Get prepared racing fans! The noise and excitement of Formula One will return to Austria later this month for the very first time in a lot more than a decade.
The Austrian Grand Prix will take location from June 20-22 at the Red Bull Ring, on the same track as it was final held in 2003. And the race looks set to be a tense one particular, thanks to Daniel Ricciardo’s surprise victory in Canada last weekend.
He drives for Austrian-owned drinks manufacturer Red Bull, which has an F1 team based in Milton Keynes, and is behind the revival of the race in its 40th anniversary year.
The previous
The Austrian Grand Prix was first held in 1964. However, it has not been part of the F1 calendar since 2003.
The race’s chequered past also involves a 10-year gap amongst 1987 and 1997, as nicely as a 6-year hiatus soon after the first race in the 1960s, which was won by Italian Lorenzo Bandini in a Ferrari but was deemed too harmful due to the narrow, bumpy airfield track.
Its initial return to the F1 circuit came in 1970, by which time a new track had been built: the Osterreichring in the scenic Styrian mountain range.
It was beloved of drivers due to its length and rapidly, flowing nature, and was chosen to host the European Grand Prix – an honorary, annual designation offered to 1 European race at the time – in 1975.
Nevertheless, this track too was judged too dangerous following the 1987 race had to be restarted twice due to accidents on the narrow pit straight and the race was cancelled once again.
The next revival came in 1997, when the race was run on a refurbished Osterreichring, now recognized as the A1-Ring.
But this phase in the Grand Prix’s history also came to an finish in 2003, after Ferrari brought controversy to the 2002 race by instructing Rubens Barrichello to cede victory to teammate Michael Schumacher.
The present
Red Bull driver Ricciardo certainly looks on fine kind after clinching the team’s first win of the season in Canada on Sunday, and self-assurance in the home camp is running high.
“We’ve taken 40 points nowadays – it’s the first time we’ve outscored Mercedes – and that is wonderful news in view of Red Bull’s property race the Austrian Grand Prix in 2 weeks,” Red Bull’s Christian Horner said.
There was no want for this good results to guarantee the popularity of the race, even though. Tickets to the 1st Austrian Grand Prix in 11 years had sold out lengthy before Red Bull halted Mercedes’ run of 6 consecutive victories for Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
Jenson Button, who raced in Austria at the beginning of his F1 career, is among these looking forward to the occasion: “It’s one of those races where they really embrace the sort of party scene and the camping scene, which is truly cool,” he stated. “It’s a true racing fan’s Grand Prix.”
Austria gears up for F1 weekend
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