Official 2020 Austrian & Styrian Grand Prix Thread *Spoilers

[Piginapoke]

Finally, an actual race to watch!

Drivers will be rusty, cars untested but we get to watch them all get up to speed on a great circuit, the Red Bull Ring. Expect lots of slip-streaming, overtaking and some unusual results.

Hoping for a strong (ie not last) result from Williams.

F1 is back!


Date(s): Friday 3 July 2020 – Sunday 5 July 2020




UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1; currently only highlights are scheduled to be shown on Channel 4



Live timing for all sessions available here:

https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html

Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:

https://www.fia.com/championship/events/fia-formul...

Weather forecast:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2766824

Tyre Choices:

TBC

2019 Qualifying Result:



2019 Race Result:



2019 race highlights:

https://youtu.be/cV0G1zN8kJU

Red Bull's Max Verstappen passed Charles Leclerc with two laps remaining to win a thrilling Austrian Grand Prix. The win was only confirmed three hours after the race finished following an investigation into whether Verstappen unfairly ran Leclerc off the track.

Ferrari's Leclerc had seemed in control of the race after Verstappen made a bad start to drop from second to seventh, but Red Bull pitted Verstappen 10 laps later than Leclerc and Verstappen fought up from fourth to take the win.

It was a sensational drive from Verstappen, making superb use of fresher tyres than the cars in front of him, but the move with which he took the lead was controversial.

[TheDeuce]

Thanks for the post - indeed nice to have a race to speculate about again!

The race is on my wife's birthday so I'll have to do something to make it special.. maybe some champagne to keep her quiet whilst I watch

[Piginapoke]

TheDeuce said:

Thanks for the post - indeed nice to have a race to speculate about again!

The race is on my wife's birthday so I'll have to do something to make it special.. maybe some champagne to keep her quiet whilst I watch

There's going to be A LOT of sport in the late summer, to best manage expectations now....

My Top 3:

Verstappen
Hamilton
Albon

(Red Bull circuit)

[TheDeuce]

Piginapoke said:

There's going to be A LOT of sport in the late summer, to best manage expectations now....

My Top 3:

Verstappen
Hamilton
Albon

(Red Bull circuit)

Agree with that - although I'd say Bottas is probably as likely as Albon to make the top three. No other reason than he's in still probably the best car, even allowing for the fact this is RB's circuit. Those red bulls aren't always all that well sorted early season.

Red bull and Merc all the way. That could be a trend for this season in fact... Now there's a prediction

[Deesee]

It will be interesting to see if Honda kept the large turbine turbo charger philosophies which enabled it to really complete at altitude..

& Merc if they have sorted the cooling..( and DAS in a race situation).

Anyway enough of the boring stuff, Racing at a proper high speed track.. no engine/grid penalties, a proper shoot out! Can’t wait for FP1!

[Megaflow]

Mercedes are tearing next week. They are going to run through their new weekend protocols using the 2018 car. I’d expect them to be fully race ready.

[Deesee]

Megaflow said:

Mercedes are tearing next week. They are going to run through their new weekend protocols using the 2018 car. I’d expect them to be fully race ready.

Ferrari too SF71, and Lando has ‘borrowed’ a F3 car to get race sharp.

[Leithen]

Megaflow said:

Mercedes are tearing next week. They are going to run through their new weekend protocols using the 2018 car. I’d expect them to be fully race ready.

I fear that if they dominate like the last few years, we'll all be tearing up in a few weeks time too...

[TheDeuce]

I have to say that whilst it looks very much as if the two Austrian races will be Merc Vs RB, I am still looking forward to seeing how the whole field stack up.

This first race is effectively 'Melbourne'... The first we see any of the cars really reveal themselves, there are bound to be some surprises.

Is the Ferrari really the turd that Ferrari are adamant it is!?

Will the pink Mercedes be just solid average or lift RP up to new heights?

Is the Williams a mild or meaningful improvement? Could they win a point this season on merit?

Will Renault still 'battle' for fourth, or have McLaren and maybe others taken that battle to a new level?

Those are my main questions going into the Austrian 'Melbourne'.

Also wondering how Seb will approach this mini season now he's braced to depart the team.

[anonymous-user]

Megaflow said:

Mercedes are tearing next week. They are going to run through their new weekend protocols using the 2018 car. I’d expect them to be fully race ready.

Where are they doing that? Do you have a link? I understand RBR are having a ‘filming day’ with the 2020 car but not seen anything about Mercedes.

[thegreenhell]

REALIST123 said:

Where are they doing that? Do you have a link? I understand RBR are having a ‘filming day’ with the 2020 car but not seen anything about Mercedes.

Silverstone... https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-silver...

[JonChalk]

Also, official Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/126852882...

..advising commenters repeatedly that it is a private test, no spectators will be allowed in.

[anonymous-user]

thegreenhell said:

REALIST123 said:

Where are they doing that? Do you have a link? I understand RBR are having a ‘filming day’ with the 2020 car but not seen anything about Mercedes.

Silverstone... https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-silver...

Ta.

[andburg]

Its a shame they cant take opportunity to move away from a pay platform for this year's TV.


we know the circuit really suits the red bull and in testing they didnt look that close to merc, certainly closer than Ferrari were on single lap pace but on race runs they weren't there.

testing means nothing

be interesting to see where the pink merc is as race pace was prettty close to the mclaren

[satans worm]

Will LeClerc be a clear no 1 driver for Ferrari now Seb is leaving and will Seb move over if radioed to do so?

Could be very interesting

[HTP99]

satans worm said:

Will LeClerc be a clear no 1 driver for Ferrari now Seb is leaving and will Seb move over if radioed to do so?

Could be very interesting

Can't see Seb being co-operative at all, especially if he's retiring which is likely, he's got no reason to show any prospective future team that he does as he's told.

[HustleRussell]

Imagine that, Seb wouldn't have any incentive to contain his temper- he could intentionally crash into people even behind the safety car if he wants, publically curse at the stewarding personnel, protest his finishing position during the podium ceremony etc etc.

Oh wait...

[suffolk009]

Daft question, but is there any "official" testing before the first race?

[TheDeuce]

suffolk009 said:

Daft question, but is there any "official" testing before the first race?

They've already had the alloted testing. There will be free practice as usual to get used to the circuit.

[thegreenhell]

suffolk009 said:

Daft question, but is there any "official" testing before the first race?

There's no official testing, but a few of the teams are either testing with older cars or using 'filming days' to blow off the cobwebs and run through their new, socially-distanced working practices and protocols.