F1 Austrian Grand Prix struck by FIRE as drama brings red flag

Austrian Grand Prix

F1 Austrian Grand Prix struck by FIRE as drama brings red flag

A fire has broken out at the Austrian Grand Prix

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 28 June 2025 16:59 Updated: 17:06

F1 qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix was paused after a fire at the Red Bull Ring prompted a red flag.

Similar to Japan earlier this year, the grass at the side of the track caught fire during Q2 with a red flag instantly deployed to prioritise safety.

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Thankfully, it did not disrupt the session for too long and arrived at a time when the drivers had naturally paused their running.

High temperatures have been forecast throughout the entire Austrian GP weekend, reaching highs of 27 degrees Celsius on Saturday and expected to rise to 31 degrees for Sunday's grand prix.

Grass fires return to F1

During FP2 at the Japanese GP in April, grass fires caused delays to the session when two broke out on the Friday, contributing to two of the four red flags.

The fires prompted the FIA to take action that weekend, with certain patches being watered and others removed entirely to prevent further incidents.

Q2 in Austria resumed 10 minutes after the fire broke out, with Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon amongst the drivers who were knocked out of the session.

The FIA are yet to release a statement on the fire, or whether they plan to introduce similar safety measures as seen in Japan.

However, the part of the track where the fire occurred was watered in between Q2 and Q3, which will hopefully prevent any further outbreaks during the crucial final session.

Mercedes FIA Austrian Grand Prix Red Bull Ring