Spielberg
Race Date:22 Jun 2014
First Grand Prix:1964
Number of Laps:71
Circuit Length:4.326 km
Race Distance:307.020 km
Lap Record:
1'08.337 - M. Schumacher (2003)
Profile
Set into an Austrian hillside, the Osterreichring has gone down in F1 folklore as one of the sport's most exciting circuits. Dramatic elevation changes and super-fast sweeping curves made it a real drivers' circuit and the small run-off areas and ludicrously-narrow pit straight made it exceptionally dangerous. Most dangerous of all was the 180 degree Boschkurve, where close barriers all the way around the outside loomed ominously to punish the slightest mistake, hard. Despite the safety concern, which contributed to F1 abandoning the circuit after 1987, the only F1 death was in 1975 when Mark Donohue crashed during practice. In 1995 F1 returned to the venue, then known as the A1 Ring, but the race took place on a completely rebuilt and neutered version of the track designed by Hermann Tilke.
After Red Bull took over ownership of the circuit the pit buildings and grandstands were demolished in 2004 - a year after the circuit last held a grand prix - but after the track was renovated at a cost of nearly £60m and reopened in 2011, Red Bull said the circuit was ready to host Formula One once again. Plans to add it to the 2013 calendar never materialised but the Austrian Grand Prix will return to the circuit now known as the Red Bull Ring in 2014.
Formula 1 to switch to standing restarts after safety cars in 2015
Formula 1 is set for standing starts from the grid following safety cars in 2015, AUTOSPORT can reveal.
Following discussions between teams about ways to improve the show, one idea that has gained momentum in recent weeks is to overhaul the way that races resume after caution periods.
There is a consensus that the current rolling restarts with the leader dictating the pace do not provide enough excitement.
Sources have revealed that during this week's F1 Commission meeting at Biggin Hill, a proposal to scrap the current format for 2015 and change it to grid starts after safety cars was approved.
The idea is that from next year, once lapped cars have been allowed to unlap themselves, cars will form up on the grid once a safety car period has ended.
There will then be the same procedure of a standing start as happens at the beginning of races.
The hope is that there will be more chance of positions changing, with the spectacle of a standing start producing more drama than rolling starts do.
The rule change still needs to be ratified at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Munich next week, but this will be a formality now that the F1 Commission has backed it.
Autosport
