F1 is back for the 2025 F1 Austrian GP, Red Bull Motorsports’ home! This weekend, the racing will continue. At the top of the standings are McLaren, leading with their dominance, followed by Mercedes, who scored a stunning double podium at the Canadian Grand Prix, and Ferrari.
Who will come out on top?
About the Red Bull Ring
The first Austrian Grand Prix took place in Zeltweg, debuted in 1964. Since 1969, the Grand Prix has taken place in Spielberg, just two kilometres from the neighbourhood. The Red Bull Ring, formerly known as Österreichring, has a track length of 4.318km. Being said, the race will consist of 71 laps. With only 10 turns, the Red Bull Ring has the fewest turns on the F1 calendar. There are 3 DRS zones and three long straights. Due to the hard braking points, the Red Bull Ring demands a lot of the drivers – action and overtaking are guaranteed. Being located in the middle of nature and in a hilly area, the circuit will hold challenges for the drivers. Currently, Carlos Sainz holds the lap record, set in 2020 with a 1:05.619.
Throwback to the F1 Austrian GP 2024
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) started on pole-position, followed by Lando Norris (McLaren) and George Russell (Mercedes). In a fierce battle for P2, Russell and Norris drove side-by-side. While Oscar Piastri (McLaren) made contact with Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) very early. That contact resulted in Leclerc pitting early on. Later, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) was instructed to let Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) through to avoid a penalty. On lap 7, Piastri and Sergio Perez (Red Bull), were caught in a tight battle – Piastri cleared the Mexican with ease. 20 laps into the race, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) collided with Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) forcing him off-track. This resulted in a 10s time penalty for the Spaniard.
The Alpine drivers (Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon) provided on-track action, as they successfully overtook Alonso. Later, the Frenchmen battled it out between them as they overtook each other multiple times on lap 41. Piastri cleared Hamilton by lap 48, but by lap 52 Hamilton got his position back. During an intense battle for pole on lap 58, Norris overtook Verstappen off track. He gave the position back, to avoid a penalty. Just a few laps later, the same happened, but this time Verstappen drove off-track to maintain the lead. Racing for the lead led to a collision between Verstappen and Norris – this cost them their positions and resulted in a puncture for both of them. Russell used this opportunity of weakened drivers to take the race lead.
The puncture of the two drivers helped Russell to win the 2024 F1 Austrian GP. Something his Team Principle, Toto Wolff, predicted on the radio as he told him, “George, you can win this, you can win this George.” Russell was followed by Piastri and Sainz who finished up the podium in P3.
What to expect?
The racetrack will ensure that Sunday is a thrilling race day, action-packed manoeuvres and drama guaranteed. McLaren is dominating the 2025 campaign. Last race weekend, a collision between the teammates cost them the podium. Can they manage to race without hindering each other? Will Piastri (198) remain the championship leader after Sunday, or will Norris (174) snatch it back?
One more penalty point and Verstappen has to face a 1-race-ban. Can he manage to keep it clean before Sunday? Two of his 11 penalty points will expire on Monday, June 30th. Which means that, he can breathe again after Austria, due to the next race being Silverstone at the beginning of July.
Last year’s winner Russell had his first podium of the 2025 campaign in Canada. He is clearly fighting for the championship – Can he keep up the good work?
It is technically the last race for Franco Colapinto with Alpine, as it is the fifth. He hasn’t a single point. What will happen with the Argentinian after the F1 Austrian GP? Another driver that could lose his seat is Rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, as he is the only driver who started every race and wasn’t able to score a point.
In FP1, the F2 drivers Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) and Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR) will jump into the cars of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc for 60 minutes. With Dunne currently holding P1 in the F2 championship and Beganovic P10, both of the drivers can learn something from their F1 experience.
The F1 Austrian GP 2025 will be exciting for everyone. Will this Grand Prix mix it up? We will have to see when the action takes place!
