Even though the championship feels much more competitive now, Max Verstappen’s lead has actually increased to 69 points.
Fortunately, Laurence Edmondson has analysed just how close it actually is, and has broken down the numbers.
You can’t fault Red Bull for consistency, and that is exactly what McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari need, along with fewer mistakes and a cleaner race to really take the fight to Red Bull, and what a place to do it at their home circuit at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.
The track has also had some upgrades since last year, with gravel added to Turns Nine and 10 to prevent repeated chaos of track limit penalties.
As always, the weather promises to be hot in the stunning Styrian mountains, with highs of 30°C, and generally sunny, but so far, Sunday threatens scattered thunderstorms and possibly rain.
Latest news
Red Bull are wary of Lando Norris and McLaren ahead of the weekend’s race. “On such a short lap it’s going to be so tight,” Red Bull principal Christian Horner said.
Mick Schumacher will do a Formula One test with Alpine next week as the French team continues to mull over its 2025 driver lineup.
Can Lando Norris be champion in 2024? | F1 Unlapped — listen to the latest podcast episode.
Circuit stats & history
Spielberg’s F1 circuit hosted races between 1970-1987 and then again between 1997-2003. Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz originally bought the circuit in 2004, but it was relaunched and branded in 2011 which brought it back onto the calendar for the 2014 season.
Austria played a key role for F1 during the coronavirus pandemic — the Red Bull Ring hosted the opening two races of the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign: the Austrian Grand Prix and the Styrian Grand Prix.
Laps: 71 laps of 4.3km. Total distance 306km
Lap record: 1:05.619 – Carlos Sainz (2020)
Most wins: Verstappen with four (2018-2019, 2021, 2023). Of the current grid, Hamilton (2016), Valtteri Bottas (2017, 2020), Charles Leclerc (2022) have all won here.
Most poles: Nobody has more than three poles here — Verstappen, Bottas, René Arnoux and Niki Lauda are all tied on three. Of the current grid, Hamilton…
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