Five Austrian GP questions: Carlos Sainz twist, McLaren v Red Bull and big track changes

Formula 1 heads to Austria for Red Bull’s home race but will they get the better of McLaren?

The next destination on the F1 roadshow sees us go to the Red Bull Ring in southern Austria for the 11th round of this season’s championship – but what questions do we want answering?

Will track changes stop a repeat of 2023 Austrian GP?

An obvious place to start is with the track itself and some major changes at Turns 9 and 10.

For those of you who don’t remember last year, there was a somewhat farcical scene post race in which an Aston Martin protest led to 1,200 incidents of alleged breaches of track limits being investigated by the stewards.

The result was 83 infringements and penalties for eight drivers (bested by Esteban Ocon who racked up 30 seconds of penalties for four incidents) and the result of the race being decided long after the chequered flag. So much so that Lando Norris was already back in the UK when he found out he had moved up to P4.

In order to avoid those kinds of scenes this year, the Austrian GP organisers have followed the FIA’s recommendation of adding a gravel trap to Turns 9 and 10 meaning there is a more natural penalty should drivers run wide.

As for how much impact that will have on the weekend, we shall see, but it should mean the stewards will have a less busy evening on Sunday.

McLaren and Red Bull to fight for first?

From the evidence of recent races, McLaren and Red Bull are tussling for dominance at the front of the grid.

Lando Norris’ pole in Barcelona was countered by Max Verstappen’s victory but the Dutchman was not convinced that their car was ahead – even at a circuit that was meant to suit them.

Coming into Austria, it has a lot of areas where McLaren have been traditionally strong but the MCL38 has proven itself to be far better than a circuit-specific car.

Norris is in the form of his career while Verstappen remains at his best, meaning the finest of margins will likely decide the outcome at the Red Bull Ring.

Away from the frontrunners, Ferrari need a performance after a dip since Monaco and Mercedes will hope to continue their own momentum following an upturn in form.

What happened to RB?

Heading into Spain, RB were on the up and with major upgrades on the car, that momentum was expected to continue in Catalunya.

And yet it didn’t. Both drivers went out in Q1 and Daniel Ricciardo’s finish of P15 was the best for the duo.

After the race, Ricciardo was left unsure why the upgrades had hampered the car as much as we had.

“[It was a] really, really strange weekend for us to have dropped off so much,” he said. “But my race today, honestly, I felt good. I was happy with the race. happy with what I got out of it.

“But P15 is not something that we can be happy about but with the package we had this weekend, I honestly don’t think we could have done anything better.”

Asked by PlanetF1.com if there was temptation to revert to the old car following a bad result at the start of the triple header, he said that would be something they decided in the immediate aftermath of the Spanish GP.

“I think that temptation probably only exists, maybe in 72 hours, if we’re still unsure or there’s no clear answer then maybe we say ‘okay, do we, just for the time being, go back?’

“But right now, I’m not there yet, to kind of resort to that. So once we put everything on the table, if we’re still like that then that probably becomes a question.”

Only those inside the Faenza base will know what they will do this weekend but RB will hope to see an improved performance in Austria if they have stuck with the upgrades.

More from PlanetF1.com

What is going wrong at Aston Martin? Five reasons causing untimely decline

Revealed: The private Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc pre-race talk details

Can Oscar Piastri bounce back?

Lando Norris may have enjoyed a good weekend out in Spain but his team-mate Oscar Piastri found life very tough going.

Speaking after quali, he said the car felt “not natural” all weekend and even after the race, he was at a loss as to why he was off it during the weekend.

The Australian has been having a good season but compared to last year’s exploits and the form of Norris, it feels as if his year has failed to kick off properly just yet.

A Monaco podium was obviously the highlight but with 67 points between him and Norris now, Piastri is in danger of losing too much ground and could do with a good weekend in Austria.

Have Alpine pulled off a Carlos Sainz hijack?

Ask anyone in the paddock in Spain, including the extra Netflix film crew that arrived, and they would have guessed that an announcement regarding Carlos Sainz’s future was to be made that weekend.

In the end, nothing came.

Heading into Sainz’s home race everyone thought a move to Williams was his most likely destination but it appears Alpine have thrown the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons.

With Flavio Briatore back on board, along with the criticism that followed, Alpine appeared to have reached out to the Sainz camp – including a very public chat with Sainz Snr in the Barcelona paddock.

The best guess is an announcement will not come this weekend over Sainz’s future but the current Ferrari driver will undoubtedly be asked about the Alpine development when he is put in front of the microphone on Thursday.

Read next: Williams prepare for Carlos Sainz rejection with surprise ‘Plan B’ driver option – report