As the 2016 season sneaks up to the halfway marker, things have started to heat up between championship contenders Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. But it isn’t all about the Mercedes drivers, for others too will have a say at the power-hungry Red Bull Ring this weekend at the Austrian GP.
Here are five themes to watch out for in Spielberg this race weekend.
The Mercedes battle
Quite obviously, this intra-team battle will be the highlight. Rosberg won the first four races of the season, before Hamilton clawed back with wins in Monaco and Canada, cutting the championship lead to just nine points. The German replied with a firm drive in Azerbaijan, rebuilding his lead to 24 points and highlighting how either side of the Mercedes garage is in ascendancy at different times. This is what makes for a close-finish Formula One season.
Now, Hamilton has been set back with technical problems and he will reportedly use his fifth engine this season in Austria. It is tough to see him race through the remaining 12 races with the same power unit and, as such, there will be at least two penalties for him in the latter half of the season.
On Rosberg’s part though, he cannot wait for his teammate to accrue more bad luck before making his move. He did arrest his slide in form with a win in the race prior, but needs to remain on top consistently, although that is easier said than done against Hamilton. This intriguing battle should run till the end of the season.
Williams vs Force India
There can be no denying the current advantage Mercedes’s engines enjoy over its rivals and it comes to the fore even more on a power-hungry circuit. The Baku street circuit was a simple example of the same, with three long straights providing Mercedes-powered cars enough impetus. It brought Williams and Force India into the mix, with Red Bull Racing pushed back. Sergio Perez reached the podium for a second time in three races and Valtteri Bottas pushed him to the hilt, with different strategies playing out into different results for the two drivers and teams.
Surprisingly enough, Force India enjoyed a bit of an advantage over their direct rivals. So much so that Perez went on to claim that he could have challenged Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari for second if there had been sufficient time. It makes for some wonderment – the possibilities at the erstwhile A1-Ring.
With almost four flowing straights this race weekend, Force India (and Williams) will be in the mix again. Can they push Ferrari out this time? After all, Nico Hulkenberg will start the race in third position.
Struggling Bulls
In Baku, Red Bull suffered with power deficit on the straights. Daniel Ricciardo was quoted as saying that the time loss on the long straight was as much as 1.2 seconds. This didn’t exactly pan out in qualifying, as the Australian benefited from Hamilton’s errors and Perez’s penalty to qualify in P2.
But during the race, the only way Red Bull went was backwards. They opted for a different tyre strategy from the rest of the grid, putting on the medium compound as both Ricciardo and his young teammate Max Verstappen suffered high degradation on their rear tyres. While it is tough to anticipate any similar tyre problems in Austria, they will surely suffer from the lack of power despite upgraded engine units, which will be a most disappointing factor given that this is their "home" Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s Halo
An updated version of the Halo device will be tested during practice sessions of the Austrian GP. Ferrari had introduced this driver-protection concept earlier in the season, and while Kimi Raikkonen was "satisfied" with the results, there was some indifference up and down the grid.
Then, Red Bull tested their version, replete with a screen, but that was shot down by the FIA. The governing body has since gone on to incorporate the Halo solution into the 2017 rules, and thus the refinement procedure has begun. Sebastian Vettel will test this new version and he will undoubtedly have more to say than his quiet teammate.
Raikkonen’s response
The Iceman, though, wasn’t silent on speculation about his future. The 2007 world champion was Ferrari’s last driver to win the title and has long professed his love for carrying on driving for the Scuderia. Indeed, he has also stated a desire to finish his career with this team. And his contract is up for renewal at the end of this season. “There’s always a lot of talk every year, since I got to F1 it’s the same story, it’s nothing new and people talk a lot all the time,” he said on Thursday.
Team president Sergio Marchionne too has gone on record saying that a new contract will depend on results and Raikkonen is currently placed fourth in the standings, with 81 points. Remarkably, he is only 15 points off his teammate, but has only three podiums as opposed to Vettel’s five. That is the disappointing bit, for the German is continually outpacing Raikkonen and the team suspect a lack of motivation creeping in. A case in point is the Spanish GP, where he failed to put pressure on the 18-year-old Verstappen, let alone challenge him for the win.
While this is not a title-winning seat at the moment, thanks to Mercedes, they are still, well, Ferrari after all. There are always a host of options available to them – ranging from Ricciardo, Perez and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, Bottas or Romain Grosjean. It will be interesting to see how Raikkonen competes for the rest of the season, starting in Austria.