F1 Driver Form: Austrian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has won four of the last seven races at the Red Bull Ring. In addition to his four wins at the track, Verstappen has finished on the podium a further three times, with second place in 2016 and 2022, plus third place 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 eight 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 not 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.

Verstappen has taken pole position for all of the last three races at the Red Bull Ring. Having set the fastest time for both races in 2021, Verstappen secured his third pole at the venue at a result of the sprint race in 2022. Verstappen has not been out-qualified by his team-mate here since 2017.

Sergio Perez has scored on all but three of his nine outings at the Red Bull Ring. His best result here is fourth place, recorded at the 2021 Stryian Grand Prix.

In addition to an 11^th place finish in 2016, Perez ha recorded two retirements at the track. He retired in the closing stages in 2016 and retired in 2022 following contact with George Russell.

Perez recorded his best qualifying result at the Red Bull Ring in 2021 with third on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix. Perez has been eliminated in Q1 here four times. He has not out-qualified his team-mate at the track since the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.

Of the nine races which he has finished here, Perez has lost positions from where he has started only once.

Charles Leclerc took his first Red Bull Ring victory at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. Leclerc had 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 2021’s races at the venue.

Leclerc took pole for the 2019 race, and he has made three other Q3 appearances at the circuit. He qualified on the front row as a result of the sprint race in 2022.

Carlos Sainz has scored six times at the Red Bull Ring, including in the five races at the circuit prior to 2022. His 2022 Austrian Grand Prix came to a fiery end as the Spaniard recorded his third retirement at the track.

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 reached Q3 at the track five times, with a best qualifying result of third at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. He also qualified third as a result of the sprint race in 2022. He failed to reach Q3 in either of 2021’s races at the track.

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. He recorded his sixth podium finish at the circuit in 2022.

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. It remains his last pole at the circuit, having not qualified on the front row since. He crashed out during Q3 last year, qualifying eighth – his worst qualifying result at the track since also spinning out in Q3 in 2014 and qualifying ninth.

The 2014, 2020 and 2022 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 scored points at the Red Bull Ring for the first time in the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, where he finished in fourth place. His previous best result at the circuit was 11^th place, which was where he finished in the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Russell has recorded two retirements at the circuit.

Russell recorded the first Q2 appearance of his career at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix and went on to reach Q3 in each of the last two Austrian Grands Prix. Despite crashing out in Q3, he recorded his best qualifying result at the circuit to date last year, finishing fourth.

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.

Esteban Ocon has scored on four of his seven appearances at the Red Bull Ring, recording his best result to date at the track last year with a fifth place finihs. Ocon failed to score in the three races at the track prior to 2022, recording retirements in both the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix and the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix.

The Frenchman’s best qualifying result here is fifth, which he recorded at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. 2017 and 2022 are the only other times he has reached Q3 here. He qualified in the top six as a result of the sprint race last year. Ocon was eliminated in Q1 at both of 2021’s races at the venue. He has finished in a better position than where he started in all five races which he has completed in Austria.

From his seven 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 the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix.

Gasly held a 100% finishing record at the circuit until last year, when he retired from the Styrian Grand Prix. Other than DNFs, his worst result here is 15^th place, which he recorded for the second time in 2022.

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 2021’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.

Prior to Formula 1, Gasly raced here in GP2 in 2015 and 2016. His best result in that series here was sixth place in the 2015 Sprint Race.

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 seven here, recording his worst result to date with seventh last year.

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 qualified in the top six on all of his first five appearances at the track but failed to reach Q2 and qualified 11^th last year. 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 Formula 2. 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 11^th in the Sprint Race.

Oscar Piastri has raced at the Red Bull Ring in both Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula 3. He won on his Formula 3 debut here in 2020 and finished in the top eight in the other three races he competed in at the circuit that year.

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 until 2022, when he finished just outside of the points in 11^th place. Bottas’ retirement in 2018 is the only other time that he has failed to score at this circuit.

Bottas qualified outside of the top ten at the Red Bull Ring for the first time in 2022. After exiting in Q2, he qualified 14^th as a result of the sprint race.

Bottas took pole position for the 2017, 2018 and 2020 Austrian Grands Prix and 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.

Zhou Guanyu made his Austrian Grand Prix debut in 2022, finishing the race in 14^th place. He exited qualifying in Q1, failing to out-qualify his team-mate. He lined up 14^th on the grid as a result of the sprint race.

Zhou made his F1 weekend debut at the Red Bull Ring in 2021, replacing Fernando Alonso at Alpine in Free Practice 1 for the Austrian Grand Prix. Zhou previously raced at the Red Bull Ring in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and Formula 2. He recorded a single podium appearance from 15 race starts across those two series at the track. He finished in third place in the third F2 race here in 2020.

Fernando Alonso has made ten appearances at the Red Bull Ring, but has finished only five times. His best result here is fifth in 2014. He’s finished tenth in each of the last two Austrian Grands Prix.

Alonso has reached Q3 three times at the Red Bull Ring. He qualified fourth with Ferrari in 2014 and ninth with Alpine at the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix. Though he reached Q3 in 2022, he started 20^th on the grid after failing to start the Sprint race.

Alonso has started from the back row here three times: in 2003, 2015 and 2022. He also started from the pit lane in 2018. Alonso gained 12 positions from his pit lane start and made up nine positions from the back row in last year’s race.

Lance Stroll recorded his best Red Bull Ring result at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, with seventh place. From his eight 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 2021’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. He recorded his third Q1 exit here last year.

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.

He has scored at the track on two other occasions, with seventh place in 2014 and eighth in 2022. Magnussen has reached Q3 on four appearances at the Red Bull Ring. Magnussen has never gained more than three places from where he has started at this circuit.

Nico Hulkenberg has not scored at the Austrian Grand Prix since 2015, when he scored his best result at the track with sixth place. From his six previous appearances, 2014 is the only other time that Hulkenberg scored at the Red Bull Ring, coming home in ninth place.

From his other four appearances, Hulkenberg failed to finish in 2016 and 2018 and finished 13^th on his two other appearances.

Despite his low points rate, Hulkenberg has never qualified outside of the top 12. He has reached Q3 here four times, with a best qualifying result of third in 2016. That became a front row start on the final grid.

2018 is the only season in which Hulkenberg has been out-qualified by a team-mate at the Austrian Grand Prix. 2016 and 2019 are the only seasons in which Hulkenberg has finished in a better position than where he started at the Red Bull Ring.

Yuki Tsunoda reached Q3 at both Red Bull Ring races in 2021, with a best qualifying position of seventh for the Austrian Grand Prix. He scored a point in the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix, finishing in tenth place and came home 12^th in the Austrian Grand Prix.

In 2022, Tsunoda reached Q2 on Friday but qualified only 17^th as a result of the F1 Sprint. He finished the race only 16^th.

Tsunoda previously raced at the Red Bull Ring in Formula 3 and Formula 2. From the six races in which he has competed at the track, the F2 Feature Race over the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix weekend is the only one in which Tsunoda has scored. He finished as runner-up in that race.

Nyck de Vries has raced at the Red Bull Ring in many series, including Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Formula Renault 3.5, GP3 and Formula 2. In his most recent appearance at the circuit, in F2 in 2019, de Vries recorded a pair of podiums. He finished third in both the Feature Race and the Sprint Race.

From four 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 15^th with Toro Rosso in 2019, before retiring from the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix with Red Bull. He came home 12^th with Williams in 2022.

Albon reached Q3 on two of his appearances at the track, reaching Q2 on the other two occasions. His best qualifying result at the Red Bull Ring is fifth place, recorded at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix. That later became fourth on the final grid.

Logan Sargeant secured two podium finishes at the Red Bull Ring in Formula 3 in 2020 and won here in Formula 2 last year. After finishing seventh in the Sprint Race, Sargeant won the Feature Race having started third on the grid.