The Austrian Grand Prix traditionally sees a strong performance from the Mercedes pair, a points-scoring race for Daniel Ricciardo and a retirement for Fernando Alonso. We take a look at each driver’s history at the Red Bull Ring!
?? Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton holds a 100% finish record at the Red Bull Ring and has scored points on every visit. He’s never finished below fourth here, meaning he’s finished on the podium in three of the last four races at the track. He’s scored the most points of any current driver at this track, with 73. In both of the last two races here, the British driver has set the fastest lap. He’s never failed to reach Q3, has taken pole on two occasions and has lined up n the front row of the grid in all of the last three races in Austria. His lowest qualifying result came in 2014, when he set the ninth fastest time. He’s been beaten by a team-mate in Qualifying in two of the four races held at the Red Bull Ring.
?? Valtteri Bottas
Like his team-mate, Valtteri Bottas holds a 100% finish record and a 100% points-scoring record in Austria. He’s finished on the podium here twice, including his victory at the track last season. The Finnish driver has started from the front row twice, including taking pole in 2017. He’s never failed reach Q3 here, and has never started from below seventh on the grid. In both of the last two races here, Bottas has beaten his team-mate in Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring. It’s a track which the Finn clearly likes, having scored the second most points of any driver here.
?? Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel has only reached the end of the Austrian Grand Prix twice. He retired here in 2014 and 2016, with engine and tyre issues respectively. He has one podium appearance at the track, having finished as runner-up last season. In his last three appearances, he’s qualified in the top four and has out-qualified his team-mate in every year since 2015. He’s started from the top three on the grid only twice, having received a gearbox penalty after Qualifying in 2016. He’s reached Q3 on all but one occasion at the Red Bull Ring, but has never gained a position on his starting place here.
?? Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen is one of only two drivers still present on the grid who raced at this track when it was named the A1 Ring in the early 2000s. Raikkonen has never won here, but has had two podium finishes in 2003 and 2016. Every time Raikkonen has reached the end of the race, he has scored points. The Finn hasn’t qualified on the front row at the Austrian Grand Prix since 2003, nor has he beaten a team-mate in Qualifying since then. He’s reached Q3 in three of the last four races, having been eliminated in Q1 in 2015.
?? Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo is another driver with a 100% finish and 100% points record at the Red Bull Ring. He took his first podium at this track last season. He’s never qualified higher than fifth here, but started fourth last season due to a penalty for another driver. The Australian is yet to be beaten by Max Verstappen in qualifying here and has reached Q3 every year except 2015, when he was out in Q2.
?? Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen has scored points on both of the occasions where he’s finished the Austrian Grand Prix. He’s taken one podium at this track, in 2016. He hasn’t qualified higher than sixth at the Red Bull Ring, yet has a best grid slot of fifth. He’s reached Q3 on all three appearances here, but hasn’t beaten his team-mate in Qualifying at this track since his début season.
?? Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez has a best finish of sixth and has scored in three of his four appearances in Austria, his only retirement coming on the penultimate lap in 2016. The Mexican has never lost a position on his starting place in all of his three finishes. Perez has had a mixed bag of Qualifying results here, with one Q1 exit, two Q2 exits and one Q3 appearance. Last year was the first time he qualified in the top ten, starting seventh, and the first time he has beaten a team-mate in Qualifying at this track
?? Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon has only raced at this track once before. Last season, the Frenchman reached Q3 and qualified ninth. He gained one position in the Grand Prix to finish eighth. He was beaten by his team-mate in Qualifying.
?? Lance Stroll
Lance Stroll also has only one past Formula One race at the Red Bull Ring. In 2017, he was eliminated in Q1, where he qualified eighteenth and was beaten by his team-mate. His race was better though, as he made up eight places and finished tenth.
?? Sergey Sirotkin
The Russian has no past Formula One experience at the track, but has raced here in Formula Reanult 3.5 in 2013 and in GP2 in 2015 and 2016. Driving for Rapax, he finished as runner-up in the 2015 Feature Race.
?? Nico Hulkenberg
Nico Hulkenberg last scored at this track in 2015. He’s had two points scoring races at the Red Bull Ring, with a best finish of sixth. In 2016, the German qualified third and started from the front row of the grid. He’s started from inside the top five twice here and has only missed out on reaching Q3 once, which happened last year. Hulkenberg has never been beaten by a team-mate in Qualifying at this track.
?? Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz has only reached the Austrian Grand Prix once. Likewise, he’s only reached Q3 once and has had two Q2 eliminations. The Spaniard hasn’t beaten his team-mate in Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring since his début season.
?? Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly has no Formula One experience at the Red Bull Ring, but raced here in GP2 in 2015 and 2016. His best result in that series here was sixth place in the 2015 Sprint Race.
?? Brendon Hartley
Brendon Hartley has no past F1 experience at the Red Bull Ring, but he did race here in the European Le Mans Series in 2013. He finished seventh, driving alongside Jonathan Hirschi.
?? Romain Grosjean
In both of his races with Haas at this track, Romain Grosjean has scored points. The Frenchman hasn’t lost a position on his starting place in all three of the races he’s finished here. He’s started from inside the top ten twice, but is due a Q2 exit this year, if his current pattern is anything to go by – out in Q2 in 2014, through to Q3 in 2015, out in Q2 in 2016, through to Q3 in 2017.
?? Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Magnussen hasn’t scored a point at the Austrian Grand Prix since his début season with McLaren. That was also the last time he’s reached Q3 at this track. He has a best qualifying performance of fifteenth from the past two years. 2017 marked the first time he was beaten by his team-mate in Qualifying at this circuit.
?? Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso has a bad record at the Red Bull Ring. He’s only ever seen the chequered flag once at this circuit, in 2014 when he finished fifth. He’s retired from his other five appearances here. The Spaniard has been eliminated in Q2 in all of the past three races here, and has only started from inside the top ten once, in 2014 when he started fourth. Alonso has only been beaten by a team-mate in Qualifying on two of his six Austrian Grand Prix appearances.
?? Stoffel Vandoorne
In Stoffel Vandoorne’s only F1 appearance so far at the Red Bull Ring, he qualified in thirteenth and made up one position during the race to finish twelfth. He was beaten by Fernando Alonso in qualifying here last season.
?? Marcus Ericsson
Marcus Ericsson has never finished above thirteenth at this track, and has a best qualifying position of twelfth. In the three races aside from that, Ericsson has qualified nineteenth or lower. Ericsson has only lost positions once in Austria, but that was when he started twelfth – he hasn’t had many places to lose when starting so far back in the other three years. On the plus side, the Swede does have a 100% finish record and has beaten his team-mate in both of the last two qualifying sessions here. Ericsson hasn’t reached Q2 at the Red Bull Ring since 2015.
?? Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc has never driven a Formula One car at the Red Bull Ring, but has experience in three different categories at the track. He competed in the Formula 3 European Championship here in 2015, before winning a GP3 race in 2016. In his F2 title-winning year in 2017, Leclerc won the Feature Race at this track.
