Austrian Grand Prix: Podium example

The circuit at Silverstone, where a magnificent Grand Prix was held last week, is called home by many teams. But this is more likely not a house, but an anthill, where guests come to everyone at the same time. Only Ferrari at Monza and Red Bull at Spielberg have a truly exclusive home event.

These teams are two opposite poles. Ferrari built a reputation for making great sports and racing cars that only the powerful could afford, and Red Bull was initially derided as a “nothing but a soda maker” who decides everything with money. But in sports, the result is the most important, and attitudes have changed over the years.

Red Bull Racing debuted in 2005, has so far driven 335 Grands Prix, won 82 races and five championship titles. In the same period, Ferrari won 59 races and two titles.

In 2022, after a 10-year hiatus – 60 points apart in 2012 – these two teams will compete for the title and the Constructors’ Championship for the second time in history, in which no one else participates. And after ten past Grand Prix, Red Bull has almost the same advantage at the end of the whole season as ten years ago.

This weekend in Spielberg is all about Red Bull. An entertainment program, performances by pilots and other extreme sportsmen funded by an Austrian company. The stands will be filled and painted orange with the fans of Max Verstappen, who takes the podium as championship leader and undisputed favorite – last year Max won both races at Spielberg and this year he has already taken six wins – against two for Leclerc and one for Perez and Sainz.

Ferrari road will not be easy. The team often makes mistakes, even with an advantage, and when they fall behind and have to take risks, the strategists’ hands shake. At Red Bull they not only know how to work under pressure, but they can create it.

When they say that the safety rules in motorsport are written in blood, this is seen as a well-known pattern. After all, for a long time no one died in the race.

The need for a head protection system in “open wheels” became apparent after the death of the hapless Henry Surtees in 2009. The 18-year-old Formula 2 driver, son of 1964 world champion John Surtees, climbed to the podium in a new series on Saturday. Brands Hatch and died Sunday in front of friends and parents.

After Jack Clark’s departure, the left rear wheel came off the car and jumped slowly across the tarmac to the other side of the track as if in slow motion. The pack rode past, it looked like anyone might be able to get past the crash site, when the wheel from above hit Henry Surtees on the head. He lost consciousness, an uncontrolled car crashed into a guardrail and froze on the side of the road. Doctors arrived in time to evacuate Henry, but their efforts were in vain.

A similar incident in 2015 took the life of Indycar driver Justin Wilson when a fragment of the nose cone of another car hit his helmet. The next day he died without regaining consciousness.

Many were against the idea of ​​protecting the cockpit from above, arguing that it ran counter to the spirit of formula racing. Bernie Ecclestone was also against it. Before that, introducing the HANS head and neck protection system, which has now become familiar to everyone, was just as difficult.

Together with the engineers of the FIA ​​teams, they developed several options for head protection systems. Mercedes came up with the Halo concept, which after refinement is now used in the FIA ​​formula series, and Red Bull Racing developed the Aeroscreen protection, which is now used in Indycar.

Since then, Halo has rescued riders several times. A strong titanium hoop over his head has become a reliable part of the security system – and last week at Silverstone he rescued two.

When Dennis Hauger’s car collided with Roy Nissany’s car during Sunday’s Formula 2 race, Halo took a hard hit.

A few hours later in a Formula 1 race, Guanyu Zhou slid two hundred meters over a rough Halo on tarmac and gravel, and then, behind a protective barrier that had not played its part, a titanium hoop protected his head as the car crashed into the ground. ground, bouncing off the grid separating 800 kilograms of unattended equipment from the spectators who began to disperse.

And while there are questions about Halo’s appearance, this simple and effective solution can be considered by far the best addition to Formula Series car security systems in recent years. And safety should always come first, whether we like it or not.

The Austrian Grand Prix closes the first half of the season. This is the eleventh stage in seventeen weeks. After the race in Spielberg, there will be 11 more weeks in 19 weeks, but below that there will be four weeks of compulsory summer vacation, which is so nice to think about now. The second half of the season gets even tighter and should be interesting, although the fate of the title will likely be decided ahead of schedule.

On a budget, most teams will switch early to next year’s car, and while the regulations won’t change much formally, the balance of power in 2023 will be completely different. Like a calendar created on a regional basis.

But the end of the season is still a long way off and this week we await the curious Austrian Grand Prix – for the first time in the sprint format on Saturday.