F1 News: Austria Round 2 To Replace Turkey

This afternoon it was confirmed that another Austrian GP would take place instead of the Turkish GP.

COVID-19 is once again making a mess of the Formula 1 schedule. After Coronavirus regulations cancelled the Canadian GP, Turkey was brought in as the replacement. However, with increasing COVID-19 rates, Turkey has now been placed on the red travel list for many nations, including the UK, which means it is not safe for the teams to travel to the county. As a result, a second Austrian GP will take place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, the same as in 2020.

The President and CEO of Formula 1 Stefano Domenicali released a statement, commenting:

“We were all looking forward to racing in Turkey but the travel restrictions in place have meant we are not able to be there in June… Formula 1 has shown again that it is able to react quickly to developments and find solutions and we are delighted that we will have a double header in Austria meaning our season remains at 23 races.”

This has caused a slight rescheduling of other dates. The French GP will be brought forward to 18-20th June, with the Styrian GP taking place on the 25-27th June and the next Austrian GP the week after on the 02-04 June. The rest of the season is expected to remain the same, COVID-19 dependent.

The Red Bull Ring is 4.318km (2.683 miles) long, with 10 corners and will see the drivers complete 71 laps during the race. The track had two previous forms: the Österreichring (1969-1995) and the A1 ring (1996-2003), with the three track layouts seeing 35 F1 races. The pit building and grandstands were demolished in 2004 with intense discussions over its future for the next few years. In 2008, Red Bull started the reconstruction of the circuit we know today. F1 did not return to the track until 2014. The first race last season saw Bottas P1, Leclerc P2 and Norris P3 with the second race seeing Hamilton P1, Bottas P2 and Verstappen P3. Carlos Sainz holds the lap record with 1:05.619 in his 2020 McLaren MCL35. The track map looks like this:

It’s shaping up to be a great two weekends of racing in Austria. For a reminder of what’s to come, you can watch the 2020 Styrian GP highlights here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEB3jc22izI