Spielberg Preview: Back-to-back at the Red Bull Ring

It’s the second of three quickfire rounds in the 2024 FIA Formula 2 campaign, with Round 7 the second race weekend in a triple header that will shape the season.
DAMS Lucas Oil and Jak Crawford celebrated on Sunday after a sublime performance, with Juan Manuel Correa taking his first F2 podium in the Feature five years to the day since his previous appearance on the rostrum.
So, what does the Red Bull Ring hold for our challengers?
THE FORM BOOK
There was a maiden Pole Position but no F2 race victory for Championship leader Paul Aron, though the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver did extend his title advantage with yet another podium finish. The Estonian leads the way on 100 points and is the first into triple digits in 2024.
Next-best Isack Hadjar suffered a tricky Qualifying in Barcelona but did rebound nicely to add a P6 and P5 finish in the Sprint and Feature races respectively. The Campos Racing driver remained in range of the leader, just nine points back in second.
Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney is third in the Standings, though with just one scoring result and seventh in the Feature leaves him on 75 points. Crawford’s victory in Barcelona and P4 lifts the DAMS driver up to fourth and onto 62 points.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Dennis Hauger rounds out the top five though didn’t add to his tally in Barcelona, with the MP Motorsport driver staying put on 56. Teammate Franco Colapinto’s P2 finish in the Feature puts him level with the same number of points in sixth.
Over in the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing remain ahead of rivals Hitech Pulse-Eight, though the battle could hardly be closer. The Spanish outfit head the field on 120 points with Hitech just one point back in second.
Third is MP Motorsport, not out of the reckoning themselves with 112 in their column, while Invicta Racing are fourth on 105 points and just 15 off the lead. Rodin Motorsport round out the top five positions, with 94 points.
FROM THE GRID – Richard Verschoor, Trident
“I’ve won twice, disqualified once, so I didn’t officially win, but then won the Feature Race last year, but hopefully this year I can win it from pole.
“The track itself is not super difficult, there’s not that many corners but that’s what makes it difficult. All the drivers are super close usually in terms of laptime, and the last sector is quite exciting for the drivers. It’s high-speed, easy to exceed track limits so you have to watch out more than usual, so you need to be careful.
“There are many overtaking opportunities, Turns 1, 2 and 3. Even Turn 5, so there’s definitely opportunities. The easiest place I’d say is Turn 3, but then you have to be careful to not get overtaken again into Turn 4 because of the DRS. But it’s exciting. It’s difficult for the leader to get away because there’s so many DRS zones, so it’s difficult to break that one-second gap.
WHERE TO WATCH US
“In Spielberg, everything needs to be perfect because the times are always so close. A lot of drivers have known this track for many years, so I think the main area you can gain is under braking, and then just sending it in the last two corners. Usually tyre degradation isn’t that big of a factor. The Supersofts can usually do a maximum of six or seven laps, so it will be exciting to see when the people starting on that tyre choose to pit.”
TECHNICAL PREVIEW
With three DRS zones but a mix of medium-to-high speed corners, the Red Bull Ring often puts on exciting racing with plenty of overtaking from start to finish. The biggest stopping point into Turn 3 is the best place to overtake, but elsewhere, braking performance isn’t tested too extensively. Aerodynamic balance will be crucial, in order to find the right balance between downforce and efficiency, keeping tyres in shape but not falling victim in a DRS train.
RACE STRATEGY
Drivers will have the Supersoft and Soft Pirelli tyres available to them this weekend, the same as they had in Barcelona, which should open up some strategy options. Last season, Richard Verschoor made a fortuitous Safety Car work in his advantage to get his mandatory pitstop done, before defending a late charge from DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa. The Dutchman swapped his Soft tyres for Supersofts on Lap 28 before going on to win on Sunday.
Gareth Haynes, F2/F3 Pirelli Trackside Engineer
“From a strategy point of view, the Soft, actually the hardest of the two compounds available, will be the choice for the Sprint on Saturday, while for the Feature Race, on paper the most effective plan is to start on the Soft before switching to the Supersoft. As always, doing it the other way round can bring an advantage in terms of grip at the start and for the opening laps and, if there were to be a Safety Car after lap 6, it could give those who opted for this strategy a pretty big advantage over the others.”
STAT PACK