Five Things to Know About the Austrian GP

The second act of our European tripleheader takes us to the spectacular setting of Spielberg for the Austrian GP.

It's arguably the most scenic spot on the calendar, and the short circuit often leads to a thrilling grand prix.

Whether you're familiar with races around the Red Bull Ring or 2024 will be your first, here are five things to know about the Austrian GP.

You'll hear many terms about F1 in Austria, like Spielberg, the Red Bull Ring, and even references to the Styrian Grand Prix, but what do they all mean?

Austria's F1 history is surprisingly long, with the first championship race in 1964 at the Zeltweg military airfield, with various non-championship events running there until 1968.

It wasn't until 1970 that the Austrian GP name returned to the championship calendar, this time at the newly-created Österreichring until 1987, then at the A1-Ring between 1997 and 2003.

Yet these venues are all around the Austrian city of Spielberg, with the Zeltweg Airfield only a few kilometres away.

The purpose-built Österreichring replaced the airstrip location in 1969 before undergoing alterations, including sponsorship naming rights to turn it into the A1-Ring and now the Red Bull Ring.

The circuit became the first to host back-to-back F1 races in 2020, with the Styrian GP, named after the Austrian state Spielberg belongs to, coming one week after the season-opening 2020 Austrian GP.

Williams Racing secured the top spot at Spielberg in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, with one win each decade.

Australian Alan Jones took our first Austrian triumph as he rounded out a three-race winning streak in 1979 as the potency of the FW07 became apparent.

Nigel Mansell's 1987 title fightback against teammate Nelson Piquet resumed in Spielberg with a dominant win after failing to reach the finish line in the previous two races.

Our most recent Austrian P1 triumph came courtesy of Jacques Villeneuve in his title-winning 1997 season.

The Canadian secured pole position, the fastest lap, and the race win to narrow the gap to one point against Michael Schumacher in the championship standings.

After making its 2024 debut in China, then again in Miami, F1 Sprint is back for the Austrian GP this weekend.

The Red Bull Ring has hosted a Sprint event every season since 2022, making this the third time the short-form format heads to Austria.

Unlike previous years, Sprint only has one European outing, so this will be the last time we'll see it until the US Grand Prix in October.

Previously, Europe has had Silverstone and Monza hosting Sprint in 2021, Imola and Spielberg in 2022, and Spielberg and Spa-Francorchamps last year.

Remember that Sprint weekend is different from what we've seen before - check out what's new in 2024 here.

Although it is a city, you won't find skyscrapers, subway lines, or even that many people in Spielberg.

There are approximately 5,400 inhabitants here, spread between nine communities known as Katastralgemeinden in German.

Spielberg is one of these, with Einhörn, Laing, Lind, Maßweg, Pausendorf, Sachendorf, Schönberg, and Weyern making up the other eight.

Pausendorf is the largest of these, effectively being the centre of Spielberg, with the neighbouring Knittelfeld's city limits just over the narrow river to the east.

The Red Bull Ring circuit sits on the western border of the Spielberg municipality, north of the S36 expressway.

The current Red Bull Ring layout sees the fewest corners on the F1 calendar, with just 10 turns officially listed.

Of all the tracks we'll visit in 2024, only Monza, known for its long straights, comes close, with 11 corners.

That number is slightly contentious, too. The slight left kink ahead of the second braking zone became Turn 2 in 2017, but many still call the subsequent hairpin the second corner, arguably meaning Spielberg has just nine turns.

With drivers speeding through the circuit and only having a few corners to tackle, we'll see the shortest lap times of the season here, with Valtteri Bottas setting a blistering 1:02.939 in 2020's Qualifying.