What our F1 writers are looking forward to at the Austrian Grand Prix

The 2025 Formula 1 season is hurtling towards the midway point, with McLaren’s early dominance now being threatened and its drivers crashing in Canada.

Having gone well in Austria in recent years, McLaren will be hoping to recorrect its course as others look to show their recent results are not a flash in the pan.

Here, Autosport’s F1 writers explain what they are looking forward to seeing in Styria, and why.

Seeing who has an unnecessary collision with whom – or what

The Red Bull Ring and bizarre contretemps go hand in hand. Unless you’ve been hiding under the Alps for the past few months, it can’t have escaped your notice that Max Verstappen is on the verge of a race ban, having accrued 11 penalty points over the past 12 months.

His journey to that point began here in Austria last season when he picked up two points (as well as a time penalty) for his part in a late-race collision with Lando Norris while battling for the lead. George Russell was the surprised beneficiary for Mercedes.

Verstappen vs Norris was a somewhat messier replaying of a previous Red Bull Ring scenario involving Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in 2019. There, after a wheel-banging battle, Verstappen prevailed while Leclerc was left to harrumph loudly about driving etiquette – and that other interminable Red Bull Ring issue of recent years, track limits.

Three years earlier the Styrian foothills had echoed to the sound of mutual recriminations after Mercedes team-mates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton collided, but they were merely continuing a rich tradition: in 1999, also clad in silver and with a Merc engine behind him, David Coulthard clumsily biffed Mika Hakkinen on the first lap.

In the interim, Juan Pablo Montoya incurred Michael Schumacher’s ire when he tried to pass him into Turn 3 while sideways.

Everything is against you here in Austria. If not the noisy ‘Orange Army’, the wildlife: during practice in 1987, before the infamous race of three restarts, Stefan Johansson hit a deer in his McLaren.

Beware the furniture, too. This is the only venue where a driver has crashed after winning the race. Mind how you go! Stuart Codling

Red Bull energy

Red Bull Ring is a great venue in a stunning setting

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

I’m really just looking forward to going back to the Red Bull Ring, as to me the Austrian Grand Prix host is one of the finer motor racing venues in Europe. Yes, it’s no Osterreichring and some of the most hair-raising features of that fearsome old venue have been removed or neutered, but it’s still a circuit that lends itself to good, hard racing.

That even holds true in modern-day F1 cars, with key overtaking opportunities into Turn 3 and Turn 4 and drivers being able to take different lines through Turn 4 that extend down to Turn 6. Thankfully, changes to the kerbs last year much improved 2023’s ludicrous track-limits fiasco.

Add to that the glorious backdrop of the Styrian Alps, which the track is cosying up against, and the brilliant, spacious press room that overlooks the entire circuit, and you have one of the most picturesque venues F1 visits all year. Filip Cleeren

The sharks circling at McLaren

Will McLaren’s season continue to go pear-shaped?

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix usually serves up a few upsets and is often a pretty hotly anticipated race on the F1 calendar, and this year is no different. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen remains perilously close to a one-race ban, a new 2025 race winner is riding high in George Russell and whispers abound that McLaren might not be the dominant force it was earlier in the season.

The Papaya team had an off weekend last time out in Montreal, with drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri no match for the pace of Mercedes. The pair’s collision in the closing stages of the grand prix also ended Norris’ race and cost the side precious points. Less than two weeks later and its rivals will be prepared to jump on any sign of weakness.

The disappointing weekend came just one race after a new technical directive came into force to clamp down on flexible front wings, which many thought could cut McLaren’s advantage. In Spain, the TD had little impact, but McLaren looked like a completely different team in Canada.

If the squad is off the pace around Austria’s Red Bull Ring, which is a wildly different track to Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, it could blow the drivers’ championship race wide open. Piastri’s lead is around two race wins over Verstappen, who himself isn’t that far ahead of Russell. Austria will be a test of the progress McLaren’s rivals have made, and it comes when drivers like Verstappen still have plenty of races left to mount a proper championship fight – which is all anybody really wants in F1. Owen Bellwood

Kimi kicking on

Antonelli was one of the stars in Canada and will be seeking to continue that form

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

I have been very impressed by Andrea Kimi Antonelli so far this season, in his tough moments as well as his successful ones.

His sprint pole in Miami showed a glimpse of what he was capable of, and he has now stood on an F1 podium for the first time following his third-place finish in Montreal last time out. Add to that eye-catching performances in Japan and Australia and he has looked like a world-beater from the off.

He had a forgettable Emilia Romana Grand Prix at what was his home race and followed that up by crashing out in qualifying in Monaco, but he has shown resilience beyond his years to get back on track so quickly.

Others grabbed the headlines in Canada but another strong showing in Austria and Antonelli could soon be the name on everyone’s lips. Mark Mann-Bryans