Delete two letters from its name and add almost four months to its date and you finally have the first Grand Prix of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship.
In the Grand Prix weekend post for Australia, I wrote that 'the off-season is a chance to satiate our motor racing love with biographies, old YouTube clips and as many laps as we desire in an F1 car on a Playstation, but after less pre-season testing than we are accustomed, even if we have lapped up as much data and speculation as we can, we seem to find ourselves rather suddenly propelled into a new season'.
This time round, we found ourselves propelled into another off-season, longer than the first, watched many more YouTube clips, and many of the F1 drivers found themselves reaching for that Playstation. However, the campaign looks to be finally upon us, and what I also said about 2020 being an 'exercise is stamina stands true, as although there may be fewer races, we await lots of weekends in a row of racing.
Mysteriously, when considering the history of Grand Prix racing, it is easy to sideline the Austrian Grand Prix. Perhaps it is just an impression, but there is a sense that it is not as discussed as you might expect. Its footprint in the sport has actually been huge, and although the legendary names of Nurburgring and Spa-Francorchamps are much-mentioned, many drivers and fans speak highly of the Österreichring.
The race has always taken place near the town of Zeltweg and the city of Spielberg area in the Styria ('Steiermark' in German) region in the south-east of the country. It is easy to imagine that the Austrian Grand Prix will not be so seldom spoken of after 2020, as there is not just one such event, but two. To be more specific, this weekend, Round 1 of the pandemic-delayed world championship will be the Austrian Grand Prix and next weekend's Round 2 will be named the Styrian Grand Prix. Both are held on the same Red Bull Ring. This will be the first time since 1995 and 1996 that one country has hosted two consecutive Formula 1 events (when the season closing and opening Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide and Melbourne took place). They will ignite an intense season, with many consecutive weekends of racing awaiting us and a fantastic summer of motorsport, and add intriguing chapters to Austria's extensive Grand Prix legacy.
The maiden and non-championship event in 1963 was run at Zeltweg Airfield, on a 1.98-mile layout which consisted of two long straights, the fast-right Flatshacher-Curve, the 90-degree Hangar-Curves and the Inner Curve, which connected to the back straight. Jack Brabham took the spoils in a Brabham BT3-Climax by five laps, from Tony Settember in a Scirocco-BRM and the eccentric Dutch nobleman Carel Godin de Beaufort (he who sometimes drove without shoes) in his usual Porsche steed.
Ascending to the world championship in 1964, and extended to 105 laps, Lorenzo Bandini took what was to be his only championship win in the Ferrari from Richie Ginther in the BRM and Bob Anderson in the Brabham. Jochen Rindt became the first Austrian to compete in Formula 1.
It then became a race held for sports cars, before returning in 1970, the year of Rindt's posthumous world title, at the picturesque Österreichring track, placed in the hills on a configuration used until 1976 and featuring many 3rd and 4th gear corners. In fact, the Austrian Lotus driver and championship leader qualified on pole, but retired with an engine failure. Jacky Ickx led home team-mate Clay Regazzoni, who achieved his first podium, as did Rolf Stommelen, who got what was to be his only one, in his Brabham.
A year later, Jackie Stewart took the second of this three titles, after Ickx's engine failed, despite suffering an accident when his driveshaft broke. Nursing a puncture, Jo Siffert held on to win by just over 4 seconds in his BRM from Emerson Fittipaldi's Lotus and Tim Schenken's Brabham (his only F1 podium). It was another Austrian's turn to make his debut in his home nation, a certain Niki Lauda, making an outing in a March.
In 1972, Fittipaldi did take the win in his Lotus, by a little over a second from the McLarens of Denny Hulme and Peter Revson. The next year, it was Lotus again, this time Ronnie Peterson the victor from Jackie Stewart in the Tyrrell, who scored what was to be his final podium, and Carlos Pace, who earned his first, in the Surtees. Niki Lauda had to miss the race after breaking his wrist at the Nurburgring. He was to miss the Austrian race, three years later following a much worse accident at the German track. The top results read Brabham-McLaren-Hesketh a year later, with Carlos Reutemann, Hulme and James Hunt comprising the podium.
In 1975, the 'Monza Gorilla', Vittorio Brambilla, took his only F1 win, despite crashing into the barriers as he did so, after the race was stopped with 29 of the 54 laps run, due to heavy rain. After taking the chequered flag, various teams got ready for a restart, but the race was over. The Hesketh and Shadow of Hunt and Tom Pryce completed the podium. The event had seen the death of Mark Donohue and a marshal in practice.
In 1976, Ferrari didn't turn up in protest at James Hunt's reinstatement as the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix, and with Niki Lauda injured following his horrendous accident a fortnight previously at the German Grand Prix. This was the last time to date that they haven't competed in an F1 race. Meanwhile, the *ÖASC Racing Team was withdrawn by officials, refusing to grant the inexperienced Otto Stuppacher*and*Karl Oppitzhauser permission to take part in a Tyrrell 007 and March 761 respectively. Oppitzhauser never competed in Formula 1, but incidentally, Stuppacher tried to qualify twice later that year, the gulf between his time and that of the pole-sitter Hunt possibly the largest between competitors yet seen at a Grand Prix, at 27 seconds. The Austrian race featured Penske's only victory in Formula 1, as they stuck to Indycar after 1976, as well as John Watson's first. The Ligier and Lotus of Jacques Laffite and Gunnar Nilsson made up the podium.
The year after, the fast Hella-Licht right-hander was converted into the Hella-Licht 'S'. Ferrari driver Niki Lauda qualified on pole. The race started wet, but it did not rain again and some drivers were on wets and some on slicks. Mario Andretti and James Hunt both led early on, but both the American's Lotus-Ford and the Englishman's McLaren-Ford suffered engine failures. Gunnar Nilsson moved from 16th on the grid to 2nd, before dropping back with tired wet rubber. He then ran third, before the Ford in his Lotus also expired. Alan Jones, who had started 14th and run 4th in the early stage, took his Shadow's sole and his own first Formula 1 victory. Lauda stretched his title lead in 2nd, while Hans Stuck took the Brabham-Alfa Romeo to 3rd.
In 1978, it was, unsurprisingly, the Lotus drivers who started up front, Peterson ahead of Andretti. The Swede led away, followed by Carlos Reutemann. When Andretti attempted to re-take the place, they collided and he was out, while Reutemann spun off during a heavy rain shower on Lap 4. He received outside assistance, pushed out of a dangerous position by marshals, and was later black-flagged. After the race was stopped and the rain calmed, the re-start saw Peterson lead again from Patrick Depailler in the Tyrrell-Ford and Lauda in the Brabham Alfa-Romeo. They finished in that order, apart from 3rd place which Gilles Villeneuve took after Lauda crashed out.
Jones won again the next year from Villeneuve and Jacques Laffite, while in 1980, Renault locked out the front row, René Arnoux from Jean-Pierre Jabouille. The latter took his second and final win in F1 from the Williams cars of Jones and Reutemann. It was an all-French one-two in 1981, as Laffite won in the Ligier-Matra from the Renault of René Arnoux. Nelson Piquet brought the Brabham back in 3rd.
Elio de Angelis took his first F1 win a year later, by just 0.05 seconds from the Williams of Keke Rosberg, with Laffite making the podium again. 1983 witnessed the final win for the original incarnation of the Renault team, by Alain Prost, from Arnoux's Ferrari and Piquet's Brabham.
In 1984, McLaren's Niki Lauda won by a healthy 23.525 seconds from the Brabham of Piquet and Michele Alboreto's Ferrari. As seemed to be customary in Austria, a home-grown driver made his debut there, Gerhard Berger bringing the ATS-BMW home in 12th.
In 1985, Niki Lauda announced his retirement in Austria, but also, unfortunately, retired from the race with engine failure. His team-mate Alain Prost, meanwhile, won the Grand Prix and moved into a joint championship lead with Michele Alboreto, while Toleman's Ayrton Senna pulled the Lotus up to 2nd from 14th on the grid. Alboreto was 3rd. Andrea de Cesaris had barrel-rolled out of the race after his Ligier hit some banked grass when he spun out.
In 1986, Benetton-BMW locked out the front row, with Berger getting ahead of pole-sitter Teo Fabi off the line. Fabi got him back on Lap 17, but his engine failed, and Berger later pitted from the lead with a battery problem. Alain Prost won by a lap, from the Ferraris of Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson. Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay were 4th and 5th for Haas in the Lola-Fords.
There were a lot of accidents in 1987. Stefan Johansson had a big one in Friday practice when he hit a deer. The race itself had to be started three times. On the first attempt, Martin Brundle, Jonathan Palmer, Philippe Streiff and Piercarlo Ghinzani all crashed, while on the second go, Riccardo Patrese and Eddie Cheever collided, other cars funnelled together and about half the grid ended up crashing (including Brundle again). Nigel Mansell got past Williams team-mate Piquet while lapping traffic and won, while Fabi finished third for Benetton in what was the final visit for Formula 1 to Austria for ten years.
When the sport came back to Zeltweg, the track had been re-named the A1-Ring, and it was a tighter version of its previous incarnation. Bridgestone-shod cars qualified well, notably Jarno Trulli in the Prost in 3rd, the Stewarts of Rubens Barrichello and Jan Magnussen in 5th and 6th and the Arrows of Damon Hill in 7th. After qualifying, Gerhard Berger announced his retirement from F1 racing. In the Grand Prix, Mika Hakkinen led away, but his Mercedes engine expired on Lap 1. Jarno Trulli took over first place, but his engine also blew while in 2nd. Eddie Irvine and Jean Alesi had a spectacular collision, while Michael Schumacher didn't have a good day, handed a stop-and-go penalty for overtaking Heinz-Harald Frentzen on his way to 6th. Frentzen's team-mate and eventual world champion Jacques Villeneuve took the spoils from David Coulthard and Frentzen.
Hakkinen won from Coulthard in 1998, who had been at the back after being involved in an opening-lap accident. Schumacher was 3rd after being let through by Irvine, who claimed his brakes were marginal. He had survived another scrappy race in Austria, in which he had ripped his front wing off going through the gravel.
A year later, Schumacher had just broken his leg at Silverstone and Irvine was a championship contender. He responded superbly, with a win, while David Coulthard nudged Hakkinen into a spin at the start, putting his team-mate at the back. He recovered to 3rd, though, with Coulthard 2nd.
Hakkinen won from Coulthard in 2000, while it again didn't work out for Schumacher, the Ferrari driver out after being hit by Ricardo Zonta. Schumacher's team-mate Barrichello claimed 3rd. Coulthard won from Schumacher and Barrichello a year later, the German involved in a battle with race leader and Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya which saw both drivers run off the circuit.
Michael Schumacher finally grabbed a couple of wins in 2002 and 2003, although the first of these was hugely unpopular, after Barrichello was instructed to move over for him, which he did on the final straight. Montoya was third for Williams. Nick Heidfeld and Takuma Sato had a big collision. In 2003, it was Kimi Raikkonen who was runner-up for McLaren, with Barrichello 3rd.
When the race returned to the revised circuit now called the Red Bull Ring in 2014, it was a Williams front-row lockout, Felipe Massa on pole and Valtteri Bottas alongside him. Nico Rosberg claimed the win from team-mate Lewis Hamilton, while Bottas and Massa were 3rd and 4th. The next year, pole-man Hamilton was overtaken by Rosberg at the first corner, who won by 8.8 seconds from him, with Massa in 3rd.
It was once again the Mercedes drivers who battled up front in 2016, but this time it ended inamicably, as eventual world champion Rosberg, defending from Hamilton at Turn 2, turned late into the corner and collided with his team-mate, leaving Hamilton to go on to win and him to finish down in 4th. Max Verstappen and Raikkonen claimed the remaining podium spots.
In 2017, Valtteri Bottas, now at Mercedes, was the victor, from Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, while in 2018 both Mercedes retired with technical issues, and Max Verstappen, who had already been leading, won from the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Vettel. Haas, meanwhile, claimed 4th and 5th with Grosjean and Magnussen, echoing the result in a previous incarnation of the team in 1986.
Max Verstappen did it again last year, breaking Mercedes' stranglehold on race victories, and also giving Honda their first win as an engine manufacturer since 2006. Charles Leclerc and Bottas made up the podium.
Circuit length: 4.318 km
Number of laps: 71
Race distance: 306.452 km
Dry weather tyre compounds: C2, C3 and C4
Lap Record: 1:06.957 (2018 - Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari)
First Grand Prix: 1963
First World Championship Austrian Grand Prix: 1964
First Grand Prix on current circuit: 1969
First World Championship Grand Prix on current circuit: 1970
First Grand Prix on current layout: 2014
Austrian Grand Prix tyre choices:
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