula 1 is that you can never be entirely sure. Here’s the top talking points for this weekend’s race.
Improving the racing
After dominating last weekend’s utterly forgettable French Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton walked into the official FIA press conference and told the assembled media he has little confidence matters will improve in 2021, despite plans for a drastic overhaul of the technical regulations. The sport has given itself more time to approve the regulations, and Hamilton wants them to use this to reconsider aspects of the rules changes he has believes are wrong, such as further increases to F1’s ever-escalating minimum weight limit.Meanwhile criticism of last week’s turgid race has swung fresh focus on the too-often poor quality of action in F1. The new front wing aerodynamic package which was introduced this year specifically to help cars run together more closely appears to have had at best very limited success.
Will this further undermine confidence in Liberty Media’s plans for 2021? And can the sport still stand to wait that long to address a problem which has dogged it for years?
Has Leclerc mastered Q3?
Aside from his pole position in Bahrain, Leclerc hadn’t out-qualified Sebastian Vettel until the championship reached Paul Ricard. In France he kept things tidy in Q3 and delivered third on the grid while Vettel struggled to seventh.
How far was this a case of Leclerc getting the job done or Vettel suffering an ‘off’ weekend? The compact Red Bull Ring, where sub-63 second lap times are expected this weekend, will give us another read. Its a compact layout means a slight miscue in qualifying can easily cost a driver several places.
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Red Bull
Moreover, the team had one of its least competitive outings of the season so far in France and Verstappen indicated progress with the Honda power unit is not proceeding as quickly as they would like.
But the biggest concern for the team after last weekend has to be the performance of Pierre Gasly. He appeared to be finding his feet after a shaky start to the season, but in France he was scrapping with the midfielders while Verstappen showed a Ferrari the way home. No wonder questions are being asked as to whether Red Bull promoted him too swiftly after a single season at Toro Rosso.
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Haas
Last year Haas enjoyed their best result to date in Austria. Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen comfortably led the midfield, and the demise of the Mercedes pair plus Daniel Ricciardo elevated them to fourth and fifth at the flag.
But 12 months on the situation could hardly be different. The team began the year brightly: Magnussen raved about the new VF-19 and was ‘best of the rest’ in Australia. Since then the team has grown increasingly perplexed by tyre performance. A problem which initially seemed confined to race pace now seems to be vexing them over a single lap as well.
Team principal Guenther Steiner admitted he has “no confidence” to say when the team may get on top of its tyre problem. A repeat of last year’s result seems a dim and distant hope.
Heat
It’s going to be a scorching hot weekend at the Red Bull Ring, potentially warm enough to gives teams a strategy headache on race day. The key difference between this track and Paul Ricard as far as strategy is concerned is that the amount of time drivers lose entering the pits is much less. That may tempt someone into risking an extra pit stop in the race, creating the kind of strategic F1 usually lacks, and which could add some much-needed intrigue to Sunday’s grand prix.
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Are you going to the Austrian Grand Prix?
If you’re heading to Austria for this weekend’s race, we want to hear from you:
Who do you think will be the team to beat in the Austrian Grand Prix? Have your say below.
And don’t forget to enter your predictions for this weekend’s race. You can edit your predictions until the start of qualifying:
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GechiChan (@gechichan)
27th June 2019, 8:18
RedBull is out of the question for the race win at this point, so it all depends on Ferrari’s pace. Maybe the heat will be in their advantage, tyre wise, as it has been in the past. Otherwise, Mercedes will run away with it like they did most season.
BasCB (@bascb)
27th June 2019, 14:34
Most of us are less worried about Ferrari’s pace, but far more about their ability to get the results on the board. Especially to do it with more than one of their cars @gechichanan.
Off course, we could see both Mercedes break down again, opening things up for someone else to win. But I would rather expect to look forward to the racing right behind the top 2-3 for excitement.
Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
27th June 2019, 8:22
I think we might see Hamilton being put under a bit more pressure. Bottas is usually fast in Austria, and the Ferraris might be slightly better here.
BasCB (@bascb)
27th June 2019, 14:34
Sure. But it is far easier to pass here. And if Bottas has trouble with tyre management, that will hurt, especially with the temperatures this high.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
27th June 2019, 8:25
Here’s a crazy idea from my bin of crazy ideas (a.k.a. my brain): Maybe we need to do what cricket does where they tailor pitches to suit the home team’s bowling squad. Likewise, home GPs of teams (i.e. a track owned by a team, or its title sponsor) should be configured not just by Tilke, but by the team involved to give them an advantage.
It sounds silly, I know, but it would give teams incentive to keep home GPs on the calendar, work towards supporting the venues, etc. for a shot at a favourable track. With teams mostly Euro-centric, this will also allow for the popular/classic tracks to be in stronger contention for staying on the calendar.
Peter Waters (@)
27th June 2019, 8:43
Bang! goes the British GP then!
Phylyp (@phylyp)
27th June 2019, 8:45
Why? McLaren!
Aaaah… you’re thinking Williams. @petegeo
Peter Waters (@)
27th June 2019, 9:34
No. I’m thinking there is nobody to sponsor the track like Redbull.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
27th June 2019, 9:42
I’m reasonably sure McLaren can wrangle a few petrodollars more out of their owner…
frood19 (@frood19)
27th June 2019, 9:45
@phylyp F1 could borrow another idea from cricket in which the pitch is rated after the match to try and punish/reward groundsmen who prepare a pitch that ensures a good game. if it’s skewed too much to the bowlers’ or batsmen’s benefit, the pitch is rated ‘poor’ or even ‘unfit’ (tends to be if it’s actually dangerous to play on) and if it happens repeatedly there are sanctions. this should obviously be done for DRS zones, for example, but also track limits, which tyre compound choices are available, pitlane safety, etc. you could of course extend this to the general layout, but some circuits would have limited abilities to do anything about it.
Martin
27th June 2019, 15:38
It doesn’t just sound silly. For starters Red Bull is the only team that has their own track on the calendar. If instead you go by home country GP then:
1) Not every team has a home GP so won’t get a tailored track
2) some teams share a home GP so won’t get a tailored track.
3) what suits a car can change season to season so is your plan to change the track each year to? Who on earth is good Ng to pay for that?
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
27th June 2019, 8:28
Ooooh baby, this is gonna be a good one.
Can’t wait to see who’s gonna win this weekend, it’s been such a topsy-turvy season so far. My bet is on one of the rookie’s putting in another stand-out performance. Championship is so close and pretty much anyone can deliver a top-3 result every weekend if they get it right. Track is unforgiving too, one mistake and you’re in the wall. Am expecting drama..!
Wait, this is the Indycar thread isn’t it ?
Steve Rogers (@yossarian)
27th June 2019, 8:49
Hey now @aussierod, the rookie’s putting in very good performances has been a highlight of F1 as well. Norris, Russell and Albon have all surprised me with just how quick they’ve been compared to experience teammates.
But otherwise, fair comment.
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
27th June 2019, 11:59
Absolutely Steve, I agree. The difference is, when Colton Herta shines in Indycar, he takes a stunning pole and win. When George Russell shines in F1 (which he undoubtedly is), he is… second-last.
Anyway, I know I’m not telling anyone here anything they don’t already know, but the contrast between each respective race last weekend was quite telling.
tony mansell
28th June 2019, 13:05
Haha good one. Lets not forget the cars look on the edge of crashing all the time and the lack of power steering really makes the drivers work the wheel. WHOAH, there I go now. Where is that Indy thread.
joe pineapples
27th June 2019, 8:32
Racing on a damp/wet track seems a distant memory.
David BR (@david-br)
27th June 2019, 12:21
+1 Formula 1 seems to go out of his way to avoid the one factor guaranteed to ensure an interesting race, levelling the field a lot and allowing drivers with real talent to shine. And then when it does rain, drivers are only allowed out in ‘inter’ weather as anything else is deemed too much rain.
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
27th June 2019, 13:37
Germany 2018 was the last rain-affected race (albeit for only a handful of laps). The 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix was the last time we actually had a proper lights-to-flag wet race (50 races ago). In fact the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix is the only full wet race we’ve had since the tragic events of Japan 2014.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
28th June 2019, 12:22
Yes, I love full wet races, this is a bit of unluck with weather though, it’s true they’re limiting wet racing too much for the sake of safety, but it just hasn’t rained enough to make it interesting in recent times.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
28th June 2019, 12:22
Monza 2017 was a damn shame that the rain was saturday and not sunday, rained for like 4h in a row, good qualifying.
Chaitanya
27th June 2019, 8:39
Since last years pole lap was 63.13secs by Bottas and on average Mercs seem to have found around 1.6-1.7sec compared to last year. Considering that we will never see F1’s 60sec or faster lap this year either.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
28th June 2019, 12:24
Yes, perhaps next year, there’s the likelyhood that the 2021 regulation changes (but not even sure it’ll be 2021 by now, haven’t read much on it) will make laps slower, but in 2020 sounds realistic.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
27th June 2019, 8:44
I’m calling it – with low 60-second laps, Gasly will be lapped by the Mercedes.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th June 2019, 12:35
@phylyp Might be a tough task since the improvement in ultimate lap time (pole lap-pole lap comparisons) over last season has on average been only around 6-7 tenths. I agree with you on the latter part, though. I also predict Gasly’s going to be lapped by both Mercedes-drivers. Overall, I don’t hold too much hope on him for this race either due to how greatly he’s underperformed over the last two GP weekends, which is weird given that he had had an upward trend in both his pace and results since the third round in China, but now he’s suddenly back to his beginning-of-the-season slump.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
27th June 2019, 9:06
I expect plenty of tyre management, and that usually means everyone just cruising to a set lap time as the tyres will fail in a few laps. Or maybe we’ll get a few extra pitstops and a chaotic race. You never know.
Nitzo (@webtel)
27th June 2019, 9:10
Agree to disagree Keith !!!
I am 100% sure of who’s winning this Sunday. But i will refrain from stating the obvious.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
27th June 2019, 10:11
I’m with you. “Thrill” is kinda an overstatement this year. I’ll focus on not falling asleep, I would consider that a victory.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
27th June 2019, 9:17
I’m predicting a 3 to 4 stop race. And everyone faster than everyone else. It will be so close that everyone will be on the podium and the racefans’ Driver of the Day poll will be used to determine which Merc won.
GeeMac (@geemac)
27th June 2019, 9:33
Improving the racing:
On the line where you discuss the changes on the front wing end plates, is it not a bit more nuanced that? My understanding was that the changes were a stop gap to stop things getting worse than they were in 2018, rather than a change which would magically bring the field closer together.
Leclerc and Q3:
Based on your article this morning which mentioned that Leclerc has been working on his Q3 performance, I do hope so. He needs to start nailing Q3 if he is going to beat Vettel over a season.
Red Bull
Red Bull did promote Gasly too soon, they even admitted it. They had no other choice given the bombshell Ricciardo dropped last season.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/gasly-early-promotion-verstappen-horner-red-bull/4331001/
Haas:
Haas are all over the place. Just as success breeds success, failure begets failure. I do hope they can get on top of the tyres, they are a good little team and F1 needs an underdog story at the moment.
Heat:
Oh, I do hope the heat plays havoc with strategies! You can pass at the Red Bull Ring, so it would be great seeing a few cars stopping twice trying to carve their way through the field. Ideally a few of those would be challenging at the pointy end of the field.
Robbie (@robbie)
27th June 2019, 11:53
@geemac Was going to say the same about this year’s front wing and how that was really just a small change to try to slightly improve the situation with cars inherently meant not to be able to race closely. Everyone should know that by now and that it has had little effect should be no surprise nor should reflect badly on Liberty’s plans to completely overhaul what F1 cars will be designed to do in 2021. Everyone knows they could not have contractually gone any faster than they are moving now. There will be no miracle fixes for 2020 either.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th June 2019, 12:37
@geemac Wrong, RBR could’ve gone for Sainz since he was still their driver at the time. He, after all, was at Renault on lone only, so RBR could’ve used their option on him had they wanted to when they had to decide who to take in as DR’s replacement for this season.
tony mansell
28th June 2019, 13:13
Heres an easy one to improve the show. Allow testing but your allowance is inversely proportional to your race results. So Mercedes at present would have none and Williams all the live long day.