The factors that could make Austria the antidote to F1 woes

Coming a few days after the open-plan madness of Paul Ricard, a track delineated virtually by white, blue and red paint, it was refreshing to see Formula 1 cars back on a circuit with what might be termed 'natural' track limits.

Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen, who both crashed during FP2, might disagree with that after heavy impacts, as might Sebastian Vettel - who spun and just kept the rear end of his Ferrari out of the barrier after losing it on turn-in to the final corner. Amazingly, the Red Bull Ring has now claimed more victims in three hours of practice running than the close walls of Monaco managed over a whole race weekend.

So what is it about this ribbon of asphalt in the Styrian Alps that has made it the most dangerous track Formula 1 drivers have faced in 2019?

The short answer is that, in many areas, the track is lined by grass and gravel. And in many of the places where it isn't, there is kerbing waiting to damage a front wing should the driver stray too far over the limits. Even Bottas admitted that it's better the drivers pay for mistakes shortly after his shunt, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton was revelling in it.

"I'm not a big fan of tracks like Paul Ricard, where you have those run-off areas," said Hamilton. "For older drivers, we've been here a longer time and the practice helps so you do less errors. It makes it a lot easier if you are a youngster coming in.

"I remember back in the day, when I was driving at Spa, going through Pouhon and the outside was gravel in that, it was so scary. The smallest mistake and you can really damage the car.

"Going back to a track like this where you do have gravel, the penalty's there and you're definitely more nervous about it. You're braking into Turn 4, you know if you go too deep you're in the gravel. If you go too heavy and too quick into [Turn] 6, you know you're in the gravel. Same in [Turn] 7.

"But also they've done it with quite serious kerbs on the exits of [Turns] 9 and 10. That's a positive. You shouldn't be able to run wide and come back on easy-peasy."

It's not just about the way the track is lined, though. Giving drivers a little space in some corners such as out of Turn 9, which makes up the first part of the double right-hander at the end of the lap, lulls them into a false sense of security. That's why so many ended up running wide and suffering wing damage. Drivers get so used to cavernous runoff that can be abused that some appear to get sucked into rattling the raised exit kerbs here as they explore the limits.

Some drivers argue there's no place for such kerbs given the damage they cause, but the fact remains this is beyond the extremities of the circuit. Many argue that there should be less margin for error, and are perfectly capable of doing so at Monaco where the only driver to find the wall was Vettel, yet this type of road furniture keeps catching them out. Nico Hulkenberg was among those to pay the price with damage in FP1.

What Austria offers is plenty of opportunities either to make errors or to get a little greedy chasing lap time and lose out

"It was a mistake from my side - just running a bit too fast into that corner, running wide and I know at high speed these sausage kerbs do a lot of damage," said Hulkenberg.

"It is the track limit and we know that they have to stay within those limits and obey them. I made a mistake, I paid the price, this is how it should be. But obviously the car damage that we get from those kerbs is maybe a bit extreme."

Vettel himself was caught out, spinning on his quick lap on softs after losing it at turn-in to the final corner. This is a corner where lap time can be gained from opening up the entry and, at the point he starts to turn in, the majority of the left side tyres are beyond the kerb and on the lower-grip painted green run-off. That's perhaps why the rear snapped on turn in and gave him no chance of catching it.

What Austria offers is that tantalising space, combined with the knowledge that taking every millimetre is worth lap time on a short track where gaps between cars are usually tiny. Vettel made a tiny misjudgement, but paid the price. That's exactly what everyone wants to see - drivers pushing the limits in search of lap time but losing out if they overstep the mark even by a few millimetres.

Verstappen's spin at the same corner was different, caused by the rear snapping close to the exit as he attempted to carry speed through the corner. He suggested the wind was to blame, which given how quickly the rear went is plausible.

"I was already complaining all my laps about the wind, it had been really tricky, and some places I was losing the rear," said Verstappen. "I got into that corner and then suddenly you can see on the data that the rear turned around so that definitely didn't help.

"This year the cars in general are more sensitive to the wind, as you can also see with Valtteri, who at one point just lost it."

Bottas's crash, at Turn 6, was a consequence of him being a little too aggressive on entry then very slightly missing the apex. That put him wide and because the corner tightens, the load on the rear grew and it stepped out - firing him into the wall the other way on correction. Again, a tiny error that proved costly.

Every corner at this track is either uphill or downhill. Combined with the wind, that means more unsettled cars and more variation in the dynamic behaviour of the car in corners. Approach the same corner uphill or downhill, with a tailwind or a crosswind, and the same car can behave very differently.

What Austria offers is plenty of opportunities either to make errors or to get a little greedy in the search for lap time and lose out. Sky Sports F1 commentator and former grand prix driver Martin Brundle has in the past referred to characteristics of this circuit as 'mistake generators'. That's bang on.

The challenges of the Red Bull Ring conspired to make Friday an even less reliable guide to form than usual, with neither Mercedes driver able to set a fast lap on softs thanks to Bottas's crash, which also led to Hamilton's attempt being interrupted by the red flag.

Verstappen's crash meant the Red Bull line was led by Pierre Gasly in FP2, while several other teams faced varying degrees of compromises to their performance runs that left the way clear for others to benefit.

Single-lap pace

1 Ferrari (Leclerc), 1m05.086s
2 Mercedes (Bottas), 1m05.417s
3 Red Bull (Gasly), 1m05.487s
4 McLaren (Sainz), 1m05.545s
5 Haas (Grosjean), 1m05.701s
6 Alfa Romeo (Raikkonen), 1m05.728s
7 Racing Point (Perez), 1m05.964s
8 Toro Rosso (Albon), 1m06.064s
9 Renault (Hulkenberg), 1m06.249s
10 Williams (Russell), 1m07.217s

It's easy to dismiss Ferrari's pace advantage as a consequence of the interruptions to the session. Charles Leclerc was fastest, but Bottas's best time was set on mediums early on while Hamilton had to count his early hard-shod FP2 lap as his best. But there is reason for encouragement for Ferrari.

On a track that allows overtaking, it invites drivers to steal the crucial millimetres to find lap time and that punishes those who go too far, the hope is that this underrated circuit can produce the perfect antidote to what happened in France

A glance at the sector times shows that Leclerc was half-a-second up on Hamilton after two sectors of his quick lap. Leclerc was able to complete the lap, while Hamilton hit the red flag as he exited the final corner.

But it's fair to say that Hamilton, and Bottas had he not shunted given he was only a fraction up on Hamilton in the first sector, would not have beaten that time had they completed those laps. Vettel's pace looked similar before his spin.

The long-run pace, based on counting eight laps on softs, suggests it's close between Mercedes and Ferrari. But it should also be pointed out that Hamilton later was a couple of tenths quicker over a similar stint on these tyres. Taken at face value, that might suggest Ferrari could have a single-lap advantage, with Mercedes faster in race conditions.

Long-run pace (8 laps)

1 Mercedes (Hamilton), 1m09.213s
2 Ferrari (Leclerc), 1m09.227s
3 McLaren (Sainz), 1m09.905s
4 Toro Rosso (Albon), 1m09.941s
5 Alfa Romeo (Raikkonen), 1m10.160s
6 Racing Point (Perez), 1m10.162s
7 Red Bull (Gasly), 1m10.323s
8 Haas (Grosjean), 1m10.451s
9 Renault (Ricciardo), 1m10.746s
10 Williams (Russell), 1m11.655s

If correct, and that's a big if given the trends of the season to date, it's not out of the question that this could be a re-run of the Canadian GP with a Ferrari out front and a Mercedes closing in the race.

While that might seem fanciful given the supremacy of Mercedes, and it would be a massive surprise if the gap was anywhere near what those abortive fast laps suggested, there are reasons why Ferrari would be stronger here. The first sector is tailor-made for its advantage on the straights, while there's none of the slow corners where Mercedes has been gaining significant time.

"We don't seem to be as competitive here as in France, but that's not a big surprise," said Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. "We're missing the kind of cornering sequences that the car likes, so it's hard to pull back all the time that they are finding on the straights."

This season, there have been too many occasions where hopes of a great battle between Mercedes and Ferrari have been dashed so the silver team still has to go into tomorrow's qualifying as favourites.

But on a track that allows overtaking, invites drivers to steal those crucial few millimetres to find lap time and that punishes those who go too far, the hope is that this underrated circuit can produce the perfect antidote to what happened last week.