2018 Austrian GP : Preview

After two races in North America, FF1M heads back across the Atlantic for the meat of the European leg and a circuit that hasn’t been used for over 30 years. The Spielberg circuit is normally point and squirt with a flowing section somewhere in the middle and has been used since 1997 where Rubens Barrichello took VTR’s final win. Back then, it was known as the A1-Ring. It disappeared after 2003, scene of Dark Wolf domination, before returning in 2007 as the Red Bull Ring, same circuit but named after a different national product. 2018 sees FF1M return back to the layout used in the 1980s and reverting to a name for the hardcore, the Österreichring.

Fernando Alonso capitalises on more Gojira unreliability

Montreal was effectively a race of two halves with the first part showcasing a virtuoso performance from Alessandro Farina before a slow puncture shortly after his second pitstop ended his race prematurely, and the second part being a thriller with no clear winner until the closing stages. At one point, it looked as if CBA Racing were going to triumph with Mason Taylor putting in an unexpectedly phenomenal performance to lead after all the pitstops had been completed, but his second and final pitstop was comparatively early compared to the rest of the field and with his tyres projected to be on the limit, he developed an increasingly impatient queue that included Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Vaino Kimminen, and Lewis Hamilton. Kevin Magnussen and Chuck Bucknum could also have been a part of the Taylor Train, but both retired at the same time with differing mechanical issues.

With the CBA being typically quick on the straights and Taylor showcasing how wide his car could be, Alonso had to rely on his 300+ races of experience to take the lead, eventually doing so on lap 54 after a bit of contact going into the final chicane. The Spaniard went on to take his 36th career win and move into the lead of the Drivers Championship thanks to his consistency and Shake ‘n’ Bake’s reliability. As for Taylor, he eventually dropped back to 5th behind his teammate as his tyres faded in the final stint, but at least his team had correctly allocated his tyre compounds, unlike GRM who had both their drivers disqualified for using the medium compound on both Saturday and Sunday’s sessions. This cost Valtteri Bottas 7th place and dropped the team to 11th in the Teams Championship behind Tildesley GP, who took one point courtesy of George Russell. As a result of their disqualification, GRM will be in Group A for Friday’s sessions with the rest of the running order being as follows:

Group A

Gojira AutoSport

Tornado Motorsport

CBA Racing

Andrew Racing

Willows Racing

GRM

Galaxy Grand Prix

Group B

Tornado Motorsport

Mitchell

FJR

Ajay Motorsports

Tildesley GP

Monolith Racing System

Paddock News

• Climax have brought their first upgrade of the season, bringing new ERS and CE components
• Hart have brought their second upgrade of the season, bringing new ICE and CE components

A venture into the Austrian unknown

The 13 teams will be treating this race as a blank canvas with the Österreichring last used in 1987 where Ayrton Senna beat his arch rival Alain Prost to the win. Cars have moved on since then, and the layout is likely to favour those who have good top speed with only one relatively slow corner in the Hella-Licht chicane at the beginning of the lap. The rest of the circuit consists of very fast corners onto long straights. All this is timely for Shake ‘n’ Bake, whose design philosophy has really helped them out in recent races, and with Alonso having just taking the lead in the championship, he could build on his momentum, but Gojira still have the fastest car out there, and Farina will be wanting to bounce back after a pointless American leg.

Support Races

No support races for this weekend as the Österreichring will be run by FF1M exclusively. FF2M will use the shorter Red Bull Ring layout after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Coverage Details

The race itself will be broadcast live from on

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