The return of the Sprint
Austria is always a special weekend on the Formula 1 calendar and there are even more important sessions this weekend as the Sprint and Sprint Shootout returns. Qualifying on Friday will set the grid for the main Grand Prix on Sunday whilst Sprint Shootout, a shorter Qualifying session that takes place Saturday morning, will set the grid for the Sprint race which takes place later on in the day. Hopefully, it should be good fun as Qualifying at Austria is always super tight due to the nature of the circuit.
Can Red Bull continue their dominance as they return home?
Red Bull Racing have dominated the 2023 Formula 1 season, taking 7 Pole positions and winning all 8 races. Max Verstappen currently leads the World Drivers’ Championship by 69 points to his teammate Sergio Perez and Red Bull lead Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship by a ridiculous 154 points! The Austrian Grand Prix isn’t just a home race as the team is from Austria, but it’s also a home circuit for them as F1 races at the Red Bull Ring. That’s just another reason as to why Red Bull will want to keep their 100% win record going.
Can Ferrari show the pace that they showed last year?
Ferrari showed a lot of pace at the Red Bull Ring last year and it led to Charles Leclerc taking victory to keep his Championship hopes alive. However, since then, Ferrari haven’t won a single Grand Prix and they currently find themselves 4th in the 2023 Constructors’ Standings. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are 5th and 7th in the Drivers’ Championship respectively and Leclerc’s P3 in Azerbaijan is Ferrari’s only Podium of the Season. Ferrari have to hope that this weekend’s going to be different.
Can Esteban Ocon continue his good record at the Austrian Grand Prix?
Esteban Ocon has had a pretty good 2023 Season up to this point and he sits 9th in the Championship with 29 points to his name. The Frenchman also scored a Podium in Monaco and a fun fact is he’s finished on the Podium the same amount of times as both Charles Leclerc and George Russell. If you don’t count the Styrian Grand Prix which took place in both 2020 and 2021 due to Covid, Estie Bestie’s only finished outside the points in Austria once (2021) and he arguably had his best-ever weekend in Formula 1 at Austria last season (I gave him 28 points over the course of that weekend). Let’s see if Ocon can pull out another strong weekend this time out.
Can Haas improve their position in the Constructors’ Championship?
It’s fair to say that Haas F1 haven’t had a great start to the 2023 Formula 1 Season as they are only 8th in the Constructors Championship with just 8 points. Nico Hulkenberg is 13th in the Drivers’ Standings with 6 points (P7 in Australia) whilst Kevin Magnussen is only 18th in the Standings with just 2 points to his name (P10 in both Saudi and Miami). Haas are one point behind Alfa Romeo in the Standings, but they are also only a point ahead of Williams which is slightly concerning for the American team. However, Austria has been a happy hunting ground for them in the past and it’s seen them score 50 points since 2016 which is over 20% of the points they’ve achieved as a team in Formula 1. Haas’ best-ever weekend came here in 2018 when Romain Grosjean headed Kevin Magnussen as the team finished 4th and 5th whilst Mick Schumacher arguably had the best weekend of his Formula 1 career here last year (he finished 6th in the race). This is definitely Haas’ chance at scoring some good points.
My Predictions for Austria Qualifying:
Max Verstappen
Charles Leclerc
Fernando Alonso
Carlos Sainz
Esteban Ocon
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