01Round 11: Bull's Preview
Set in amongst the Styrian Mountains, the Red Bull Ring boasts a 63.5m change in elevation in its short 4.318km lap. It offers just 10 turns (seven right-handers, three left) but boy, does that lap pack a punch! The first section needs power as the cars charge along the straight to two uphill righthanders. After reaching the peak of the track then it’s a downhill sprint through quick corners including the thrill ride that is the Rindt turn, named after Australia’s first formula One champion. And it’s a quick track, with the drivers expected to be at full throttle for 79% of the lap, whilst making an average of 32 gear changes.
The Austrian Grand Prix wasn’t held from 2004-2013, but thanks to the work of Dietrich Mateschitz it returned in 2014 and since then, it has been a fortress for the Team. In the 11 races the Team has competed in Austria (one being the Styrian Grand Prix in the COVID-19-hit 2020 season) it has seen a return of eight podiums, including four wins – all claimed by Max Verstappen, making him the most successful driver at the Austrian Grand Prix. It was also the where Max collected the first grand slam of his career in 2021.
Max often joked with Mateschitz about renaming the track to The Verstappen Ring if he collects his fifth win at the track, that could happen this weekend!
02Weekend Schedule
03The Bull's Outlook
Max
Max Looking Forward Towards Austria© Vladimir Rys
It is always good to see the Orange Army fans here
Max VerstappenWe always feel really welcome and enjoy coming back to Austria, being a home race for Red Bull. The scenery and mountains around here are great and it is always good to see the Orange Army fans here and really feel that support from the grandstand. It is another Sprint race this weekend, which always ends up being a hectic and busy weekend for us. It is really important to nail the set up of the car straight away and analyse how best we build and improve on our previous races, especially as qualifying is always close here. The track lends itself to a lot of overtaking so I’m sure it will be an exciting race. The Team performed well here last year so hopefully we can do the fans proud this weekend and bring it home with another win.
Checo
I had a difficult weekend in Spain but it’s one we have learnt from. I struggled with the balance of the car all weekend. We couldn’t get the set-up consistent and in a window for qualifying or to race the race we wanted, the grid place penalty also harmed us. This weekend in Austria we have everything in place to have a cleaner weekend, the Team and I know where we must improve and make changes and we will implement them. It’s then my job to get the most out of the car, we’ll have limited running due to the Sprint weekend, so I need to make the most of first practice and attack qualifying and the Sprint from the start. We want and need a complete weekend. Austria is always a great race, it’s Red Bull’s home and that makes for a brilliant atmosphere, I’m looking forward to it.
04The Weekend By Numbers
2Max took the Drivers’ Championship lead after winning Spain in 2022 and has now passed two years without losing it
