2017 Red Bull Ring Red Bull Austrian Red Bull Grand Prix

[Ataxia]

The hills are alive with the sound of racing! At least, they will be this weekend as 20 overpaid wheel-turners hustle their highly-powered cars through the Styrian mountains. But what exactly IS Austria? I've dug out my globe to help you guys with a quick guide to the Austrian Grand Prix.


The Red Bull Ring's not really a ring, is it? It's more of a...clamp? Or one of those things that keeps a tablecloth on a table. I dunno...

Austria used to be a conjoined twin, joined at the hip with sibling Hungary. For many years, the twins lived together before they were divided after the end of World War 1. Since then, Austria has carved out a niche as an entry-level Germany, as well as being known as "not Australia". The capital of Austria is Vienna, which exports goods such as whirls, waltzes and wieners across the world.


This whirl was produced by renowned Austrian baker "Herr Kipling".

The country of Austria may or may not be related to the Ostrogoths; even though they sound slightly similar, I can't really be bothered to find any historical evidence to support this either way. I just wanted to sound smart. Regardless, the Ostrogoths are not related to the Goths of today, who predominantly wear black instead of invading Roman territories.


These two things are not the same. Shame, would've made a hell of a Total War game.

One of Austria's most famous sons is film star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was formerly the governer of California, and is obviously best known for films such as Dr. Doolittle 2 and Happy Anniversary and Goodbye. He was in some other stuff too, but you won't have heard of it...


Arnie in one of his most famous roles, playing the masseuse in "Happy Anniversary and Goodbye". He touched Lucille Ball in it, apparently. I've not seen it.

Originally, the Austrian Grand Prix was held until 1987 at the Österreichring, which translates to "Austria Ring". It then returned to the same-but-not-quite venue ten years later - the A1-Ring, which translates to "A1-Ring". Recently, it's made a(nother) comeback under the guise of the Red Bull Ring, which...no, I'm not doing that joke again.


Not entirely sure why they called it the A1-Ring...answers on a postcard, please!

Red Bull is one of Austria's greatest exports, and its motorsport division has bequeathed the world with some Austrian luminaries, such as Christian Klien and Patrick Friesacher. Both were known within the F1 world as being "completely forgettable" and "who?", and for not living up to the likes of Niki Lauda, Jochen Rindt and Gerhard Berger. Oh, and him as well.


...are we really doing this again? I mean, the guy who made the Wurz stuff up doesn't even come here any more...

Sadly, Austrian racing talent has perhaps dried up a little (DTM's Lucas Auer perhaps the most notable), although Ferdinand Zvonimir Maria Balthus Keith Michael Otto Antal Bahnam Leonhard von Habsburg is currently performing nobly in Formula 3.

That's your guide to Austria; buckle up, enjoy the scenery and prepare yourself some Austrian treats to get ready for the race.

Just don't make a mess...

[CoopsII]

When Formula One is finally assimilated by The Pay-Wall and lost forever (at least to me and all the other anti-Murdochites) I think I'll be quite content just reading the previews that Ataxia posts on here instead.

[watka]

I believe the track used to be called the A1-Ring so that it would appear first in the under "motor racing circuits" in the Austrian Yellow Pages

[Ataxia]

When Formula One is finally assimilated by The Pay-Wall and lost forever (at least to me and all the other anti-Murdochites) I think I'll be quite content just reading the previews that Ataxia posts on here instead.

I've been thinking about branching out into travel writing in a similar style, if only I had the money...

I believe the track used to be called the A1-Ring so that it would appear first in the under "motor racing circuits" in the Austrian Yellow Pages

...I could totally believe that

[The Chicane]

I'm surprised that Red Bull haven't tried to sponsor their own event yet.

I wonder if the taps at the circuit run Red Bull instead of water?

[Nessafox]

I believe the track used to be called the A1-Ring so that it would appear first in the under "motor racing circuits" in the Austrian Yellow Pages

Reminds me of the band A who did that for exactly that reason.

[Meatwad]

I believe the track used to be called the A1-Ring so that it would appear first in the under "motor racing circuits" in the Austrian Yellow Pages

Reminds me of the band A who did that for exactly that reason.

But that wasn't such a good choice in hindsight: finding them on search engines isn't that easy. Google does pretty well but the same can't be said about Bing. Even searching for their hit "Starbucks" (I loved that song back in 2002) just brings up coffee-related results...

And there was also a boy band called A1 around the same time but I don't think much more should be said about them...

[Nessafox]

I believe the track used to be called the A1-Ring so that it would appear first in the under "motor racing circuits" in the Austrian Yellow Pages

Reminds me of the band A who did that for exactly that reason.

But that wasn't such a good choice in hindsight: finding them on search engines isn't that easy. Google does pretty well but the same can't be said about Bing. Even searching for their hit "Starbucks" (I loved that song back in 2002) just brings up coffee-related results...

And there was also a boy band called A1 around the same time but I don't think much more should be said about them...

At the time it made sense as they'd be the first album alphabetically in the record store, though. Sadly for them, things didn't work out that way with music industry.

[dr-baker]

The A1RedBullAustriaRing has an extra corner this year! There are now 10 turns instead of 9!
OK, the extra turn is the link between turns 1 and the former turn 2, but still. All because that's what MotoGP do...

[yannicksamlad]

I do not recognise this extra turn. It seems this is an attempt to placate those who felt the circuit was under representing left handers. But this is clearly tokenism and I am not fooled. The circuit has always discriminated against those who prefer turning left, and it still does

[DemocalypseNow]

I believe the track used to be called the A1-Ring so that it would appear first in the under "motor racing circuits" in the Austrian Yellow Pages

Urban myth unfortunately. A1 is an Austrian telephony company that was the title sponsor of the venue between 1997 to 2003. Bit like if Silverstone was known as the "O2 Circuit".

[UncreativeUsername37]

I believe the track used to be called the A1-Ring so that it would appear first in the under "motor racing circuits" in the Austrian Yellow Pages

Urban myth unfortunately. A1 is an Austrian telephony company that was the title sponsor of the venue between 1997 to 2003. Bit like if Silverstone was known as the "O2 Circuit".

I don't think he was serious....

[CoopsII]

Bit like if Silverstone was known as the "O2 Circuit".

I'm genuinely surprised that hasn't happened yet.

[WeirdKerr]

Bit like if Silverstone was known as the "O2 Circuit".

I'm genuinely surprised that hasn't happened yet.

other than the Redbullring are there any circuits that have sold their naming rights or are named after their owners?

[AndreaModa]

Mosport is now Canadian Tire Motorsport Park or something like that isn't it?

Can't think of any others though.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Sonoma used to be called Infineon Raceway for a good while, and Laguna Seca has been known as "Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca" for about as long.

[Enforcer]

Mosport is now Canadian Tire Motorsport Park or something like that isn't it?

Can't think of any others though.

Sonoma / Sears Point was Infineon Raceway after its sponsor between 2002 and 2012 too. There's probably a couple of others. Might be more prevalent on Speedways than FIA Grade 1 Circuits though.

EDIT: Bah, I'm slower than a Simtek.

[TheFlyingCaterham]

The Charlotte Motor Speedway was known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1998 to 2009, and the Indianapolis Raceway Park has had O'Reilly and currently Lucas Oil as sponsors with naming rights (or whatever its called). There's probably more but I don't remember any others that haven't already been listed.

[dr-baker]

There is a race track in England that has so many companies with track naming rights that it just calls itself "Brands" Hatch.

It seems that individual corners are more likely to be renamed after corporate sponsors. I suppose it's because corners are more likely to be name-checked during a race than the venue name itself?

[Rob Dylan]

Yeah, I always laugh when watching (I think) the Fuji Speedway track, which has the Coca-Cola curve. Honestly, it's some of the most effective marketing and advertising you could do in motorsport, to have commentators reel off the name of a cool corner, which just happens to share the same name as a famous business.

[Belegur]

I don't know whether that worked all that well for Casio, given what happened at the Casio Triangle in 1989.

[Ataxia]

I don't know whether that worked all that well for Casio, given what happened at the Casio Triangle in 1989.

You could argue it tied in well, depending on whether you think it was a calculated move...

[Dj_bereta]

2014: Williams 1-2
2017: Williams 17-18

Even with new updates, the team failed very hard in this qualify. What is going on in Williams? Another failed upgrade on the car.

[mario]

2014: Williams 1-2
2017: Williams 17-18

Even with new updates, the team failed very hard in this qualify. What is going on in Williams? Another failed upgrade on the car.

When you look across the field at the other teams, most of them improved their times by around 1.5-2s compared to last year - Williams improved by barely 0.38s. I don't know if it is necessarily that their update package has failed though - it sounds more like the team have a lot of rear traction issues that are coming from set up problems.

[Barbazza]

Couldn't find any live streams of the race that didn't want to put loads of viruses on my laptop or require passwords, and the C4 highlights are at an extremely inconvenient time for me, so I'm experiencing the joy of listening on the radio for the first time ever (barring that time when they got Murray on for guest commentary) - it's not too bad actually, but my hopes of using the BBC website live updates to assist with visuals are being hampered by - and I really should have anticipated this - how laughably slow they are.

[UncreativeUsername37]

This is the sort of race that needed Murray Walker. It wasn't a horrible race or anything, but I feel like he could've made the middle part more interesting.

[Barbazza]

This is the sort of race that needed Murray Walker. It wasn't a horrible race or anything, but I feel like he could've made the middle part more interesting.

Definitely - didn't miss much by listening rather than watching, that's for sure. Excitement at the start, and a little at the end but I wasn't paying much attention inbetween.

[dr-baker]

This is the sort of race that needed Murray Walker. It wasn't a horrible race or anything, but I feel like he could've made the middle part more interesting.

Definitely - didn't miss much by listening rather than watching, that's for sure. Excitement at the start, and a little at the end but I wasn't paying much attention inbetween.

Playing devil's advocate a little here: surely Murray could make any race more interesting. Even Baku! I miss the Murray/Brundle double-act.

[UncreativeUsername37]

This is the sort of race that needed Murray Walker. It wasn't a horrible race or anything, but I feel like he could've made the middle part more interesting.

Definitely - didn't miss much by listening rather than watching, that's for sure. Excitement at the start, and a little at the end but I wasn't paying much attention inbetween.

Playing devil's advocate a little here: surely Murray could make any race more interesting. Even Baku! I miss the Murray/Brundle double-act.

I don't doubt that, but if a race is already exciting, there's only so much more to do. He brings every race halfway up to epic, so there's more of an effect on the boring ones.

[dr-baker]

I don't doubt that, but if a race is already exciting, there's only so much more to do. He brings every race halfway up to epic, so there's more of an effect on the boring ones.

True, can't disagree with that!

[Waris]

Do you think that Murray narrates out loud when he watches the races at home?

[dinizintheoven]

Considering that Damon Hill had to tell him to stop commentating when they went out for a pizza, it wouldn't surprise me.

[watka]

Considering that Damon Hill had to tell him to stop commentating when they went out for a pizza, it wouldn't surprise me.

I'm sure we've all seen it, but I can't bear to think that there is someone on the forum who hasn't had the joy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwkU7dw-yWc

[dinizintheoven]

A perfect tribute to Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel 20 years later!