| 2023 Austrian Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 9 of 22 in the2023 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Red Bull Ring | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 2 July 2023 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 RolexGroßer Preis von Österreich 2023 | ||||
| Location | Red Bull Ring Spielberg,Styria, Austria | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.318 km (2.683 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 71 laps, 306.452 km (190.420 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Cloudy | ||||
| Attendance | 304,000[1] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Time | 1:04.391 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | |||
| Time | 1:07.012 on lap 71 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2023 Austrian Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Rolex Großer Preis von Österreich 2023) was aFormula Onemotor race, which was held on 2 July 2023 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. It was the ninth round of the2023 Formula One World Championship and the second Grand Prix weekend of the 2023 season to utilisethe sprint format.
Both races were won byRed Bull Racing'sMax Verstappen, who started on pole position for both. The weekend saw numerous penalties be given to drivers for track limits violations.
The event was held across the weekend of 30 June – 2 July. It was the ninth round of the2023 Formula One World Championship, and the 36th running of theAustrian Grand Prix in a World Championship season. The weekend was the second of six in the season to followthe sprint format.[2]
McLaren worked to bring improvements to theMCL60, which had shown underwhelming performance in earlier races. Prior to this Grand Prix,Lando Norris' highest finish of the season was a sixth-place finish in theAustralian Grand Prix earlier in the year. McLaren was able to prepare half an upgrade package which would be fitted into Norris' car, specifically the sidepods, bodywork, and floor.[3] TeammateOscar Piastri would receive it at the next race at theBritish Grand Prix.[4]
The tyre rules forsprint shootout were modified, enabling drivers and teams who made it through to SQ3 (the third segment of sprint shooutout) to use any set of soft tyre, whereas they were previously required to use new soft tyres. The change was made afterLando Norris could not run in SQ3 at theAzerbaijan Grand Prix, due to him exhausting his allocation of soft tyres.[a][5]
Coming into the weekend,Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship by 69 points from teammateSergio Pérez, withFernando Alonso third, a further 9 points behind.Red Bull Racing led the Constructors' Championship, leadingMercedes by 154 points andAston Martin by 167 points.[6]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[7]
Tyre supplierPirelli brought the C3, C4 and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.[8]
The singlefree practice session was held on 30 June 2023, at 13:30 local time (UTC+2). Max Verstappen topped the session, followed by the twoFerrari driversCarlos Sainz Jr. andCharles Leclerc.[9][10]
Qualifying was held on 30 June 2023 at 17:00 local time (UTC+2) and determined the starting order for the main race.[10][11]
The first session (Q1) was red-flagged whenValtteri Bottas spun out at turn one; by this point,Max Verstappen topped the session, withKevin Magnussen second; the former had his best lap time deleted due to a track limits violation; in addition,Pierre Gasly,Zhou Guanyu andLewis Hamilton all committed track limits violations. Verstappen set the fastest time asYuki Tsunoda, teammateNyck de Vries, Zhou,Logan Sargeant, and Magnussen were all eliminated following Q1.[12][13]
As Verstappen started his Q2 (the second segment) lap, he exceeded track limits at turn ten and had his lap time deleted. This allowedLando Norris to momentarily top the session ahead ofNico Hülkenberg,Fernando Alonso,Carlos Sainz Jr. and Hamilton.Sergio Pérez commit more track limits violations, denying him a spot in Q3, (the third session) for the fourth consecutive time, as all his lap times in Q2 were deleted for track limits violations. He joinedGeorge Russell,Esteban Ocon,Oscar Piastri and Bottas in being eliminated.[12][13]
Due to this,Alexander Albon appeared in Q3 for theWilliams team, going on to qualify tenth. Verstappen took pole, withCharles Leclerc and Sainz making it twoFerraris in the top 3.Lance Stroll in sixth outqualified teammate Alonso in seventh.[13][14]
Notes
Thesprint shootout was held on 1 July 2023 at 12:00 local time (UTC+2) and determined the starting order for the Sprint race.[10][11]
The first session began after a patch of rain around theRed Bull Ring earlier in the morning; as such, the track was cloudy, with no rain forecast over the first 20 minutes of sprint shootout. The track, however, remained wet, so drivers were able to run any compound;Kevin Magnussen andMax Verstappen put on the mediums. The Williams cars ofAlexander Albon andLogan Sargeant put on the intermediate tyres. All other cars were on softs. Both Williams cars would later swap for softs.Zhou Guanyu spun and caused a brief yellow flag.[19]
Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered a failure of hisbrake-by-wire system, going into the pit lane with smoke billowing from the back of hisFerrari SF-23. Due to this, he was unable to set a lap time for the majority of the first part until his car was repaired during the closing minutes of the session. His only lap of the session ended up topping the timing sheets for the first session afterLewis Hamilton's time was deleted for track limits violations.[19][20]
Verstappen, Zhou,Sergio Pérez, Hamilton (who initially topped the session), and Sargeant's first times were deleted for track limits violations.Oscar Piastri was blocked byCharles Leclerc, as the latter went back to the pits. The stewards investigated the incident as Leclerc made it through the next session by 0.1 millisecond. Zhou, Piastri, Hamilton,Valtteri Bottas and Sargeant were all knocked out and the end of the first part.[19] This is the first time Hamilton got knocked following the first segment of a qualification session since the2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.[21] Hamilton's teammateGeorge Russell, having set a time for seventh, reported a hydraulics failure, ruling him out of the rest of qualification.Nico Hülkenberg was the third-fastest behind the Aston Martins ofLance Stroll andFernando Alonso.[19]
In the second session, De Vries and Verstappen had their lap times deleted due to track limits violations, and a replay showed Hülkenberg's car running over a tyre; stewards investigated the unsafe release, although no penalty was awarded. Albon,Pierre Gasly, and the AlphaTauris ofYuki Tsunoda and De Vries joined Russell all out of the session.[19]
Verstappen took the pole position for the sprint, with Pérez allowing the Red Bulls to start 1–2 with the Ferraris fifth (Sainz) and sixth (Leclerc, who was penalised and dropped to ninth after he impeded Piastri earlier).[22] Norris was in third and Hülkenberg fourth as Alonso and Stroll were classified seventh and eighth respectively.[20]
Notes
The sprint was held on 1 July 2023 at 16:30 local time (UTC+2).[10][11]
The sprint started in damp conditions, with all cars starting on the intermediate-wet tyres.Sergio Pérez had two near-miss moments between him and teammateMax Verstappen, leading to Pérez running wide at turn 3 on lap 1, losing positions to Hülkenberg and Sainz, and asking about Verstappen’s actions over team radio. Verstappen would remain the leading car for the rest of the sprint.[24]
Nico Hülkenberg ran as high as second place before Pérez passed him, withCarlos Sainz Jr. andLance Stroll passing Hülkenberg soon after. Hülkenberg,Lewis Hamilton,Kevin Magnussen,Logan Sargeant,Nyck de Vries, andZhou Guanyu all boxed for dry tyres. The sprint ended with Verstappen winning from Pérez asEsteban Ocon andGeorge Russell had a battle going into the final corner, with the former edging out the latter by 0.009 seconds for 7th place.[25][26]
Notes
The race was held on 2 July 2023, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2).[10][11]
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The race was held under cloudy conditions.Max Verstappen had a good start ahead of the Ferraris withLewis Hamilton battlingLando Norris for fourth. Thesafety car was called out afterYuki Tsunoda went into the gravel, damaging his front wing after a collision withEsteban Ocon. This incident did not result in a penalty for either driver and Tsunoda went into the pit lane to replace his wing. Meanwhile,Kevin Magnussen reportedERS problems and joined Tsunoda in the pit lane.[28][29]
On the restart, Verstappen had another good start and built a gap away fromCharles Leclerc asSergio Pérez fought his way through the midfield, passing Ocon and closing up toGeorge Russell, whom he eventually passed. Norris, who was behind Hamilton, reported numerous times that Hamilton had exceeded track limits. Hamilton, and later Tsunoda, would receive a black and white flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, later receiving penalties.Nico Hülkenberg's car started to smoke, retiring with a power unit issue and bringing out avirtual safety car.Carlos Sainz Jr., who was behind his teammate, requested to the team that Leclerc let him through to take the fight to Verstappen, though this went unanswered as the team decided to pit Sainz behind Leclerc getting a slower stop, dropping him behind Hamilton and Norris, who had exited the pits.[28][29]
Verstappen would continue to build a large gap until he went into the pit lane for his stop. Leclerc jumped him in the pit lane, allowing him to lead a race for Ferrari for the first time since theAzerbaijan Grand Prix. This time, he kept the lead for nine laps, culminating in a battle between him and Verstappen that he had no answer to as the Red Bull driver passed him withDRS. Pérez, who had started fifteenth, would get up to third as drivers made their stops, and Verstappen, having built up a large gap over the race, won comfortably in front of Leclerc who gave Ferrari their 800th Formula One podium. Verstappen's teammate Pérez completed the podium in third. Verstappen took the fastest lap bonus point.[30][31]
A large number of penalties would be given out during the race, with a majority being due to track limits violations around the final two corners; the first two drivers to receive them were Hamilton and Tsunoda, both receiving five-second penalties for exceeding track limits. Tsunoda would later receive a ten-second penalty for further track-limit violations in addition to an investigation for not serving his first penalty correctly (which was resolved in his favour). Additionally, Sainz,Alexander Albon,Pierre Gasly,Logan Sargeant, and Magnussen all received penalties for track limits. The only two drivers to have been penalised for something other than track limits wereEsteban Ocon for unsafe release during his pit-stop, andNyck de Vries for pushing Magnussen off-track. Further penalties for exceeding track limits would be given after Aston Martin protested the race results, with Ocon receiving a thirty-second penalty overall, in addition to a 5-second penalty for a different violation which he received during the race.[32]
Aston Martin successfully protested the race results.[33] The stewards were unable to review all 1,200 reports during the race,[34] but handed out a further twelve penalties for track limits violations following completion of the review process afterwards.[32][35]
Notes
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| Previous race: 2023 Canadian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2023 season | Next race: 2023 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2022 Austrian Grand Prix | Austrian Grand Prix | Next race: 2024 Austrian Grand Prix |
