The first of these sees the teams head to Spielberg in the Styrian mountains, a few kilometres from Graz. For the second time this season, Scuderia Ferrari HP is running three drivers over the course of the weekend. In line with the regulation that each race driver must give up his seat for a Friday practice session twice per year for a young driver with fewer than two Grand Prix participations to their name, Sweden's Dino Beganovic, the young Maranello Academy student, will drive Charles Leclerc's car in the first free practice. The Swede already drove the Monegasque’s SF-25 in Bahrain earlier this year.
The track. The 4.318 kilometre track has ten corners with three DRS zones in quick succession, with a lap taking a little over a minute and its gradient changes and corners prove very popular with the drivers. Traction is important out of the slow corners, but so too is precision under braking, especially at turns 3, 4 and 9, the latter being the final downhill before the finish line. Overtaking is relatively straightforward and that means the Austrian track often delivers some spectacular racing.
Weather and tyres. The circuit’s mountainous location means that predicting the weather is never easy. It can rapidly change from baking sunshine to heavy rain, so the drivers and strategists have to be on their toes, ready for any eventuality. Last year, Spielberg hosted a Sprint weekend, but it’s reverted to the standard format this time. Free practice therefore gets underway on Friday at 13.30 CEST, with the second session at 17.00. The final hour of free practice is on Saturday at 12.30 followed by qualifying at 16.00. The Austrian Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday at 15.00, run over 71 laps, for a distance of 306.452 kilometres.
Fred Vasseur - Team Principal
It only takes a little over a minute for a Formula 1 car to lap the Spielberg circuit, which means the field is closely bunched in terms of laptime, and thousandths of a second can make a big difference. Managing to put everything together will be crucial. The fact that seven of the ten corners are right handers combined with significant changes in elevation only adds to the challenge. We have been working hard in Maranello with the aim of ensuring that all the necessary elements come together in such a way as to deliver the best possible performance. Charles, Lewis and the whole team are determined to give their best at a track that often delivers one of the most spectacular races of the season.
