Austrian Grand Prix

Austrian Grand Prix

Red Bull Ring (2014–present)
Race information
Number of times held	39
First held	1963
Most wins (drivers)	Jo Siffert Alain Prost Max Verstappen (3)
Most wins (constructors)	McLaren Ferrari (6)
Circuit length	4,318 km (2,683 mi)
Race length	306,452 km (190,420 mi)
Laps	71
Last race (2021)
Pole position
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:03.720
Podium
1. M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:23:54.543 2. V. Bottas Mercedes +17.973 3. L. Norris McLaren-Mercedes +20.019
Fastest lap
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:06.200

The controversial Ferrari 1–2 crossing the finish line in 2002.

The Austrian Grand Prix (German: Großer Preis von Österreich) is a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile sanctioned motor racing event which was held in 1964, 1970–1987 and 1997–2003. The Grand Prix returned to the Formula One calendar in 2014.

History[]

The Austrian Grand Prix has been held at two different locations in southeastern Austria, being originally held in Zeltweg, about 70 km (43 mi) west of Graz. Since 1969 the Austrian Grand Prix has taken place in neighbouring Spielberg, with the two venues being within approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) of each other.^[1] It was first held at the Zeltweg Air Base for six years, before a permanent track, originally called the Österreichring and later known as the A-1 ring and Red Bull Ring, was built.

Zeltweg Airfield circuit[]

A non-championship event was held in 1963 at a race track on the Zeltweg Airfield and it was won by Australian Jack Brabham. The first championship event took place in the following year, and Italian Lorenzo Bandini won his only Formula One championship race in a Ferrari. The race was a success, but the track was deemed too dangerous; it was narrow and very bumpy, and spectators complained of poor viewing areas. The FIA removed the race from the F1 calendar until a suitable track was built.

The event was run in 1965 as a non-championship sports car race, the Zeltweg 200 Miles, before being adopted by the World Sportscar Championship from 1966 to 1969 as the 1000 km Zeltweg.^[2]

Österreichring[]

From 1970 until 1987, the event was held at the Österreichring (translated literally as "Austria circuit") (also located near Zeltweg). It was built in the scenic Styrian mountains and it was a fast, flowing track where every corner was high speed and long. The Austrian Grand Prix was designated the European Grand Prix once, 1975, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. The very fast track was popular with drivers, and the events were moderately successful. The first race on this track was dominated by Ferrari, with their more powerful Flat-12 engines enabled them to be 10 mph faster- which is a lot in racing terms. The 1971 race saw Swiss driver Jo Siffert dominate in his BRM and Briton Jackie Stewart took his second Drivers' Championship. The 1975 event was marred by the fatal accident of American Mark Donohue, and the race itself was rain-soaked and was won by Vittorio Brambilla, winning the only F1 race of his career, and, true to form, he crashed when he crossed the finish line when the race was stopped early because the rain got worse. In 1976, home favourite Niki Lauda's appalling crash at the Nürburgring caused him to miss the race, which was won by Briton John Watson in the short-lived Penske F1 team, winning his first Formula One race.

1976 had seen the Voest-Hugel corner changed slightly into one corner instead of two corners; but 1977 saw a slow three corner chicane installed at Voest-Hugel, which was where Donohue had crashed 2 years before. What was the fastest corner on the track was now the slowest corner there and would become known as the Hella-Licht Chicane. This race was won by Australian Alan Jones in a Shadow; and like Brambilla and Watson, it was his first Grand Prix victory. 1978 saw the dominant Lotus 79s on the front row, and American Mario Andretti crashed at the Glatz Kurve on the first lap, and his teammate, Swede Ronnie Peterson took victory. 1979 started to show the superiority of turbo-charged engines on this fast and high-altitude circuit. Although Jones won again in a Williams, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Rene Arnoux in their Renaults were able to dominate this event and the following year's race, which Jabouille won. 1981 saw three turbo-charged cars dominate the front row; and into the race, the immense power and dreadful handling of Didier Pironi's Ferrari helped him to hold up four better handling cars and get into a five-way battle for third place, which went on for a while but the four cars passed eventually passed him, one of which was Jacques Laffite who went on to win the race. 1982 saw a spectacular show in which five turbocharged cars dominated the grid; all but one of these cars retired with mechanical troubles, including Italian Riccardo Patrese who had a spectacular accident at the Texaco Bends and Frenchman Alain Prost, whose engine expired with a few laps to go while in the lead. After Prost's retirement, the race turned into a dead-heat sprint between Italian Elio de Angelis in a Lotus and Finn Keke Rosberg in a Williams. Rosberg had been steadily chipping away at De Angelis; but after Prost retired, Rosberg began to make up 1.5 seconds a lap on De Angelis; and on the last lap the two so-far winless drivers battled for victory, and De Angelis was able to hold off Rosberg and win by less than half a car's length; .05 seconds. 1984 saw Lauda finally take victory at home in his McLaren, and Prost won the next two races. The 1985 race saw a fearsome crash at the Panorama Curve when Andrea de Cesaris spectacularly rolled his Ligier, which led to him being fired from the team. 1986 saw Austrian driver Gerhard Berger lead the early laps in his 1,400 bhp (1,044 kW; 1,419 PS) Benetton-BMW, but electrical problems saw his race ruined allowing Alain Prost to take the win by over a lap from the Ferraris of Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson.

The 1987 race was restarted twice due to accidents on the narrow pit-straight grid; and this track was also deemed too dangerous by FIA standards, because of the number of high-speed corners, lack of protection from trees and embankments and accidents at the start of many races on the narrow and confined pit straight. Increasing speeds were also a growing problem at the Österreichring, polesitter Nelson Piquet averaged 159.457 mph (255.756 km/h) in his 1,100 hp Honda-powered Williams. Piquet finished second to his teammate, Briton Nigel Mansell. Attempts to bring the race back were unsuccessful, and the event disappeared for a decade.

A1-Ring[]

Special events are commonly held before the Grand Prix.

In 1995 and 1996, the Österreichring was refurbished and brought up to date, which allowed the race to run again in 1997. Since the track, which was renamed A1-Ring after a sponsor, is located on the municipal territory of Spielberg, Spielberg was now given as the site of the Grand Prix. The whole layout was redesigned by Hermann Tilke, and the track lost all of its long, sweeping corners, aside from the Texaco Bends (which were made shorter and slower) and the Hella-Licht chicane, Flatschach, Dr. Tiroch curve and the first half of the backstretch run up to where the Bosch-Kurve was taken out and replaced with a bypass that went directly to the second half of the fast, uphill backstretch. The 2002 event received negative publicity after Ferrari instructed Rubens Barrichello to cede his victory to Michael Schumacher. It was a mainstay on the calendar until hosting its final race in 2003.

Red Bull Ring[]

In July 2013, it was reported that the circuit's new owners Red Bull GmbH had reached an agreement with Bernie Ecclestone to revive the Austrian Grand Prix after a ten-year absence from the calendar. The race was given a provisional date of July 2014.^[3] On 6 December, the officially released calendar included the Austrian Grand Prix on it.^[4]

Official names[]

• 1963, 1998: Großer Preis von Österreich^[5]
• 1964, 1986–1987, 1997, 1999, 2014–2017: Grosser Preis von Österreich^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}
• 1970–1972: Grand Prix von Österreich^[15][16]
• 1973: Memphis Grand Prix von Österreich^[17]
• 1974–1975: Memphis Grand Prix^[18][19]
• 1976: Raiffeisen Grand Prix/Großer Preis von Österreich^[20]
• 1977: Gröbl Möbel Grand Prix/Großer Preis von Österreich^[21]
• 1978–1979: Grand Prix^[22][23]
• 1980–1981: Grand Prix/Großer Preis von Österreich^[24][25]
• 1982–1983: Grand Prix/Holiday Grand Prix^[26][27]
• 1984–1985: Grosser Preis von Österreich/Holiday Grand Prix^[28][29]
• 2000–2002: Grosser A1 Preis von Österreich^[30]
• 2003: A1 Grand Prix von Österreich^[31]
• 2018: Grosser Preis von Österreich^[32][33]
• 2019: Grosser Preis von Österreich^[34]
• 2020: Rolex Grosser Preis von Österreich^[35]
• 2021: BWT Grosser Preis von Österreich^[36]

Winners of the Austrian Grand Prix[]

Repeat winners (drivers)[]

Drivers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season.
A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Wins	Driver	Years won
3	Jo Siffert	, *, 1971
	Alain Prost	1983, 1985, 1986
	Max Verstappen	2018, 2019, 2021
2	Ronnie Peterson	1973, 1978
	Alan Jones	1977, 1979
	Mika Häkkinen	1998, 2000
	Michael Schumacher	2002, 2003
	Nico Rosberg	2014, 2015
	Valtteri Bottas	2017, 2020

* Shared win with Kurt Ahrens, Jr.

Repeat winners (constructors)[]

Teams in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season.
A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Wins	Constructor	Years won
6	McLaren	1984, 1985, 1986, 1998, 2000, 2001
	Ferrari	1964, , 1970, 1999, 2002, 2003
5	Mercedes	2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020
4	Lotus	1972, 1973, 1978, 1982
3	Porsche	, ,
	Williams	1979, 1987, 1997
	Red Bull	2018, 2019, 2021
2	Brabham	1963, 1974
	Renault	1980, 1983

Repeat winners (engine manufacturers)[]

Manufacturers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season.
A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Wins	Manufacturer	Years won
10	Ford *	, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982
8	Mercedes **	1998, 2000, 2001, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020
6	Ferrari	1964, , 1970, 1999, 2002, 2003
3	Porsche	, ,
	TAG ***	1984, 1985, 1986
	Renault	1980, 1983, 1997
	Honda	1987, 2019, 2021

* Built by Cosworth, funded by Ford (except 1967)

** Between 1998 and 2001 built by Ilmor, funded by Mercedes

*** Built by Porsche

By year[]

The Österreichring with the chicane, used from 1977 to 1987

The original Österreichring, used from 1969 to 1976

Zeltweg Airfield, used from 1963 until 1968

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Year	Driver	Constructor	Location	Report
1963	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	Zeltweg Airfield	Report
1964	Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari	Zeltweg Airfield	Report
1965	Jochen Rindt[37]	Ferrari	Zeltweg Airfield
1966	Gerhard Mitter Hans Herrmann[37]	Porsche
1967	Paul Hawkins[37]	Ford
1968	Jo Siffert[37]	Porsche
1969	Jo Siffert Kurt Ahrens, Jr.[37]	Porsche	Österreichring
1970	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	Österreichring	Report
1971	Jo Siffert	BRM		Report
1972	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford		Report
1973	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford		Report
1974	Carlos Reutemann	Brabham-Ford		Report
1975	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford		Report
1976	John Watson	Penske-Ford		Report
1977	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford		Report
1978	Ronnie Peterson	Lotus-Ford		Report
1979	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford		Report
1980	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault		Report
1981	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra		Report
1982	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford		Report
1983	Alain Prost	Renault		Report
1984	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG		Report
1985	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG		Report
1986	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG		Report
1987	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda		Report
1988 – 1996	Not held
1997	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	A1-Ring	Report
1998	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes		Report
1999	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari		Report
2000	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes		Report
2001	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes		Report
2002	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		Report
2003	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		Report
2004 – 2013	Not held
2014	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Red Bull Ring	Report
2015	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes		Report
2016	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		Report
2017	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes		Report
2018	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer		Report
2019	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda		Report
2020	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes		Report
2021	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda		Report

See also[]

• Styrian Grand Prix, also held in Austria

References[]