Can Max Verstappen extend his championship lead? The history and facts of the circuit as well as all the latest F1 news in the preview for the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix.

*Also available on YouTube*

First of all, let’s start of with the facts and history of the circuit, the Austrian Grand Prix has always been located in the Styrian mountains and the circuit first appeared on the F1 calendar at Österreichring and was on the calendar from 1970 until 1987. Österreichring literally translates as ‘Austrian Circuit’. Then in 1997, the Österreichring returned to the F1 calendar after being refurbished in 1995 and 1996. It was renamed the A1-ring and was on the calendar until 2003. Finally, the track returned to the calendar once again in 2014 under new owners Red Bull and the circuit was once again renamed the Red Bull Ring. Max Verstappen and Alain Prost have won at the circuit 3 times which is the most of any driver and Ferrari have the most of any constructor with 7 wins.

This weekend is the second sprint race of the season and here is a reminder of the format with all the times being local time. On Friday, the one and only Practice session is at 1:30 pm and Qualifying for Sunday’s race is at 5pm. On Saturday, the Sprint Shootout which decides the grid for the sprint is at 12pm with the Sprint itself at 4:30 pm and on Sunday, the main race is at 3pm. 

Let’s move onto the latest F1 news over the past week. Firstly, Dr Helmut Marko has announced that Alpha Tauri will have a name change next year. Red Bull decided to rename Toro Rosso in 2020 to Alpha Tauri to promote Red Bull’s clothing brand. However, Red Bull’s Senior Advisor Dr Helmut Marko has said “there will be a new name and new sponsors”. Also, actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are part of an investors group taking a 24% stake in the Alpine F1 team. The £171 million deal now values Alpine F1 at £706 million. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are also owner of league 2 football side Wrexham which they became owners of in 2021. Finally, the weather forecast for this weekends Grand Prix is rain all 3 days.