Amazing Austria : What a venue, what a race!

The Red Bull Ring was beckoning – we were all set! But, disaster! We receive an email 2 days before we leave for Spielberg informing us that the F1 Camping company we used for this (and other races – including Monaco) had gone into receivership – no chance of refund for this or future bookings, and no tent or accommodation! We had the option of using the empty camp spot (i.e. the grass plot) . We are on foot – no tent or any camping gear and a ton of money down the drain for this and future races!! Michelle came into her own and we managed to secure a wooden hut near the Red Bull ring ( bonus: breakfast included at the RingRasst Hotel – great staff BTW! ). The hut was actually situated in a lorry park that is used for the F1 lorries (Alpine, Aston Martin and Alpha Tauri). However, this came at a cost of nearly 1000 Euros for the weekend! Sigh ! Needs must. However, we met some great people and we were on asphalt – so no mud in the rain and we had bunk beds! Not too bad overall – and breakfast – did I mention that?

The small town of Spielberg hosts the Austrian Grand Prix at the infamous Red Bull Ring! An awesome venue in every aspect. The venue is set in the most beautiful forested mountains, and is so very well organised. The weather was a mix of hot sun and rain, the venue gave the fans wet weather ponchos, ear plugs, and flags, there were traditional Austrian bands playing to a very appreciative crowd (mostly Dutch). This venue is a favourite of the Orange Army and I now understand why. A great party atmosphere and great fun.

Now to the racing! A sprint weekend that had it all! On Saturday the weather was not playing ball and it was wet (this weather seems to follow us!) for the sprint race. A race Mercedes would rather forget and was, again , dominated by Verstappen. There was a courageous fight for the front from Checo, that did not go down well with Verstappen, but as a race fan, great to see someone (even though they are on the same team) giving Verstappen something to do except run off into the distance. It was really exciting to watch and the weather made it unpredictable with lots of action. The result was Red Bull 1 & 2 with Carlos Sainz bringing his Ferrari third place. The Aston Martins were fourth and fifth with a great team effort from the pair. Haas (the Hulk) were a surprise 6th with Mercedes making 8th and 10th. A sign of things to come!

The Grand Prix on Sunday was in near perfect weather (only a few drops of rain) and the organisers made it special with the most extraordinary air show of helicopters and a Czech flight display team! Awesome! The organisers gave us all flags and everyone waved them upon demand – the effect was magical. This on top of the Orange Army waving orange flags and setting off flares! An awesome atmosphere in a very pretty setting! We sat beside some wonderful people from the USA and had a great time discussing teams, strategies and how many seconds Verstappen would win by. The result was predictable, but only for first place! Max was amazing, again, and won by a country mile ( the time difference between first and second was flattering because Max took another pit stop ton the penultimate lap to get the fastest lap). The race was a horror for Mercedes who seem to have gone backwards after looking so promising with a third place in Montreal and doing well in practice sessions. However, both Mercedes made the top ten (7 & 8 ) but they struggled and could not threaten Red Bull or Ferrari. Norris did exceptionally well to get 5th and Checo fought his way up to 3rd from 15th on the grid. Ferrari did it for the fans and came in 2nd and 4th. Charles made it onto the podium! Alonso continued his great run and came 6th with Stroll getting in the points with a P10. A solid weekend from Aston Martin with points from the Sprints and main race.

Overall, it was an amazing weekend of racing. The only gripe would be that the race course only had two (yes, two), single tap water stations for the hundred thousand fans to obtain water refills – that needs to change! Otherwise, it was a fantastic experience! We even bumped into an Aton Martin camera crew who interviewed Michelle and have included her on their Instagram site !!

We wrote this page on Sunday evening and by Monday morning discovered that some of the placings have changed due to penalties being applied post race. I must admit that I am a little bemused by the fact that the FIA stewards only applied all of the penalties after Aston Martin raised the question! Why have them at all if they are only applied to some of the drivers – very annoying that Aston Martin even had to raise the issue! Now I know why Hamilton raised the same question during the race! So the new placings are: Lando up 1 to P4, Alonso up from P6 to P5, Sainz dropped from P4 to P6, Russell up to P7, Hamilton down to P8, Stroll up to P9 and Gasly down to P10. So, some big place changes.

We cannot leave this page with out acknowledging the accident and passing of the 18 year old F4 driver Dilano van’t Hoff, who died in a racing accident at Spa-Francochamps on Saturday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those involved in the accident and to his family.