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Austrian Grand Prix: Formula One live blog

1st July, 2018
Where: Red Bull Ring
When: 11pm AEST
Laps: 71
Circuit length: 4.318 km (2.683 mi)
Race length: 306.452 km (190.420 mi)
Number of times held: 31
Most wins (drivers): Alain Prost (3)
Most wins (constructors): McLaren (6)
Daniel Ricciardo (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
1st July, 2018
91

With a quick turnaround from the French Grand Prix, Formula One travels into the Styrian hills of Austria this weekend and to the super-fast Red Bull Ring. Join The Roar for a live blog of the race from 11pm AEST.

This 4.3km power circuit owned by the energy drinks giant returned to the calendar in 2014, when since it has been a race dominated by Mercedes AMG.

Could this season see someone else on top at the end of the 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix? Well the list of contenders is lengthy to topple the Silver Arrows, who again have brought a sizeable aero upgrade this weekend.

What will be intriguing to see is whether Mercedes AMG are affected by a return to the standard-spec Pirelli tyres this weekend, having dominated in Spain and now France when the compounds were less 0.6mm of tread depth.

The soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres will be available. A one stop race is quite likely.

Valtteri Bottas claimed his first pole position of 2018, pipping his teammate Lewis Hamilton by a hundredth of a second. Given that this is a circuit that the Finn has previously won at, Bottas is in the best position to win his first race of the year.

The Ferraris were to occupy the second row of the grid, with Sebastian Vettel heading Kimi Räikkönen, though a 3-place grid penalty will relegate the German to sixth – having been penalised for impeding Carlos Sainz during qualifying.

Given that Ferrari’s race pace during Friday practice was strong in comparison to Mercedes AMG, a good start and the right strategy will keep Vettel in the hunt.

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Ferrari will be seeking, as they achieved in Canada to win their first race in Austria since 2003, when Michael Schumacher won the final iteration of this grand prix.

At their home race, Red Bull will line up fourth and sixth with Max Verstappen in front of Daniel Ricciardo.

The pair will be seeking good starts in order to mix it with the leaders, but for the Aussie – he will have to negotiate the star of qualifying in Romain Grosjean, who is fifth.

Big points are on offer for both the Haas team and Renault, and given that Grosjean is yet to score in 2018 – there is big onus for him to deliver.

Who will hold the momentum in the championship following this race? Tune in for live blog coverage on The Roar from 11pm AEST, to see who will stand above in Austria.

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