This weekend, the Purple Bull Ring, set within the Styrian hills, will play host to the Austrian Grand Prix. The race serves as spherical 10 of the 2023 System 1 season and can see the return of the revised Dash race.
The Purple Bull Ring options one of many shortest tracks of the season, at simply 2.688 miles. It additionally has simply 10 corners, which along with the quick size ends in a lap time of simply over a minute.
There are 4 lengthy straights, in addition to three DRS zones. The latter are situated on the primary straight, on the climb from Turns 2 to three, and between Turns 3 and 4. They assist overtaking, notably within the braking space for Flip 3, which is the one actually demanding take a look at for the brakes, whereas going into Flip 4 is one other passing alternative.
The Purple Bull Ring can be infamous for its aggressive curbs and is taken into account to be one of many hardest checks for suspensions. This is applicable particularly to the curbs on the exits of Turns 1, 6, and seven, which take a excessive toll on the automobiles as a result of their peak and the velocity at which the automobiles are touring.
Purple Bull Ring, dwelling of the System 1 Austrian Grand Prix
The floor is low grip and low abrasion, and the monitor will get progressively faster because the weekend progresses. Though the asphalt is comparatively new, the monitor is kind of bumpy in locations, which makes it troublesome to search out constant grip. Pirelli has nominated the C3 compound because the White exhausting, the C4 because the Yellow medium, and the C5 because the Purple smooth.
One different concern to look out for in the course of the Austrian spherical is climate. Given the high-altitude mountain location of the Purple Bull Ring (roughly 2,100 toes), temperatures generally is a bit cool and the climate might be unpredictable. The present climate forecast requires delicate temperatures and the potential of rain on Saturday, although Sunday’s race ought to have fantastic and sunny circumstances.
The Austrian spherical will mark 2023’s second operating of the Saturday Dash race format, after the earlier run throughout spherical 4, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This season, the Dash race has been made a standalone occasion fairly than the qualifier for the primary race, as was beforehand the case. It nonetheless has championship factors on the desk for each drivers and groups, nevertheless.
Going into the weekend, Purple Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship with 195 factors. Fellow Purple Bull driver Sergio Perez is second with 126 factors and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso is third with 117 factors. Within the Constructors’ Championship, Purple Bull leads with 321 factors, versus the 167 of Mercedes and 154 of Aston Martin. Final yr’s winner in Austria was Charles Leclerc, driving for Ferrari.
