2021 Austrian Grand Prix Explained

Type:	F1
Pole Team:	Red Bull Racing-Honda
Pole Time:	1:03.720
Pole Country:	NLD
Fast Country:	NED
Fast Driver:	Max Verstappen
Fast Team:	Red Bull Racing-Honda
Fast Time:	1:06.200
Fast Lap:	62
First Driver:	Max Verstappen
Attendance:	132,000^[1]
First Team:	Red Bull Racing-Honda
First Country:	NLD
Second Driver:	Valtteri Bottas
Second Team:	Mercedes
Second Country:	FIN
Third Driver:	Lando Norris
Third Team:	McLaren-Mercedes
Third Country:	GBR
Pole Driver:	Max Verstappen
Weather:	Partly cloudy
Country:	Austria
Official Name:	Formula 1 BWT Großer Preis von Österreich 2021
Grand Prix:	Austrian
Previous Round:	2021 Styrian Grand Prix
Next Round:	2021 British Grand Prix
Image-Alt:	The Spielberg circuit runs clockwise has ten corners, varying between tight hairpins and long-fast sweepers. The pit lane is on the right-hand side of start-finish straight, with the entrance located between the ninth and tenth turns and the pit lane exit located after the first.
Date:	4 July
Year:	2021
Details Ref:	^[2]
Distance Km:	306.452
Race No:	9
Season No:	22
Location:	Red Bull Ring Spielberg, Styria, Austria
Course:	Permanent racing facility
Course Mi:	2.683
Course Km:	4.318
Distance Laps:	71
Distance Mi:	190.420

The 2021 Austrian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 BWT Großer Preis von Österreich 2021) was a Formula One motor race held on 4 July 2021 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The race was the ninth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, and the 35th running of the Austrian Grand Prix (the 34th as part of the World Championship since 1950) as well as the second of two consecutive races to be held at the Red Bull Ring with the Styrian Grand Prix held the week before at the same venue.

Background

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[3] Callum Ilott drove for Alfa Romeo Racing in place of Antonio Giovinazzi in the first free practice session, as well as Roy Nissany, who drove for Williams in place of George Russell, and Guanyu Zhou, who drove for Alpine in place of Fernando Alonso, making his Formula One practice debut.^[3]

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.^[4] Initially, Pirelli selected C2, C3, and C4 tyre compounds before changing the tyre choices in accordance with the double event at the same venue, preceded the week before by the Styrian Grand Prix.^[5]

Qualifying

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen set the fastest time in qualifying to take the seventh pole position of his career. He was followed by Lando Norris who qualified a career-best second and McLaren's best since, and Verstappen's teammate Sergio Pérez in third place.^[6]

Qualifying classification

		Driver	Constructor
1	33	data-sort-value="ver"	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:04.249	1:03.927	1:03.720	1
2	4	data-sort-value="nor"	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:04.345	1:04.415	1:03.768	2
3	11	data-sort-value="per"	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:04.833	1:04.483	1:03.990	3
4	44	data-sort-value="ham"	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:04.506	1:04.258	1:04.014	4
5	77	data-sort-value="bot"	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:04.563	1:04.376	1:04.049	5
6	10	data-sort-value="gas"	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:04.841	1:04.412	1:04.107	6
7	22	data-sort-value="tsu"	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:04.967	1:04.518	1:04.273	7
8	5	data-sort-value="vet"	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:04.846	1:04.493	1:04.570	11
9	63	data-sort-value="rus"	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:04.907	1:04.553	1:04.591	8
10	18	data-sort-value="str"	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:04.927	1:04.547	1:04.618	9
11	55	data-sort-value="sai"	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:04.596	1:04.559	N/A	10
12	16	data-sort-value="lec"	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:04.906	1:04.600	N/A	12
13	3	data-sort-value="ric"	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1:04.977	1:04.719	N/A	13
14	14	data-sort-value="alo"	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1:04.472	1:04.856	N/A	14
15	99	data-sort-value="gio"			1:04.782	1:05.083	N/A	15
16	7	data-sort-value="rai"	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	1:05.009	N/A	N/A	16
17	31	data-sort-value="oco"	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:05.051	N/A	N/A	17
18	6	data-sort-value="lat"	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:05.195	N/A	N/A	18
19	47	data-sort-value="sch"	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1:05.427	N/A	N/A	19
20	9	data-sort-value="maz"	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	1:05.951	N/A	N/A	20
107% time 1:08.746
Source:^[7] ^[8]

Notes

• – Sebastian Vettel received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Fernando Alonso during qualifying.^[9]

Race

The race started at 15:00 local time. Esteban Ocon retired on the first lap after colliding with the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi and breaking his front suspension. The safety car was deployed and the race was continued on lap 4. At the restart, Lando Norris, who was running 2nd at the time, tried to defend against the Red Bull of Sergio Pérez at turn 4, which resulted in Perez going off-track and joining back in tenth place. Norris was given a 5-second time penalty for the incident. On lap 31, Norris pitted to serve his penalty and to change his tyres. Perez received two 5-second penalties, having been judged to have "forced Leclerc off track" on two occasions.^[10] On the last lap, Kimi Räikkönen collided with the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, meaning Vettel was unable to finish the race.^[11] By taking pole, fastest lap, win, and leading every lap of the race, Max Verstappen achieved his first career grand slam.^[12]

Race classification

		Driver	Constructor		Time/Retired		Points
1	33	data-sort-value="aaa"	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	71	1:23:54.513	1	26
2	77	data-sort-value="aaa"	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	71	+17.973	5	18
3	4	data-sort-value="aaa"	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+20.019	2	15
4	44	data-sort-value="aaa"	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	+46.452	4	12
5	55	data-sort-value="aaa"	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	71	+57.144	10	10
6	11	data-sort-value="aaa"	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	71	+57.915	3	8
7	3	data-sort-value="aaa"	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+1:00.395	13	6
8	16	data-sort-value="aaa"	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	71	+1:01.195	12	4
9	10	data-sort-value="aaa"	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	71	+1:01.844	6	2
10	14	data-sort-value="aaa"	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	70	+1 lap	14	1
11	63	data-sort-value="aaa"	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	8
12	22	data-sort-value="aaa"	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	70	+1 lap	7
13	18	data-sort-value="aaa"	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	9
14	99	data-sort-value="aaa"			70	+1 lap	15
15	7	data-sort-value="aaa"	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	70	+1 lap	16
16	6	data-sort-value="aaa"	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	18
17	5	data-sort-value="aaa"	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	69	Collision	11
18	47	data-sort-value="aaa"	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	69	+2 laps	19
19	9	data-sort-value="aaa"	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	69	+2 laps	20
Ret	31	data-sort-value="aaa"	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	0		17
Fastest lap Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:06.200 (lap 62)
Sources:^[13] ^[14]

Notes

• – Includes one point for fastest lap.
• – Sergio Pérez received a 10-second time penalty for forcing Charles Leclerc out of the track twice.^[13]
• – Yuki Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty for crossing the line at the pit entry.^[13]
• – Lance Stroll received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.^[13]
• – Kimi Räikkönen finished 16th on track, but received a post-race drive-through penalty converted to a 20-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sebastian Vettel. He was classified 15th due to Nicholas Latifi's penalty.^[13]
• – Nicholas Latifi finished 15th on track, but received a post-race 10-second stop-and-go time penalty converted to a 30-second time penalty for not respecting double yellow flags.^[13]
• – Sebastian Vettel was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.^[13]
• – Nikita Mazepin received a post-race 10-second stop-and-go time penalty converted to a 30-second time penalty for not respecting double yellow flags. This made no difference as he finished last.^[13]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

		Driver	Points
	1	Max Verstappen	182
	2	Lewis Hamilton	150
	3	Sergio Pérez	104
	4	Lando Norris	101
	5	Valtteri Bottas	92
Source:^[15]

Constructors' Championship standings

		Constructor	Points
	1	Red Bull Racing-Honda	286
	2	Mercedes	242
	3	McLaren-Mercedes	141
	4	Ferrari	122
	5	AlphaTauri-Honda	48
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

• 2021 Spielberg Formula 3 round
• 2021 W Series Spielberg round 2

Notes and References

1. Web site: Formula 1 announces TV, race attendance and digital audience figures for 2021. Formula1.com. 17 February 2022. 17 February 2022.
2. Web site: Austrian Grand Prix 2021. Formula1.com.
3. Web site: 1 July 2021. 2021 Austrian Grand Prix – Entry List. 1 July 2021. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.
4. News: Pirelli will bring different tyre compounds for two races at Red Bull Ring . Race Fans . 21 May 2021 . 19 June 2021 . Southwell . Hazel . Collatine . Keith.
5. Web site: Jonathan Noble. 19 February 2021. Pirelli reveals tyre compound choices for F1 2021. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210228090926/https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/pirelli-reveals-tyre-compound-choices-for-f1-2021/5432117/. 28 February 2021. 25 March 2021. Motorsport.com.
6. Web site: 3 July 2021. Austrian GP: Verstappen beats Norris to pole, Hamilton fourth. 3 July 2021. Motorsport.
7. Web site: Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis von Österreich 2021 – Qualifying. Formula1.com. 3 July 2021. 3 July 2021.
8. Web site: Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis von Österreich 2021 – Starting Grid. Formula1.com. 3 July 2021. 3 July 2021.
9. Web site: Vettel handed 3-place grid drop for impeding Alonso in qualifying. Formula1.com. 3 July 2021. 3 July 2021.
10. Web site: 4 July 2021. Leclerc says he wants to move on after clearing air with Perez over two on-track clashes in Austria. 5 July 2021. Formula One.
11. Web site: 4 July 2021. Dramatic last lap collision with Raikkonen a 'misunderstanding' says Vettel. live. 5 July 2021. Formula 1. https://web.archive.org/web/20210704171619/https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.dramatic-last-lap-collision-with-raikkonen-a-misunderstanding-says-vettel.7ybHonJYvglpqzD2Y2KgBq.html . 4 July 2021 .
12. Web site: F1 – Verstappen extends title lead with Austrian Grand Prix grand slam as Hamilton finishes fourth. 4 July 2021.
13. Web site: Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis von Österreich 2021 – Race Result. Formula1.com. 4 July 2021. 4 July 2021.
14. Web site: Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis von Österreich 2021 – Fastest Laps. Formula1.com. 4 July 2021. 4 July 2021.
15. Web site: Austria 2021 - Championship. www.statsf1.com.