F1 Driver Form: Austrian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has won four of the last six races at the Red Bull Ring. In addition to his four wins at the track, Verstappen has finished on the podium a further two times, with second place in 2016 and third in the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. Verstappen’s retirements in 2017 and 2020 are the only times that he has failed to score at the circuit. Having reached Q3 on all seven appearances, the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix saw Verstappen qualify on the front row at the Red Bull Ring for the first time. However, he did start from the front row in both the 2019 and 2020 Austrian Grands Prix, both times as the result of grid penalties for Lewis Hamilton. Last year, Verstappen took pole for both races at the track. Verstappen has not been out-qualified by his team-mate here since 2017.

Sergio Perez has scored on all but two of his eight outings at the Red Bull Ring. His best result here is fourth place, recorded at the 2021 Stryian Grand Prix. 2016, when he crashed out at the end of the race, and 2019, when he finished eleventh, are the only times that the Mexican has not scored here. Despite his high points rate, Perez has reached Q3 at the circuit only four times. He recorded his best qualifying result at the track last year with third on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix. Perez has been eliminated in Q1 here four times. Of the nine races which he has finished here, Perez has lost positions from where he has started only once.

Lewis Hamilton’s win at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix marked the first time he had stood on the podium at the Red Bull Ring since winning the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix. He has finished in the top five on every visit to the circuit, except in 2018 when he retired from the race. Hamilton took pole for the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix by over a second. It was his first pole at the circuit since 2016 and his third here in total. He failed to qualify on the front row at either of last year’s races at the circuit. The 2014 and 2020 Austrian Grands Prix are the only races at the track in which Hamilton has finished in a better position than where he started.

George Russell’s best F1 result so far at the Red Bull Ring is eleventh, recorded in the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Russell recorded the first Q2 appearance of his career at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix and went on to reach Q3 at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Russell has recorded two retirements at the circuit. Russell competed at the Red Bull Ring in Formula 3 in 2015 and 2016, GP3 in 2017 and Formula 2 in 2018. He won the first races of both the GP3 and Formula 2 weekends and took further podium appearances here in Formula 3 in 2016 and in the Formula 2 Sprint Race in 2019.

Charles Leclerc led 58 laps of the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix but ultimately finished second after a late race battle with Max Verstappen. He finished as runner-up in the Austrian Grand Prix for a second successive year in 2020, while his 100% point scoring rate at the track came to an end one week later as he collided with Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc finished in the top eight at both of last year’s races at the venue. Leclerc took pole for the 2019 race, while seventh places in qualifying for the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix and the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix are his only other Q3 appearances here.

Carlos Sainz has scored six times at the Red Bull Ring, including in all of the last five races at the circuit. His best result here is fifth place, recorded at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix with McLaren and at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix with Ferrari. Sainz has recorded two non-finishes here, in 2015 and 2017. Sainz has reached Q3 at the track four times, with a best qualifying result of third at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. He failed to reach Q3 in either of last year’s races at the track.

Daniel Ricciardo has scored only twice in the last six races at the Red Bull Ring. His best result here remains his podium finish with Red Bull in 2017. He scored in all of his first three races at the track, before recording retirements in the 2018 and 2020 Austrian Grands Prix. Until last year, 2015 and 2019 were the only seasons that Ricciardo failed to reach Q3 at the Red Bull Ring. He qualified thirteenth for both of last year’s races at the track. Ricciardo’s best qualifying result at the circuit is fifth, recorded in 2014 and 2017 with Red Bull. He lined up fourth on the grid in the latter instance. Of the eight races he’s finished here, 2014 is the only one in which Ricciardo has finished in a worse position than where he started.

Lando Norris recorded his maiden podium finish at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix and went on to finish on the podium again here at last year’s Austrian Grand Prix. He’s yet to finish outside of the top six here, finishing sixth in 2019 and fifth in the two Styrian Grands Prix in 2020 and 2021. The 2020 Styrian Grand Prix is the only time that Norris has been out-qualified by his team-mate at the Red Bull Ring. He has qualified in the top six on all five appearances. His best qualifying result here is second, which he recorded at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Norris previously competed at the Red Bull Ring in both Formula 3 and F2. In 2017, he finished a best of second place in the second of the Formula 3 event’s three races. In 2018, Norris took another second place at the track in the F2 Feature Race, while he finished eleventh in the Sprint Race.

Fernando Alonso has made nine appearances at the Austrian Grand Prix, but has finished the race only four times. His best result here is fifth in 2014. He completed both of last year’s races at the track in the lower half of the points. Alonso has qualified in the top ten here only twice. He qualified fourth with Ferrari in 2014 and ninth with Alpine at the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix. Alonso has started from the back row here twice, in 2003 and 2015, and started from the pit lane in 2018. Alonso gained twelve positions from his pit lane start.

Esteban Ocon has scored on three of his six appearances at the Red Bull Ring. He has failed to score in the last three races at the track, recording retirements in both the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix and the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Ocon’s best result here is sixth, which he recorded in the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix. He finished eighth in the 2018 and 2020 events. The Frenchman’s best qualifying result here is fifth, which he recorded at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. His ninth place in 2017 is the only other time he has reached Q3 here. He was eliminated in Q1 at both of last year’s races at the venue. Ocon has finished in a better position than where he started in all four races which he has completed in Austria.

From his six F1 appearances in Austria, Pierre Gasly has scored three times. He recorded seventh place finishes in both the 2019 and 2020 Austrian Grands Prix and went on to finish ninth in last year’s Austrian Grand Prix. Gasly held a 100% finishing record at the circuit until last year, when he retired from the Styrian Grand Prix. Gasly has reached Q3 at the track on four occasions, with a best qualifying result of sixth, which is where he qualified for both of last year’s races at the venue. The 2019 Austrian Grand Prix is the only race at the circuit in which he has been out-qualified by his team-mate. Gasly raced here in GP2 in 2015 and 2016. His best result in that series here was sixth place in the 2015 Sprint Race.

Sebastian Vettel has had two podium appearances at the Austrian Grand Prix. His best finish here is second place in 2017, and his other podium finish came in the following year with third place. In addition, he finished fourth in 2015 and 2019. His tenth place at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix is the last time Vettel scored at the circuit. He finished outside of the points at both of last year’s Red Bull Ring races. Vettel has recorded three retirements at the track, in 2014, 2016 and at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. Vettel has reached Q3 on seven of his ten appearances at the circuit. 2017 is the only time that he has qualified on the front row.

Lance Stroll recorded his best Red Bull Ring result at the 2020Styrian Grand Prix, with seventh place. From his seven appearances here, he has scored on two other outings, with tenth place in 2017 and eighth in 2021 Styrian Grand Prix. Stroll reached Q3 at both of last year’s races at the Red Bull Ring. His best qualifying position here is ninth, recorded at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix. That’s the only other time he’s reached Q3 at the venue.

From three previous F1 appearances at the Red Bull Ring, Alex Albon has scored only once. He finished fourth in the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. He finished only fifteenth with Toro Rosso in 2019, before retiring from the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix with Red Bull. Albon reached Q3 on his last two appearances at the track, with a best qualifying result of fifth place at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix. That later became fourth on the final grid.

Nicholas Latifi made his Formula 1 debut at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix. He qualified last and finished just outside the points in eleventh place. That remains his best result at the circuit from four race starts. He holds a 100% finish record at the track. Latifi is yet to make it out of Q1 here, with a best qualifying result of sixteenth at the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix. Latifi previously raced at the Red Bull Ring on multiple occasions. He raced here in Formula 3 in 2013 and 2014, with a best result of fourth in the third race of the 2014 meeting. In Renault 3.5 in 2014, he finished fourth in the first race before retiring from the second race. He returned to the track in 2016 in GP2 but picked up only one point by finishing tenth in the Feature Race. Latifi raced at the Red Bull Ring in Formula 2 in every year between 2017 and 2019. His best result was second place in the 2017 Feature Race. The following season’s Feature Race is the only one of his six F2 outings at the track in which he failed to score.

Valtteri Bottas has appeared on the podium at the Red Bull Ring on seven occasions, winning both the 2017 and 2020 Austrian Grands Prix. He has finished on the podium in all of the last five races at the circuit. Bottas’ retirement in 2018 is the only time that he has failed to score at this circuit. Bottas is yet to qualify outside of the top ten at the track and took pole position for the 2017, 2018 and 2020 Austrian Grands Prix. He also lined up on the front row at the 2014 event, alongside Williams team-mate Felipe Massa. In the races which he has finished here, Bottas has not lost a position from where he has started since 2016.

Kevin Magnussen’s best result at the Red Bull Ring is fifth, recorded in the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix. Fifth place is also his best qualifying result here, recorded in 2019. His seventh place in 2014 is the only other time he has scored at the track. Magnussen has never gained more than three places from where he has started at this circuit.