The 10th race on the calendar is here, and it’s time for another Sprint Weekend. The world of Formula 1 takes us to Spielberg, home of the Austrian GP. Join us as we focus on who will be the main protagonists and also give you a quick refresher on how the weekend will pan out.
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What happened in the last race
The Canadian Grand Prix offered great spectacle as the opening lap showcased some gritty racing, with Hamilton overtaking Alonso for P2 and Perez jousted for position with Leclerc further down the grid. A mistake from George Russell brought out the safety car as he collided with the wall after the exit from turn nine. Lando Norris put on a show after receiving a five-second penalty which saw him elevate his position in the points, Russell retired late on in the race, and Alexander Albon brought home a fantastic bag of points bag to Williams as he finished in seventh place.
Max Verstappen was unopposed at the top of the charts, with Alonso regaining P2 and Lewis Hamilton getting the last place on the podium. Charles Leclerc and Carloz Sainz finished ahead of Perez, who recovered to P6. A very entertaining race with a very similar ending to it.
RACE WINNERS
Seeing as we have two different races this weekend, the Sprint and the normal GP, we are offering odds on drivers winning either race. Starting with the Sprint Race, Max Verstappen is at 1.40 to take victory at the Red Bull Ring, whilst the trio of Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez are all priced at 9.00 to win the Sprint race. For the top three finish in the Sprint, we are pricing Lewis Hamilton at 2.50 and Carlos Sainz at 4.35, the Spainiard is eager to get his car on the top three positions as he had a poor start to the season.
Moving on to the Grand Prix on Sunday, a very similar story awaits us with Max Verstappen leading the way, the reigning champion is priced at 1.28 to win with Sergio Perez the closest at 8.50. The Mexican driver needs to pull his act together as in the last three races he has had to play catch up, especially in qualifying, leaving him a mountain to climb in the race.
PODIUM
A circuit that offered great racing last year, with Charles Leclerc enjoying side-by-side action with the Red Bulls. Although this year, the scenario is not the same with respect to the pace difference between the Prancing Horse and the Red Bull, we hope to see some wheel-to-wheel action. Charles Leclerc is priced at 3.40 to get on the podium on Sunday whilst George Russell is at 3.75 to spray champagne at the end of it all.
CARS BETTING
- Red Bull to have both cars in the top three is at 2.20
- Aston Martin to have both cars finish in the top six at 3.50
- A safety car to be deployed during the race at 1.65
SPRINT RACE
As we saw in Baku a couple of months back, the Sprint weekend returns, giving us the spectators an opportunity to see more racing. This section is dedicated to a recap of what we can expect in terms of weekend format.
On Fridays we will have FP1 and the standard qualifying session later in the afternoon. The qualifying will set the order for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Saturday, we will have the ‘Sprint Shootout’, which will be used to determine the starting order of the Sprint later on that same day. This shootout will replace FP2 and will have different timings to the normal qualifying that we are used to having on a Saturday. SQ1 will run for 12 minutes, SQ2 for 10 minutes and SQ3 for eight minutes.
Tyre allocation will also be different for each phase of the shootout, medium is to be used in SQ1 and SQ2 and softs for SQ3. Who will gain the extra eight points on Saturday to add to the tally up for grabs in the full-fledged Grand Prix on Sunday?
RACE TIMES
Practice 1 – Friday, 30th June 2023, 13:30 – 14:30
Qualifying – Friday, 30th June 2023, 17:00 – 18:00
Sprint Shootout – Saturday, 31st June 2023, 12:00 – 12:44
Sprint Race – Saturday, 31st June 2023, 16:30 – 17:00
Race – Sunday, 1st July 2023, 15:00
AUSTRIAN GP – FAQ’s
How long is the Red Bull ring?
4.318km
How many laps for the Austrian GP?
71 Laps
Who holds the lap record in Austria?
Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time in Austria back in 2018, and is yet to be broken. The time was 1:06.957.
Who won last in Austria?
Charles Leclerc