Spielberg,
30
June
2019
|
18:36
Europe/Amsterdam

2019 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX – RACE

Spielberg, June 30, 2019

With a peak track temperature of 58 degrees centigrade, the Austrian Grand Prix was even hotter than the French Grand Prix last weekend. Despite these very demanding conditions, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took a spectacular second consecutive Austrian Grand Prix victory, despite making a bad start from second on the grid, using a medium-hard strategy.

KEY MOMENTS

  • Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc - who led most of the race from pole – finished second going from soft to hard. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas completed the podium using the same strategy as Verstappen, starting on medium and moving onto hard.
  • Just three out of the top 10 qualifiers started on the medium tyre, but this was the most popular starting tyre for the grid as a whole, with all but seven drivers beginning on the yellow compound.
  • Three teams split their strategies, with Red Bull, Haas, and McLaren each starting one car on the soft tyre and one car on the medium.
  • There was an interesting strategic battle between Ferrari and Mercedes, which started their cars on the soft and the medium tyres respectively. This however was affected by long pit stops.
  • Following a number of grid penalties, several drivers used strategy to boost their positions. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz went from 19th on the grid to eighth at the finish, using a medium-hard strategy with a long opening stint.
  • Following the race, both Verstappen and Leclerc were summoned to the stewards, pending the confirmation of final results.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

  • HARD C2: Used by nearly every driver during the second stint and resisted the high track temperatures in Austria very effectively, to guarantee a one-stopper.
  • MEDIUM C3: McLaren driver Lando Norris was the only driver to use this in the final stint as part of a soft-medium strategy, finishing sixth.
  • SOFT C4: Vettel was the only frontrunner to finish on the soft and use a two-stop strategy, pitting 21 laps from the end.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Today we had a thrilling race all the way to the finish, with a fantastic battle between two of the most exciting and talented young drivers in the sport. Congratulations to both Max and Charles for two great drives today. From a tyre perspective, we were satisfied with the performance of all three compounds, which each played an important part in the race, despite the hottest track temperatures seen all year. Nonetheless, nearly all the drivers completed just one stop, while Lando Norris in sixth didn’t even use the hardest compound. Now we remain in Spielberg for two days of testing 2020 tyres together with Alfa Romeo, which also brought two cars home in the points today.”

BEST TIME BY COMPOUND

HARD MEDIUM SOFT
Verstappen
1m07.475s
Norris
1m08.699s
Vettel
1m07.676s
Leclerc
1m07.994s
Hamilton
1m08.842s
Ricciardo
1m08.019s
Hamilton
1m08.050s
Verstappen
1m09.144s
Magnussen
1m08.903s

LONGEST STINT OF THE RACE

COMPOUND DRIVER LAPS
HARD C2 Bottas 50
MEDIUM C3 Ricciardo 46
SOFT C4 Gasly, Norris 25

PIT STOP SUMMARY

CAR DRIVER START PIT 1 PIT 2
33 VER C3u C2n (31)  
16 LEC C4u C2u (22)  
77 BOT C3u C2n (21  
5 VET C4u C2n (21) C4n (50)
44 HAM C3u C2n (30)  
4 NOR C4u C2n (19)  
10 GAS C4u C2n (25)  
55 SAI C3n C2n (41)  
7 RAI C4u C2n (23)  
99 GIO C4u C2n (24)  
11 PER C3n C2n (28)  
3 RIC C3n C4n (46)  
27 HUL C3n C2n (26)  
18 STR C3n C2n (25)  
23 ALB C3n C2n (35)  
8 GRO C3n C2n (34)  
26 KVY C3n C2n (32)  
63 RUS C3n C2n (27)  
20 MAG C4u C2n (11) C4u (62)
88 KUB C3n C2n (19)  

C2 = Hard C2  |  C3 = Medium C3  |  C4 = Soft C4
n = new  |  u = used