The 5 best Austrian Grands Prix EVER as race renewed through 2030

The Austrian Grand Prix has been around a while. The first Austrian Grand Prix that formed part of the FIA’s world championship took place back in 1964, and was won by the Ferrari of Lorenzo Bandini.

The race's long history is set to extend even further, with the announcement this weekend that the Red Bull Ring's contract to host the event has been extended through the 2030 season.

That first race was hosted at the Zeltweg Airfield circuit, but since then all F1 world championship races in Austria have taken place at the circuit the traditionalists known as the Österreichring. After a refurb in 1996 it was briefly called the A1-Ring but today, for obvious reasons, it’s the Red Bull Ring.

In terms of driver success at the circuit, Max Verstappen was tied with the legendary Alain Prost with the most wins, three apiece, until he got a record fourth on Sunday. Meanwhile Ferrari head the constructors table with seven wins, followed by McLaren on six and Mercedes five.

Along the way there have been some cracking, incident-filled races. We’ll take a look at five of the best.

READ MORE: Verstappen completes PERFECT Austrian GP weekend with sensational win

1983 – A Prost Masterclass

Despite a lukewarm qualifying session that saw Alain Prost start in P5, the Frenchman made up a place straight off the start line and was soon chasing down the Ferraris of Patrick Tambay and Rene Arnoux, and the Brabham of Nelson Piquet.

Renault were the first to blink when it came to pit stops but if they were hoping for the undercut it didn’t work and, despite gaining a place due to Tambay's retirement, Prost still found himself chasing Piquet and Arnoux.

Performance problems for Piquet made the task of passing him easy for Arnoux and Prost, and it became a two-way French shoot-out at the front. With the Ferrari having the edge in straight-line speed it was a question of Prost hanging in and awaiting a mistake from his compatriot.

It came in lap 48 of 53. A missed gear from Arnoux and Prost pounced. Prost didn’t look back, and went on to win by seven seconds to take himself 14 points clear.

Unfortunately for the Frenchman, despite this masterful drive, three retirements in the last four races of the year saw Piquet win the world championship.

1999 – A Coulthard, Irvine and Hakkinen Shootout

With no Michael Schumacher – he broke his leg in a crash at Silverstone – this race looked set up for a battle between the McLarens of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard, who had taken P1 and P2 respectively in qualifying.

What no-one expected was for Coulthard to take Hakkinen out on lap one, leaving the Scot unscathed but the Finn in last place. What followed was extraordinary.

At the front, Coulthard built up nearly a 14-second lead ahead of Rubens Barrichello's Stewart prior to his first pitstop but was hindered on his out-laps, during which time Eddie Irvine, in a Ferrari, thundered around for five more laps before demonstrating the perfect overcut.

This enabled the Ulsterman to take the lead but, due to a brake issue, was unable to pull clear of Coulthard. A battle royale followed, with the Scot closing to within fractions of a second, all while Hakkinen was quietly performing miracles to go from last to third.

In the end, Irvine won by 0.3s ahead of Coulthard, while Hakkinen’s third place played a crucial part in him claiming the world championship – just two points ahead of Irvine.

2003 – Schumacher on Fire!

This one makes the top five not because it was an especially thrilling or controversial race, even though it had a close finish, but because of an incident that happened to Michael Schumacher en route to victory.

It's worth noting that Austria wasn’t a favourite track of Schumacher’s, but he still managed to get himself in pole position and, from there, was quick to disappear into the distance from the chasing pack. So far so good.

Then the drama.

On lap 23, Schumacher pitted but some of the fuel intended for his Ferrari found its way onto the bodywork on the sidepods and triggered a dramatic-looking fire.

Schumacher stayed put, it was quickly extinguished and he was soon racing again, albeit with a reduced fuel load.

The prolonged pitstop had seen the German slip to third, behind Juan Pablo Montoya and Raikkonen, but his Ferrari was quick and with Montoya eventually retiring due to a water leak, the only thing between him and victory was Raikkonen.

The Finn was soon history and repeated lap records from the German saw him claim victory – one that proved crucial as he won the drivers’ championship by just two points from Raikkonen.

2016 – The Hamilton/Rosberg Feud Continues

The 2016 season was notable for the high-profile feud between the two Mercedes drivers – Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. The two protagonists for the drivers’ championship were not only neck-and-neck all season but were also involved in a series on on-track clashes.

This came to a head in Austria, a few weeks after the pair had collided in the Spanish Grand Prix, much to the chagrin of team boss Toto Wolff.

There was little to suggest anything untoward would happen in Austria with Hamilton qualifying on pole and Rosberg down in sixth but a one-stop strategy for the German, compared to Hamilton’s one, together with a fortuitously-timed safety car gave him the lead ahead of the Brit going into the final lap.

But with Hamilton’s car in better shape, he had the run on Rosberg as they approached turn two when the German, in attempting to defend the inside, went too deep into the corner and struck Hamilton’s Mercedes while damaging his own front wing.

For Hamilton, the damage was minimal and he went onto win the race while a stricken Rosberg managed to limp home in fourth – but the biggest damage was to the bonhomie in the Mercedes garage.

2019 – Verstappen on the Charge

While 2019 was still very much part of the era of Mercedes dominance, we were given a glimpse into the future in Austria when two stars of the future went head-to-head.

With no Mercedes on the front row of the grid after Lewis Hamilton received a three-place grid penalty, it was set up to be a shoot-out between Charles Leclerc on P1 and Max Verstappen on P2, but a problem with the anti-stall on Verstappen’s Red Bull saw him make a terrible start and drop down to eighth.

However, in front of a crowd largely decked out in the orange of the Netherlands, the Dutchman went on the type of charge that is now his trademark.

Bit by bit, he made his way through the field to the delight of the crowd and by lap 69 of 71 he was in the slipstream of Leclerc, who had led almost from lights out.

But there was no stopping Verstappen. Leclerc defended for all he was worth but could do nothing as they approached the penultimate lap and, with Dutchman using his elbows to good effect, he stormed home for the win.

While Verstappen ended the season in third place in the drivers’ championship, the drama in Austria was a sign of things to come.

READ MORE: Christian Horner: The Red Bull giant and ‘Drive to Survive’ star

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