When the Austrian Grand Prix made its world championship debut back in 1964, few would have expected it to be a calendar fixture more than 60 years later. The dreary L-shaped layout of the temporary track on Zeltweg airfield did little to sell anybody on a return to the area.
Zeltweg briefly held on for sportscar races, but the grand prix circus only returned in 1970 after a permanent track, the Osterreichring, was built nearby – chiefly thanks to the star power of the home hero, Jochen Rindt.
Two hiatuses and a couple of rebuilds later, and what’s now known as the Red Bull Ring is a popular fixture on the calendar – although, in the absence of a local star, the biggest draw is now Max Verstappen.
Here are just a few of the most exciting moments from across the Austrian event’s 63-year history.
2024: Lando vs Max battle gets serious
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, battles with Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The phrase “laughing all the way to the bank” has an uncertain etymology, but it aptly describes what must have been going through George Russell’s head over the final eight laps of the 2024 Austrian GP.
Having qualified and run third, the Mercedes driver inherited victory after Lando Norris tried to overtake Max Verstappen around the outside at Turn 3, only to have the exit door slammed in his face. Norris picked up a puncture, which ended his race, while Verstappen limped back to the pits, took on new tyres, and recovered to cross the line fifth.
Though the Dutchman’s position was unaffected by the 10-second time penalty he received, he also picked up the first of a cluster of penalty points that now leave him on the cusp of a race ban going into the 2025 event.
2020: Rise of the Machines
Valtteri Bottas celebrates on the podium with the trophy and race winner Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen
Photo by: FIA Pool
Ah, the summer of 2020, when all your acquaintances who previously became instant experts on the minutiae of international trade suddenly knew more about messenger RNA vaccine development than those who had laboured long for PhDs on the topic.
A compressed schedule and ‘bubbled’ travel arrangements enabled F1 to hold enough races to comply with its broadcast contract obligations, though this ‘fudge’ required several venues to host double-headers. Step forward the Red Bull Ring, which hosted back-to-back Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix as the season openers in early July.
To ensure nobody was breathed upon by strangers, the trophies were conveyed to their recipients by robots. The magic of technology!
Good thing the current FIA president wasn’t in office at the time – he would no doubt have wanted another bot circulating with a life-sized effigy of himself perched atop it.
2019: Max schools Charles
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, collides with Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF90
Photo by: Lorenzo Bellanca / Motorsport Images
Acting as an hors d’oeuvre for the 2024 event, Charles Leclerc received a salutary lesson in the art of bare-knuckle fighting while defending what he hoped would be his first grand prix victory.
Leclerc, then in his first year at Ferrari, had already seen one potential win go begging in Bahrain, when his engine dropped a cylinder. In Austria, he led from pole while Verstappen’s Red Bull went into anti-stall mode at the start, dropping Max from second to eighth.
In the early phase of the race, it looked like Leclerc’s chief rivals would be the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, but the recovering Verstappen elbowed his way into contention – literally.
After rebuffing one lunge from the Dutchman at Turn 3 with four laps remaining, Leclerc expected to do the same next time around. But this time, Verstappen’s trajectory on the inside line forced the Ferrari wide and they bumped wheels, prompting furious exchanges on the radio.
Verstappen crossed the line first but had to wait for a stewarding decision to ratify his win. “If we can race that way,” harrumphed Leclerc, “then I’m more than happy to race that way.”
2016: Lesser-celebrated Rosberg vs Hamilton
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid collide on the last lap
Photo by: Sutton Images
Long before he became a paddock rent-a-quote, Nico Rosberg achieved what was thought to be inconceivable by beating Mercedes team-mate Hamilton to the world championship in 2016. Getting there required some guile and there were bumps along the way.
History now enshrines the collision between the two Mercedes team-mates on lap one in Spain as the peak of their rivalry in terms of on-track rancour. The moment was so dramatic that it overshadowed what came later, in Austria.
Hamilton started from pole and led the first 12 laps while Rosberg started sixth, owing to a grid penalty. A questionable strategy call to stay out on the ultrasoft Pirelli tyre compound, followed by a slow pitstop, then delayed Hamilton – who began to voice his doubts about what was going on. That hint of paranoia would grow during the season.
In fact, Mercedes had been planning a one-stop race for Hamilton but ultimately had to abort that and bring him in for another set of softs. This also played to the Briton’s misgivings, since Rosberg took ultrasofts on his final stop.
The soft turned out to be more durable and Hamilton chased down Rosberg in the final laps, lunging up the outside at Turn 3 on the final tour. In a rather transparent attempt to block, Rosberg turned in so late that Hamilton had to turn in himself or go off track. The impact wiped off Rosberg’s front wing and he dropped to fourth while Hamilton went on to win. And of course, each driver blamed the other.
2002: “Rubens, it’s Jean”
Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, Ferrari
Photo by: Motorsport Images
The Austrian Grand Prix around the turn of the century was indubitably Michael Schumacher territory – so how come he ended up being booed by his own fans?
The A1-Ring, as it was then known, hosted round six of the 2002 championship. The German had won the first in the B-spec of his ’01 championship-winning F2001, swapped to the new F2002 for round three and claimed victory in three consecutive races.
It’s most peculiar, then, that with Schumacher building a commanding championship lead, team principal Jean Todt and technical director Ross Brawn should consider cynical and desperate defensive measures so early. Schumacher’s team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who had been ordered to yield second place to the German at the same event in 2001, was instructed during a pre-race meeting that the same would be expected of him again.
Now, though, the circumstances were slightly different: Rubens was on pole and led throughout, except during the pitstop phase. When the call came to move over, he did not obey. The radio traffic became heated. TV footage depicted Todt, never likely to become an accomplished poker player, thoroughly agitated and chafing.
And still, Barrichello led as the final laps ticked by. Finally, having rounded the final corner and with the chequered flag in sight, Rubens theatrically decelerated and let his teammate pass.
A rigmarole ensued on the podium as an embarrassed Schumacher tried to cajole the furious Barichello to stand on the top step. Jeers rippled through the crowd.
Shortly afterwards, FIA president Max Mosley announced a ban on team orders. Good luck enforcing that.
2001: Montoya’s race goes sideways
Juan Pablo Montoya
Photo by: BMW AG
When Juan Pablo Montoya put Michael Schumacher on the grass at the beginning of the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix, word in the paddock afterwards was that Montoya had heard the tell-tale signs of (illegal) traction control – a slight misfire – coming from Schumacher’s Ferrari and was so incandescent with rage that he simply drove him off at the first corner.
So many teams were using sophisticated engine maps to replicate the effects of traction control that the FIA was forced to capitulate and un-ban it, as of the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix. This did little to reduce the rancour that had been building up.
In Austria, Schumacher started from pole with Montoya alongside, but Montoya got the better launch – ironic, given the ructions earlier in the season. As the lap count reached double figures, Montoya was still defending his lead as his Williams’ Michelin tyres began to grain faster than Schumacher’s Bridgestones.
Still, Montoya held on until lap 16, when Schumacher got alongside on the long drag up towards Turn 3, arriving on the outside almost – but not quite – ahead. Montoya had no intention of relinquishing the lead and committed to the gap. His rear tyres gave up first and he arrived at the apex sideways, biffing Schumacher on his way to the gravel trap.
1999: Hakkinen vs Coulthard
Mika Hakkinen, McLaren MP4/14 spins after being hit by team mate David Coulthard, McLaren MP4/14
Photo by: Sutton Images
Against a backdrop of Schumacher breaking his leg at Silverstone, leaving Ferrari in the somewhat unwelcome position of having to support team-mate Eddie Irvine in the drivers’ championship, McLaren could and should have cashed in.
Instead, even though Mika Hakkinen led the championship with 40 points to Schumacher and Irvine’s 32, McLaren maintained its policy of neutrality: let them race. David Coulthard at that point was on 22 points but had just won the British Grand Prix, so arrived in Austria on a high.
It didn’t last long. Within moments of Hakkinen and Coulthard starting from the front row of the grid, Coulthard contrived to nerf his teammate into a spin at – you guessed it – Turn 3. Irvine, who had been a second off in qualifying, won the race.
1997: I spy
Mika Hakkinen, McLaren Mercedes
Photo by: Motorsport Images
In the era before digital photography, sports snappers shot on 35mm ‘transparency’ film, which could be scanned for use in print media. Photo editing was a laborious process of poring over each slide with a light box and a magnifying device known as a loupe.
It was an even more time-consuming slog for Darren Heath, an innovative artist who operated at the riskier end of the spectrum, often shooting at ultra-low shutter speeds to produce striking and dynamic motion blur. Easily done on a modern digital camera but harder to execute when you didn’t have an instant read on what the results would be – so he just shot more, trusting that at least one would deliver the intended result.
After the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix, Heath was hunched over the lightbox, scrutinising his haul, when he noticed a very peculiar thing in many of his ‘panning’ shots: a McLaren with a rear brake disc aglow, mid-corner.
It was the first evidence of the so-called ‘fiddle brake’ that McLaren was using to improve cornering balance. Later, at the German Grand Prix, Heath would locate the ‘smoking gun’ – tipped off via a phone call from F1 Racing magazine editor Matt Bishop that David Coulthard had retired, Heath hastened to the scene and grabbed a photo of the MP4/12’s footwell, which revealed the extra brake pedal.
Not his greatest work of art, but one that excited much attention.
1987: The race that started thrice
Nelson Piquet, Williams FW11B and Nigel Mansell, Williams FW11B
Photo by: Sutton Images
The 19th world championship Austrian Grand Prix was to be the last for a decade. Safety was already a hot topic after Stefan Johansson’s interaction with the local wildlife (a tease of what’s to come), and the Osterreichring’s limitations were writ large in a series of accidents on race day.
Shunt one was fairly standard order for a race start on a narrow circuit in that period: Martin Brundle’s Zakspeed broke traction at the crest on the start-finish straight (now the site of Turn 1), spun left into the barriers and then back onto the track, causing those behind to stack up. Adrian Campos brought his Minardi virtually to a standstill, causing the Tyrrells of Jonathan Palmer and Phillippe Streiff to crash in avoidance.
At the restart, Nigel Mansell’s second-placed Williams bogged down, triggering a chain reaction as those behind swerved to avoid it – and each other. As more cars arrived on the scene, the available space diminished and within seconds almost half the grid lay in ruins.
The race finally got under way with a third restart shortly before 5pm.
1987: Deer oh deer
Stefan Johansson and Alain Prost
Photo by: Ercole Colombo
Stefan Johansson has recently shared on social media some of the more graphic images of the aftermath of his unexpected interface with the Styrian wildlife in practice for the 1987 Austrian GP.
This being the countryside, there is a likelihood of wild animals being around – but the organisers do their best to prevent them breaching the fence. In 2001 it was almost a laughing matter as Juan Pablo Montoya giggled “Oh deer” during practice when his engineer radioed to inform him of a hoofed ruminant jumping through one of the gravel traps. Misinterpreting this levity as a request for a more detailed description, the engineer replied earnestly, “It’s like a horse with horns.”
Johansson’s deer strike was no laughing matter: besides the high-speed deer-to-cloud conversion, the impact tore the front suspension off Johansson’s McLaren and pitched him into the barrier, removing all four corners. Stefan himself was helicoptered to hospital.
1984: Is there anyone left in the race?
Nelson Piquet, Brabham BT53 BMW, Alain Prost, McLaren MP4/2 TAG
Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images
Re-watch the 1984 Austrian Grand Prix for a stark reminder of the unreliability that stalked the grid at the peak of the turbo era. Like Joseph Haydn’s Symphony Number 45, where the musicians gradually leave the stage during the coda, barely a lap went by without someone coming to grief.
First of the 26 to go was Manfred Winkelhock, technically a non-starter owing to gearbox trouble. Last man on the grid, Huub Rothengatter, lapped so slowly and was in and out of the pits so often that he had only clocked up 23 laps by the chequered flag and was not classified.
Most of the early retirements came from outside the top 10, until Derek Warwick’s Renault expired on lap 17. Then the attrition really kicked in, mostly engine and gearbox-related, or spins related to oil dropped from expired engines – as was the case when Elio de Angelis came to a smoking halt in his Lotus and Alain Prost gyrated on the slick that he had deposited on the way back to the pits.
Other casualties at the sharper end of the grid included Ayrton Senna’s Toleman, Nigel Mansell’s Lotus and Patrick Tambay’s Renault. The only non-mechanical retirement was Keke Rosberg, who brought his flimsy Williams FW09 into the pits and declared it too dangerous to drive.
Only 12 cars were classified as finishers and two weren’t running at the end, Riccardo Patrese having run out of fuel with three laps to go. Niki Lauda brought the home crowd to its feet with a victory for McLaren, which teed up his eventual championship triumph.
1982: A close call
Elio de Angelis, Lotus 91 just beats Keke Rosberg, Williams FW08 to the victory
Photo by: Motorsport Images
The 1982 F1 season is memorable for many reasons, not all of them good. But one to cherish is a battle between two drivers eager to chalk up their first grand prix wins.
Elio de Angelis and Keke Rosberg had been running second and third in Austria behind Alain Prost’s dominant Renault – until Prost’s V6, as so often in that era, went up in a cloud of white smoke.
Around 30 seconds behind, the battle for second and third became a dice for the lead. And what a dice it was. De Angelis looked like he had Rosberg covered at the final corner but slid wide – no track-limit pings in those days – and lost momentum.
Rosberg was alongside as they took the chequered flag, but not far enough – the gap was recorded as 0.050s.
1976: Watson delivers the American dream
John Watson, Penske PC4-Ford
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Roger Penske’s eponymous team had been successful in every avenue of motorsport until it took on F1. The Geoff Ferris-designed PC1 seemed quick enough to entice the great driver-engineer Mark Donohue out of retirement to race in the final rounds of 1974, but in the team’s first full season it proved bothersome.
By mid-season, Donohue had worked through no end of adjustments and concluded the PC1 was going nowhere, so the team acquired a March 751. It was in this car that he went off the track at the Hella-Licht corner of the Osterreichring – now used as a parking area for the race trucks – and went over the barrier. Initially thought to have merely suffered a concussion, Donohue lost consciousness in hospital and died two days later.
An ugly legal battle ensued with Goodyear since the skid marks on track suggested a tyre failure.
The team rebuilt around John Watson as sole driver for 1976, and the PC3 and PC4 chassis were better – the latter more so after major aerodynamic revisions and an extension to the wheelbase.
In the brief absence of Ferrari at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix – Niki Lauda was fighting for his life in hospital and Enzo Ferrari was in a strop at James Hunt’s reinstatement as victor of the Spanish Grand Prix – a window of opportunity opened. Watson qualified second to Hunt and scored a poignant victory a year after Donohue’s death.
It was Penske’s first grand prix win, and only the second world championship victory for an American team after Anglo-American Racers in 1967. As with Dan Gurney’s outfit, though, Penske’s F1 team was actually based in the UK.
1975: Keep your hands on the wheel
Vittorio Brambilla (March 751 Ford) celebrates his 1st position and maiden Grand Prix win
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Nicknamed ‘the Monza Gorilla’ on account of his uncompromisingly physical driving style, Vittorio Brambilla registered just one grand prix victory but did so in memorable style.
Thunder was rumbling in the distance as the grid assembled with Brambilla eighth in his March-Ford behind the likes of Lauda, Hunt and Fittipaldi. Heavy rain duly swept in from the west but, this being the 1970s, the start was merely delayed briefly so the competitors could change tyres.
Brambilla surged through to take third place in the early stages behind the duelling Ferrari and Hesketh of Lauda and Hunt. When Lauda dropped back it was just Hunt and Brambilla… until they came up to lap the journeyman Brett Lunger, who was renting the second Hesketh and driving it as if he expected to be made to pay for any damage.
As Hunt dithered, Brambilla seized the moment and passed them both. Just 19 laps had elapsed, and the race would last another 10 before the officials, under pressure from teams, decided to end the race early.
As Brambilla crossed the line he punched the air to celebrate his victory – and spun into the barriers of what is now the pit exit.
1970: Lots of trouble, usually serious
Jochen Rindt, Lotus 72C Ford
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Austrian hero Jochen Rindt had been tempted to go to Brabham for 1970, having been frustrated by the way in which speed went hand-in-hand with fragility at Lotus. But he was persuaded otherwise and seemed to be weathering the consequences as the new 72 proved wayward.
Meanwhile Jack Brabham, forced to abandon his retirement plans by Rindt’s change of heart, had a veritable Indian summer in the competitive BT33. But in a topsy-turvy season of many winners, by round nine of 13 the wayward 72 had been purged of its vices and Rindt led the championship by 45 points to Brabham’s 25.
The auguries were good for a home win at this first Austrian Grand Prix on the new Osterreichring: Rindt qualified on pole by nearly half a second ahead of Clay Regazzoni’s Ferrari, with Brabham more than a second and a half off in eighth.
But delight turned to despair when Rindt’s engine expired just a third of the way into the race. It was to be his last grand prix start.
1964: Rindt’s debut, Lorenzo Bandini’s only win
Lorenzo Bandini, Ferrari 156
Photo by: Motorsport Images
The airstrip at Zeltweg had a military past in common with Silverstone, but the use of the runway itself, rather than perimeter roads, made for a bumpy ride and a jejune L-shaped layout. As such, spectators that arrived for the venue’s world championship debut in 1964 found themselves frustratingly far removed from the action.
Suspension failures brought on by the bumpy surface were a major feature during practice, but the local crowd was energised by the appearance of an up-and-coming talent. The 22-year-old Jochen Rindt made his maiden world championship appearance in a Brabham that was entered by long-time Stirling Moss ally Rob Walker.
The bumps took their toll in the race as John Surtees’ Ferrari, Trevor Taylor’s BRM, Dan Gurney’s Brabham and the works Lotuses of Jim Clark and Mike Spence succumbed to suspension and driveshaft failures. Rindt was another retiree, with broken steering.
From seventh on the grid, driving Mauro Forghieri’s ‘Aero’ version of the moribund 156, Lorenzo Bandini took what would be his first and only grand prix victory for Ferrari.
In this article
Stuart Codling
Formula 1
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