2015 Austrian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Hamilton leads Rosberg by 17 points after his win in Canada. Mercedes lead Ferrari by more than 100 points in the Constructors’ Championship.

Previous race

Hamilton won in Canada from Rosberg, with Valtteri Bottas taking Williams’ first podium of the season in third. Räikkönen spun at the hairpin on his first pit stop, repeating an incident from 2014, and the mistake cost him a likely podium finish. Vettel recovered from 15th on the grid to fifth.

Tyres

Pirelli supplies the soft compound as the prime tyre and the super-soft as the option, the same choice as the previous year and third consecutive event with this pairing.

Practice

With only nine corners — the fewest on the Formula One calendar — the Red Bull Ring gives teams a rare opportunity to push their power units close to their limits. Ferrari introduce an engine update at this round and are considered the likeliest challengers to Mercedes.

Rosberg is three-tenths of a second faster than Hamilton in the first session, with Räikkönen the only other driver within a second of Mercedes. Vettel manages only four laps after a gearbox problem; Alonso has gearbox issues too but recovers later in the session, describing the new McLaren aerodynamics package brought to Spielberg as “an improvement.”

Vettel bounces back to lead the second session, with Rosberg second a tenth of a second behind. Hamilton struggles on the super-soft tyres and finishes fifth, making several errors. Both Lotus cars finish in the top seven. McLaren are stopped early again. Rosberg’s car loses gearbox oil in the final twenty minutes.

The third session is disrupted when Alonso stops on the start-finish straight, bringing out a red flag. Rain then falls before the session can resume, preventing anyone from improving on their earlier times. Only Sergio Pérez manages a lap on the super-soft compound.

A Legends Parade before the race features eight Formula One drivers from the 1980s in period cars, led by local favourite Gerhard Berger in a 1988 Ferrari.