F1 Team Form: Austrian Grand Prix

Ferrari have more podium finishes here than any other team and recorded their first Austrian Grand Prix win since 2003 last year, while Red Bull have won four of the last seven races at the their home track. Here’s everything you need to know about each team’s history at the Red Bull Ring!

RED BULL

WINS: 4, POLES: 3, PODIUMS: 8 | 2022 RESULT: VERSTAPPEN 1st, PEREZ DNF

Red Bull added two more home wins to their tally in 2021, both courtesy of Max Verstappen. Verstappen is Red Bull’s only winner here, having also won the 2018 and 2019 Austrian Grands Prix.

In the last nine races here, the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix – from which both drivers retired – is the only season in which neither Red Bull driver has appeared on the podium. There’s yet to be a race here in which both of the team’s cars finish in the top three.

Max Verstappen at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Image © Andrew Balfour.
Image © Andrew Balfour

There have been only five other occasions that a Red Bull driver has failed to score here. Daniil Kvyat finished 12th in 2015, while Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez each retired in 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2022 respectively.

Red Bull have taken pole at all of the last four races held at the Red Bull Ring. At the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen became the first Red Bull driver to qualify on the front row at the Red Bull Ring. The team have not yet locked out the front row at the track.

Sebastian Vettel in 2014 and Daniel Ricciardo in 2015 are the only Red Bull drivers who’ve failed to reach the final part of qualifying at the Red Bull Ring. Both were eliminated in Q2.

FERRARI

WINS: 5, POLES: 8, PODIUMS: 26 | 2022 RESULT: LECLERC 1st, SAINZ DNF

In 2022, Charles Leclerc brought Ferrari their first Austrian Grand Prix since 2003. 2021 was the first year in which Ferrari failed to finish on the podium in Austria since 2015. Charles Leclerc came close to winning in 2019, but was overtaken by Max Verstappen in the closing stages. Leclerc went on to take a surprise podium finish at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, which was a largely uncompetitive season for the team.

Ferrari have scored two 1-2 finishes at this track, the first at the first race here in 1970 and their last in controversial circumstances at the 2002 event. Ferrari have recorded four double DNFs at this venue, with the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix marking their first double retirement at this circuit since 1987.

Other than their 2020 double DNF, the team have recorded three further retirements since the track returned to the calendar in 2014: Kimi Raikkonen was out on Lap 1 in 2015, Sebastian Vettel retired on his birthday in 2016 and Carlos Sainz’s race came to a fiery end in 2022. The 1976 Austrian Grand Prix is the most recent F1 race at which Ferrari did not appear.

In 2019, Charles Leclerc took Ferrari’s first pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix since 2003. Ferrari have taken pole on eight occasions at Spielberg, including a solitary front row lock-out in 1983. Since F1 returned to the track, Sebastian Vettel is the only Ferrari driver other than Leclerc to have qualified on the front row here, having done so in 2017. Leclerc also qualified on the front row in 2022.

With both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz out in Q2 at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2021, it was the first time since 1984 that neither Ferrari driver qualified in the top ten at the circuit. Since F1’s return to the Red Bull Ring, Kimi Raikkonen is the only Ferrari driver to record a Q1 exit. He did so in 2015 due to a miscommunication which saw him without enough time left in the session to set a more competitive lap time.

MERCEDES

WINS: 6, POLES: 6, PODIUMS: 14 | 2022 RESULT: HAMILTON 3rd, RUSSELL 4th

Mercedes have recorded six wins at the Red Bull Ring since the track returned to the calendar in 2014. The team recorded 1-2 results in 2014, 2015 and at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. The team’s double DNF in 2018 is the only time that their cars have failed to finish in the top five at the track in their 11 appearances, as well as the only occasion that neither driver finished on the podium. Mercedes won both races held at the Red Bull Ring in 2020, but have failed to win since.

Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Image © Andrew Balfour.
Image © Andrew Balfour

A Mercedes driver has never failed to reach the final part of qualifying in Austria. Lewis Hamilton is the only Mercedes driver to qualify outside of the top five at this circuit. He did so by qualifying ninth in 2014 – a result of him having his first lap time in Q3 deleted for exceeding track limits and then spinning on his second attempt at a fast lap – and in 2022, when he crashed out in Q3. Both drivers crashed out in Q3 in 2022, but George Russell still managed to qualify fourth.

The team have locked-out the front row four times at the circuit, most recently at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.

ALPINE

WINS: 0, POLES: 0, PODIUMS: 0 | 2022 RESULT: OCON 5th, ALONSO 10th

Since F1’s return to Austria in 2014, Pastor Maldonado’s seventh place for Lotus in 2015 was the Enstone team’s best result at the track. That was until 2022, when Esteban Ocon finished fifth, recording the team’s best result at the venue since 1999. Ocon’s fifth place made 2022 the fifth consecutive race at the venue in which the team has picked up points, while Fernando Alonso made it the team’s first double points scoring race at the track since 1987. The team has recorded three retirements in the last five Red Bull Ring races.

The 2022 Austrian Grand Prix marked the third time that both of the Enstone team’s drivers had qualified in the top ten at the Red Bull Ring, having also done so at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix and the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon’s fifth place in the wet qualifying session for the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix marked the Enstone team’s best qualifying result at the circuit since F1’s return to the track.

McLAREN

WINS: 6, POLES: 4, PODIUMS: 17 | 2022 RESULT: NORRIS 7th, RICCIARDO 9th

Lando Norris has recorded two podiums for McLaren in the last three years at the Red Bull Ring. In the last six races at the track, Daniel Ricciardo’s 13th place at the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix is the only time a McLaren driver has failed to score.

McLaren share the record for most wins of any team in Austria. They won six of the nine races at the track between 1984 and 2001. Between 2015 and 2017, McLaren recorded four DNFs in the three races at the circuit – including a double DNF in 2015. They have not recorded a retirement here since.

McLaren have taken pole four times in Austria and have locked-out the front row twice, in 1999 and 2000. Prior to 2020, McLaren reached Q3 only four times since the track’s return to the calendar in 2014. However, both drivers progressed to Q3 at both the Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix in 2020, while Lando Norris appeared in Q3 at both of 2021’s races here. At the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix, Norris recorded the team’s first front row at the track since 2003. Neither driver reached Q3 in 2022.

ALFA ROMEO

WINS: 0, POLES: 0, PODIUMS: 0 | 2022 RESULT: BOTTAS 11th, ZHOU 14th

In 2018 and 2019, both Sauber and Alfa Romeo finished in ninth and tenth. Antonio Giovinazzi continued the trend of one of this team’s cars finishing in ninth with ninth place in the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, while Kimi Raikkonen recorded the former Sauber team’s first DNF at the track since 2003. Neither driver has scored in any race at the track since then.

Raikkonen’s fourth place in 2001 is the team’s best result at the circuit, while Pedro Diniz and Mika Salo scored the team’s only other points at the circuit with sixth place finishes in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

Alfa Romeo, 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Image © Andrew Balfour.
Image © Andrew Balfour

Jean Alesi recorded Sauber’s only front row start at the Austrian Grand Prix, qualifying in second in 1998. 2019 marked the first time that both of the team’s drivers qualified in the top ten at the track since 2002, while both drivers were eliminated in Q1 at both races at the track in 2020. In 2021 and 2022, while one driver reached Q2 at all three races, the other was out in Q1.

Aside from 2019, Felipe Nasr’s ninth place in qualifying in 2015 is the only other time this team has reached Q3 since the track’s return to the calendar. While Valtteri Bottas qualified in the top ten as a result of the F1 Sprint in 2022.

ASTON MARTIN

WINS: 0, POLES: 0, PODIUMS: 0 | 2022 RESULT: STROLL 13th, VETTEL 17th

Since Formula 1’s return to Austria in 2014, the Silverstone-based team have never finished above sixth at the Red Bull Ring – though sixth is a result which they have recorded in five of the last 11 races here.

The team have scored here more often than not since the Red Bull Ring re-joined the calendar in 2014 – but they have not scored points in either of the last two races at the circuit. Aston Martin have recorded the same result in the last two Austrian Grands Prix, with one driver 13th and the other 17th.

The team recorded a double DNF here in 2016, while Lance Stroll’s retirement in the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix is the only other time that Team Silverstone have recorded a DNF at this track since its return to the calendar. In their former Jordan guise, 1997 was the only year that the team finished with both cars in the points. The Jordan team never finished on the podium at this circuit.

At the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, both Racing Point drivers reached Q3 – the first time the team had done so at the Red Bull Ring since being in its Force India guise in 2017. Neither Racing Point driver reached Q3 in the wet qualifying session for the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. In 2022, Aston Martin recorded a double Q1 exit. The team’s best qualifying result at the track came in 2016, when Nico Hulkenberg qualified in third, which became a front row start following Nico Rosberg’s grid penalty.

HAAS

WINS: 0, POLES: 0, PODIUMS: 0 | 2022 RESULT: SCHUMACHER 6th, MAGNUSSEN 8th

Haas picked up points on all of their first three visits to the Red Bull Ring,but failed to score in the five races at the track between 2019 and 2021. Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher gave the team a return to the points in 2022, finishing in sixth and eighth.

Romain Grosjean recorded Haas’ best ever result at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix with fourth place. While Grosjean took the team’s best result, Magnussen also finished fifth – the team’s best combined result in a single Grand Prix to date.

Until 2020, Magnussen’s retirement in 2017 was the only time a Haas car has failed to finish a race at this circuit but both drivers retired from the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.

2018 and 2022 are the only seasons in which both Haas drivers have reached the final part of qualifying in Austria, though Grosjean reached Q3 in 2017 and Magnussen recorded the team’s best qualifying result with fifth in 2019.

In 2020, the team recorded their first Q1 exits at the track, with Magnussen only 16th in qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix and Grosjean failing to set a time in qualifying at the Styrian Grand Prix. In 2021, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin locked out the back row in both races at the track.

ALPHATAURI

WINS: 0, POLES: 0, PODIUMS: 0 | 2022 RESULT: GASLY 15th, TSUNODA 16th

In 2022, AlphaTauri failed to score points for the first time in the last five races at the Red Bull Ring. Pierre Gasly finished seventh at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix – the team’s best result at the track.

2022 was only the fourth time from 11 appearances at the circuit in which both of the team’s drivers have reached the end of the race. The team recorded a double retirement on their first appearance at the circuit in 2014, and went on to record one DNF in all of the four years after that. Until 2020, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were the team’s only points scorers here, with eighth places for Toro Rosso in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

2021 Austrian Grand Prix. Image © Andrew Balfour.
Image © Andrew Balfour

Unitl 2021, there had been only four occasions on which a driver for the Red Bull junior team reached Q3 in Austria. Pierre Gasly’s eighth place in qualifying for the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix was the first time since 2017 that the team qualified in the top ten.

In 2021, both drivers reached Q3 in both races at the venue. Pierre Gasly recorded the team’s best-ever qualifying result at the track with sixth in both the Styrian and Austrian Grands Prix. However, in 2022, both cars were eliminated in Q2 and lost positions in the Saturday sprint race.

WILLIAMS

WINS: 3, POLES: 3, PODIUMS: 11 | 2022 RESULT: ALBON 12th, LATIFI DNF

Williams have won the Austrian Grand Prix three times, including a 1-2 finish in 1987. The team has failed to score in any of the last seven races at the Red Bull Ring, with the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix marking the first time the team had failed to score at the track since 2001.

Williams scored podium finishes in both 2014 and 2015 at the Red Bull Ring, but have failed to finish in the top eight since then. The team have recorded six double non-finishes here, but Felipe Massa’s DNF in 2016, George Russell’s retirement from the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix and Nicholas Latifi’s retirement in 2022 are the only non-finishes for Williams drivers at the track since its return to the calendar.

Williams took their most recent pole position here in 2014 thanks to Felipe Massa. It marked the second time the team had locked-out the front row at the track; the other time being in 1987. The team reached Q3 with both cars in 2014, 2015 and 2016, but have recorded mostly Q1 exits since then. The only exceptions are Lance Stroll’s Q2 appearance in 2018, George Russell’s 12th place qualification at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix – which marked Williams’ first non-Q1 exit in over a year – Russell’s Q3 appearance at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix – the team’s first top ten qualification at any race in almost three years – and Alex Albon’s Q2 appearance in 2022.

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