2019 Austrian Grand Prix

Spielberg, June 30, 2019

With a peak track temperature of 58 degrees centigrade, the Austrian Grand Prix was even hotter than the French Grand Prix last weekend. Despite these very demanding conditions, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took a spectacular second consecutive Austrian Grand Prix victory, despite making a bad start from second on the grid, using a medium-hard strategy.

KEY MOMENTS

• Ferrari's Charles Leclerc - who led most of the race from pole – finished second going from soft to hard. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas completed the podium using the same strategy as Verstappen, starting on medium and moving onto hard.
• Just three out of the top 10 qualifiers started on the medium tyre, but this was the most popular starting tyre for the grid as a whole, with all but seven drivers beginning on the yellow compound.
• Three teams split their strategies, with Red Bull, Haas, and McLaren each starting one car on the soft tyre and one car on the medium.
• There was an interesting strategic battle between Ferrari and Mercedes, which started their cars on the soft and the medium tyres respectively. This however was affected by long pit stops.
• Following a number of grid penalties, several drivers used strategy to boost their positions. McLaren's Carlos Sainz went from 19th on the grid to eighth at the finish, using a medium-hard strategy with a long opening stint.
• Following the race, both Verstappen and Leclerc were summoned to the stewards, pending the confirmation of final results

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: Used by nearly every driver during the second stint and resisted the high track temperatures in Austria very effectively, to guarantee a one-stopper.
• MEDIUM C3: McLaren driver Lando Norris was the only driver to use this in the final stint as part of a soft-medium strategy, finishing sixth.
• SOFT C4: Vettel was the only frontrunner to finish on the soft and use a two-stop strategy, pitting 21 laps from the end.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

"Today we had a thrilling race all the way to the finish, with a fantastic battle between two of the most exciting and talented young drivers in the sport. Congratulations to both Max and Charles for two great drives today. From a tyre perspective, we were satisfied with the performance of all three compounds, which each played an important part in the race, despite the hottest track temperatures seen all year. Nonetheless, nearly all the drivers completed just one stop, while Lando Norris in sixth didn't even use the hardest compound. Now we remain in Spielberg for two days of testing 2020 tyres together with Alfa Romeo, which also brought two cars home in the points today."