2023 Austrian Grand Prix Preview & Picks
The Formula 1 paddock heads to Austria for the home race of Team Red Bull, who hold a commanding lead in both the Drivers and Constructors Championships.
Max Verstappen has dominated in 2023 after winning the last three races from pole position and four races in a row, dragging his lead in the championship out to 69 points over teammate Sergio Perez who has not had the same fortune in recent outings.
Last year at Spielberg did not exactly go to plan for championship leaders Red Bull, even though Verstappen won the Sprint race from pole and was also the fastest qualifier for Sunday's race.
Austrian constructor, Red Bull, did not have the pace in the longer distance at their home track, struggling with the hard tyre, an issue that their Italian rivals Ferrari did not have.
Charles Leclerc looked in control after the first pitstop and if it wasn’t for a power unit failure for Carlos Sainz the Ferraris would’ve cruised to a one-two finish. In the end Leclerc controlled the gap to the 2022 world champion, winning by a little over 1.5 seconds with Lewis Hamilton coming in third, 45 seconds behind.
Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying Best Bet
Max Verstappen has taken pole the last two years in Austria and absolutely nothing is going to change in 2023.
The flying Dutchman has dominated on the super softs and even if a spray of bad weather has tried to disrupt his rhythm, as it did in Canada, the Championship leader still out-qualified his rivals by almost 1.5 seconds.
Austrian GP Best Bet
This is once again Max Verstappen’s race to lose and I really don’t see that happening, even with unstable weather conditions threatening to disturb the weekend.
Verstappen has also posted the fastest lap of the race in 3 of his last 4 visits to Austria, so it is worth throwing the Fastest Lap into the Verstappen Pole and Race Win multi as an extra kicker.
With the weather forecast predicting rain it is worth chucking a unit at Fernado Alonso to win his first Formula 1 race in 10 years, since he took the chequered flag at his home grand prix in Spain in 2013.
The Aston Martin AMR21 has surprised in 2023 and I reckon even the Austrian fans would not be disappointed if they were cheering home the Spaniard if something unlikely and unexpected happened to their beloved Verstappen.
Austrian GP Finish in the Points Best Bet
McLaren has had its problems this season taking just 17 points in 2023, with Lando Norris recording 12 of those.
The young Brit has proven that he understands the Spielberg Circuit, recording two of his six Formula 1 podiums in Austria and has finished only as low as 7th place in his four visits to the circuit.
Although Norris and his MCL60 have only finished in the points just 3 times this year he is a good shot at taking a few in Austria.