Stone cold Fernando Alonso, 41, is back in front
Despite having won the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award at the last three (!) Grands Prix, the Oracle Red Bull Racing crew took a few seconds out for some more practice.
Friday has never gone so rapidly! Practice, qualifying, show, parties, packed grandstands and full throttle – here’s Day 1 at the Ring...
How do you think these devoted Nando fans will react when they see their idol of the cover of The Red Bulletin today?
The sun has got his hat on, and so does Nyck de Vries. Spielberg is his second home GP after Zandvoort: “All those fans in orange are here for me, right?”
Now in his third season of Formula 1, Yuki Tsunoda is delivering on his promise and is faster than ever. The Japanese star is also a true fan favourite.
Safety fist! Checo Pérez picked up a slight infection from his kids, and even though he’s had the all-clear some of his team are keeping him at arm’s length.
Ferrari country: the Italians have brought along a spare car in camouflage colours just in case. Its aerodynamics are, well, a little agricultural.
A postcard from Styria: it’s official, the Red Bull Ring is now part of the Netherlands.
Parties in F1 motorhomes can be a bun fight, but this year all the teams have been armed for a custard pie fight.
Following his pole position yesterday for Sunday’s GP, Max Verstappen has his sights firmly set on victory in the Sprint Race today.
Our home race is special for the whole team, and we’ve had some fantastic results at the Red Bull Ring, including those four wins with Max in 2018, ’19, and twice in ’21. But that doesn’t mean Spielberg is straightforward – far from it. It’s the shortest lap by time of the year – I think we were down to 1m07s with Max last year – which puts pressure on us because we have less time to make a decision. If you’re looking to see if someone’s pitted and whether you want to try to cover them, you’ve got a lot less time to think about it than at other circuits. For example, at Spa we’re 10 seconds shy of two minutes for a lap, and you just have more time to plan. At the Red Bull Ring, it just comes thicker and faster throughout the race. If you’re going to react to something, you have to react fast.
On the plus side, because it is such a short lap, if you choose to do something a bit later it’s actually much less of a detriment. So, yeah, it can be a little bit more forgiving in that sense. But by and large you have to be pretty alert.
We start planning the race strategy the week before we go. We’ll run our simulations and look at how we expect the tyres to perform, the probability of a safety car – it’s not extreme in Spielberg – and how easy it is to overtake, as well as other aspects such as how powerful the undercut might be. All those different elements are factored in before we piece together our strategy.
Once we’ve established that baseline, we’ll start to use it to look at what run plans we want to follow in practice, and other things we need to understand; tyres are the big unknown.
And then, as the weekend goes on, we refne all those models, using that data to improve our predictions. The ultimate goal is that, come the race, we’ve got a good idea what the best strategy will be and then we need to do the best job we can.
When we’re building that initial plan, we look at the historic data: how the tyres performed in Austria in previous years and how they’ve performed at the other circuits this year. And between those two aspects, we’ll use our models to predict how we think they’ll perform in Austria. The drivers will also be in the simulator a lot. Primarily, that’s for set-up work, but there’s a lot of useful information there for the strategy department as well.
The other thing you have to plan for is the weather. We’ve had some interesting weather at the Red Bull Ring – I particularly remember the extremely wet weather in qualifying for the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. There have been times when it’s been soaking wet on one half of the circuit and bone dry on the other – impressive for such a small track! When you’re in the pit lane and it doesn’t look too bad and yet the drivers say that half a kilometre away it’s lashing with rain, it can be really diffcult. But that’s the fun of it. It’s part of the challenge of Spielberg.
This year, things have been made a lot more complex as we don’t only have to plan for one race but we have the Sprint, too. That does make things a lot trickier. For starters, we will only get one practice session, so it’s much harder to answer all those questions you’d normally use the three practice sessions to work through.
We’re also a lot more limited in terms of our tyre usage as we have fewer sets. We’re compromised on what we can run in First Practice, which forces you to just do the best you can with what you have. So there’s more uncertainty going into the weekend.
Do I hate that? Quite the opposite! It may be more straightforward to go into a race weekend with a clear idea of what’s going to happen, but having to react quickly, think on your feet and be ready for unforeseen events is a lot more fun. Those are the moments when, as strategists, we really earn our money.
There have been times when it’s been soaking wet on one half of the circuit, bone dry on the other
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1. Fernando Alonso made his F1 debut on 4 March 2001 in Melbourne, Australia. That was 33 days before McLaren’s rookie driver Oscar Piastri was even born.
2. Alonso is a two-time F1 world champion. In the course of his career, he has gone up against no fewer than nine (!) world champions: Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkkinen, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen. (Only Michael Schumacher raced more champions – 12 of them).
3. Few drivers have competed in as many different categories as Alonso, and none have been as successful in so many. In addition to F1, he has won at Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 1000 Miles of Sebring, and the 6 Hours of SpaFrancorchamps in the World Endurance Championship. The Spanish driver qualifed in a sensational ffth place for the Indy 500 and managed eight top-10 stage fnishes at the Dakar Rally.
4. He isn’t just extremely quick, he also has magic hands. Alonso has amazed people in the paddock with his card tricks, making individual cards appear and disappear again at will. (He says that he inherited this talent for magic from his grandfather).
5. Alonso isn’t only a businessman, he also knows how to assess his market value as a racing driver. To compete in his frst season at Minardi, he had to bring in the equivalent of a quarter of a million euros with him, but now he’s worth around a quarter of a billion. So he’s clearly done something right!
6. He’s an honorary member of Real Madrid Football Club. He shares his favourite team with compatriot Carlos Sainz, who, unlike Alonso – born in the Asturian city of Oviedo – is actually from Madrid.
7. Speaking of Sainz, the current Ferrari driver was a massive Alonso fan while growing up. Sainz explains, “I frst met him in Barcelona in 2005. After that, I told my father that I wanted to be like [Alonso] one day.” Funny how life works out… The pair now meet regularly on the track, often wheel-to-wheel on the frst turn.
8. Alonso has been friends with Carlos Sainz Sr since he was 13. Sainz had just become world rally champion for the second time, and Alonso was the karting world champion. The two world-beaters met at an awards ceremony in Spain, and, as a highlight, Alonso rode alongside Sainz in a rally car, something he had never done before. “I hope I don’t die,” he commented. They remain friends to this day. An undying friendship, so to speak.
9.In 2016, British TV commentator and former F1 race winner Johnny Herbert suggested that Alonso should retire for age reasons. Nando was icy in his response: “I’m not retiring. I am a two-time world
It seems incredible, but the mighty Señor ALONSO has been racing for 39 years. But what else makes him so remarkable? Here are 39 answers to that question...
Words WERNER JESSNER
“A Formula 1 driver? Me? Never! I used to think I would be a karting mechanic”
champion. You had to become a TV commentator because you were never good enough to win the title.”
10. Alonso briefy looked back on his career in an interview in 2005. “It wasn’t pre-ordained for me to be where I am today,” he said. “For a long time, I thought I was going to be a kart mechanic or something like that. A Formula 1 driver? Never!” Eighteen years later, he’s still not a mechanic.
11.Is he competitive? At the press conference for the inaugural Azerbaian Grand Prix in 2016, the drivers were asked, ”How many laps do you need to get to know a new racetrack?” Alonso answered, “Two.” Sebastian Vettel said, “One and a half.” Alonso changed his answer: “One.”
12. Looking back on his frst Grand Prix with Minardi: “We didn’t test beforehand. I didn’t have time to learn what the buttons on the steering wheel were. I rolled out of the pits to hit the track for the frst time. There were cars parked in front of me in the pit exit, but I couldn’t get the engine to idle. I tried to change down with the gearshift paddles, but nothing happened. I only found neutral at the last moment. I almost crashed into the back of the car in front of me.”
13. “When I [frst] got into Formula 1, it wasn’t even televised in Spain,” Alonso says.
14. “Being able to drive for a car manufacturer [like Renault] is a huge opportunity that I want to take advantage of.” Alonso, 2003
15. “McLaren is a great team and I’m looking forward to a fresh start.” Alonso, 2007
16. “I am very happy to be driving for this great team [Renault] again.” Alonso, 2008
17. “It’s the best team in the world. Nothing beats Ferrari.” Alonso, 2013
18. “Historically, McLaren has always been good at improving the car quickly and building a good overall package.” Alonso, 2015
19. “When I come to Renault, it’s a bit like coming home.” Alonso, 2020
20. “There is a hunger for success here. Aston Martin is creating something very special.” Alonso, 2023
21. “Maybe Ferrari wasn’t ready to have another world champion in the cockpit at the time.” Alonso on Ferrari
22. “GP2 engine!” Alonso on the faltering Honda engine at McLaren
23. “When they were fourth, they were happy to be fourth. If they fnished ffth, that was fne.” Alonso on Alpine, the rebranded Renault team
24. At McLaren in 2007, Alonso was up against a very young and insanely quick teammate by the name of Lewis Hamilton, and the
Spaniard’s working methods were, well, unconventional, to say the least. Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley recalls, “Fernando’s manager handed out small brown envelopes to anyone who wasn’t on Lewis’s car. They each had about 1,500 euros inside. That’s how he tried to get the team on his side.” It all went public, the money ended up being donated to charity, and Alonso went back to Renault after just a single season.
25. Who was Alonso’s toughest opponent?
“Michael Schumacher,” he says. “In the moment of truth, he would always deliver something special.” And the best overtaking manoeuvre of his career? “When I passed [Schumacher] on the outside on Turn 5 in Hungary in 2006. Even he wasn’t expecting something like that.””
26. Speaking about his frst meeting with his famous teammate at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018, Sébastien Buemi said, “It was good. It felt completely natural. I didn’t feel like [Alonso] was a new teammate that I needed to get to know better.” A few weeks later, the two Toyota drivers won the legendary race at La Sarthe.
27.Despite a big crash that saw him roll his Toyota 360° onto its roof and then back onto its wheels, breaking the suspension, Nando fnished 13th overall at the 2020 Dakar Rally, making him the best rookie. His desert debut with fve-time motorcycle champion Marc Coma as co-driver was turbulent, to say the least. At the fnish line, Alonso said laconically, “If you like racing, this is a good way to spend your holiday in the car.”
28. Many forget that Alonso’s career hasn’t had a straightforward trajectory. After his frst season with backmarkers Minardi, he moved to Renault but was left on the bench as a test driver. Alonso’s manager –and Renault team principal at the time – Flavio Briatore thought Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button were better than the youngster. Tsk tsk.
29. Alonso is more than just a fgurehead for his fashion brand, Kimoa Anyone who has seen Amazon’s 2020 documentary series Fernando knows the level of detail that he goes into for his fashion house. But his business interests don’t end there. In addition to owning a karting school and a track, Alonso has become a driver manager in recent years. A14 Management – a reference to his driver number – currently has seven drivers on its books, including German Formula E winner
Maximilian Günther, French Formula 2 talent Clément Novalak and Bulgarian Formula 3 teenager Nikola Tsolov.
30. The frst time that he retired from Formula 1 in 2018, Alonso’s friends told him, “Now you can do whatever you want.” To which the Spaniard replied, “Alright, I’ll race.”
31. He became a racing driver more or less by chance. Alonso’s father, José Luis, originally built a kart for his older sister, Lorena. “[But] I never cared for cars,” she later revealed. So the kart’s pedals were moved back and a three-year-old Nando took the wheel instead.
32. The 2023 Austrian Grand Prix is the Spanish world champion’s 365th Formula 1 race. (Imagine being an F1 driver for a year and racing every day!)
33. Incredible but true: in the whole of his career as a racing driver, Alonso has only had one really serious crash. It happened when he hit Haas team driver Esteban Gutiérrez at 305kph at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix. Nando crawled out of the remains of his shattered McLaren and was back racing in Shanghai just four weeks later.
34. During his school days, he would set the alarm for 4am before exams, revise for 50 minutes, then go back to bed. Very effcient, Señor Alonso!
35. Alonso started out in F1 at a time when a win was only worth 10 World Championship points and there were no bonus points for the fastest lap. It’s astonishing, then, that only Hamilton and Vettel are ahead of him for total points scored.
36. He will celebrate his 42nd birthday on the Saturday before the Belgian Grand Prix. Do you think he’ll sleep in on Sunday?
37. The oldest F1 driver ever to score points was Frenchman Philippe Étancelin at the age of 53, competing in the 1950 Italian Grand Prix. A few years to go, Nando…
38. Alonso wears size 42 shoes (or an eight if we’re talking UK sizes).
39.
The Legends Parade features classic Can-Am rockets and is the emotional highlight of the Grand Prix weekend. Here, legendary mechanic Edi Wyss unveils these powerhouses with an output of up to 1500bhp, and reveals which F1 legends are in the cockpit...
Words WERNER JESSNERThe Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am for short, was an attempt to take auto racing in North America away from the highspeed ovals. Between 1965 and 1974, the best drivers in all categories went toe-to-toe on racetracks across Canada and the US.
The rules were simple: two seats, at least a 2.5-litre engine, and you’re ready to go. So you can guess what happened: a power surge! As the cars were comparatively cheap and the prize money high, Can-Am attracted F1 drivers including John Surtees, Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme. It was a long way from the professionalism of modern F1. A team
consisted of two drivers and four mechanics, and raced on circuits with names like Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca.
Companies such as McLaren, BRM and Lola saw the business potential in the series and built customer versions of their successful racing cars, which in turn were purchased by private drivers. Manufacturers also got involved –chiefly Porsche with the 917.
And in the midst of it all was mechanic Edi Wyss, ‘the Swiss Wiz’. He fine-tuned the racing cars of that era for years. His first-hand experience makes him the authority on the vehicles being driven by former star drivers in the Legends Parade this year...
Driver: David Coulthard
Engine: Chevrolet V8 Big Block
Engine size: 6.2 litres
Power: 630bhp
First season: 1968
edi wyss: “The success of the factory car, the M6A, made Bruce McLaren think CanAm could be good for business. So he built a customer car and called it the M6B. They produced 17 in total. It had several small differences from the M6A, such as wider rims. The biggest difference: it was the first time Roger Penske elected to fit the Big Block V8 instead of the smaller Chevrolet engine to his M6B, which was raced by driver Mark Donohue.”
Driver: Alex Wurz
Engine: Chevrolet V8 Big Block
Engine size: 8.8 litres
Power: 840bhp
First season: 1970
edi wyss: “The M8C is a customer version of the M8A, built by English specialists Trojan. The biggest difference: the M8A was designed with a loadbearing Chevrolet V8 engine. However, many teams wanted to use other engines, such as a Ford V8 or 3-litre, in order to be able to compete in the prototype category. And so we had the M8C, where the engine – regardless of which one –sits in an engine bay and is not a loadbearing part of the vehicle. The first M8C was built for Canadian millionaire Dave Billes and had a Chevy engine generating around 840bhp.”
Driver: Dr Helmut Marko
Engine: Chevrolet V8
Engine size: 7.6 litres
Power: 740bhp
First season: 1970
edi wyss: “Helmut Marko driving this car is only fitting, as he made his F1 debut with BRM in 1971. This is chassis number two and was driven by Mexico’s Pedro Rodríguez in the Can-Am series in 1970. The P157, BRM’s first Can-Am car, was designed by the legendary Tony Southgate. In the rear is a Chevrolet V8 generating around 740bhp. Its best Can-Am result was third at the Riverside International Raceway in California. This car has actually been to the Österreichring before: in 1972, when it was driven by David Hepworth in the Interserie. Speaking of Interserie, Helmut Marko started at Imola in the successor to this car, the BRM P167, that same year.”
Driver: Mark Webber
Engine: Chevrolet V8
Engine size: 8.0 litres
Power: 800bhp
First season: 1970
edi wyss: “Lola was McLaren’s main rival in Can-Am. While Bruce McLaren’s approach was, ‘Make it nice and simple,’ Lola CEO Eric Broadley argued the exact opposite. No wonder, then, that many subsequent star designers such as John Barnard started their career at Lola. The T165 came after the T160, which raced from 1968 using both Chevrolet and Ford engines, albeit with limited success.”
Drivers: Jos Verstappen, Juan Pablo Montoya
Engine: Chevrolet V8 Big Block
Engine size: 8.8 or 8.4 litres
Power: 800 or 790bhp
First season: 1971
edi wyss: “Built for the 1971 season, the M8F was the successor to the racewinning M8D, dubbed ‘the Batmobile’. There were three factory cars, and Peter Revson took his to the Can-Am series title. There was also the M8P, where the ‘P’ stood for ‘Production’. These customer cars were assembled by Trojan and are distinguished by the additional air inlets at the front. The provenance of these cars is unclear as they were driven, crashed, disassembled and often also sold off in pieces. One even raced in Germany in the 1970s with a Mercedes turbo engine instead of a V8! There are said to have been a total of ten M8Fs, the last of which was completely assembled from spare parts and had no official chassis number. What we do know is that the McLaren M8 in its various guises is the most successful car in Can-Am history, with four overall victories in the series.”
“Winning is addictive and drives you on to achieve more. But never take it for granted: it’s important to celebrate every single victory, because they’re hard-won. They’re incredibly rewarding, because you recognise it’s a combination of every element of the business coming together to deliver that result: performance, reliability strategy, drivers – every element that’s invested in a car. China in 2009 was our frst experience of winning, and 99 wins later we still have the same feeling when our car takes the chequered fag and you beat some incredible opponents. I don’t think any of us could have ever envisaged that we’d be here 14 years later with 100 wins.”
“We’ve won 28 per cent of all the races we’ve entered. We’ve been on the podium in nearly half of the races we’ve entered. Of course, there are diffcult days, but once you’ve experienced winning it gives you that motivation to get the sensation again, and that makes up for all the diffcult days. That’s what you’re striving for. So even when Mercedes were dominant, it was that winning feeling we aspired to recapture, and that drove us to push in all areas.”
“When you’re rebuilding, you have to make painful decisions, because as an organisation you’ve got to keep evolving. Yes, you’ve got to have continuity, but ultimately it has to evolve to improve. It isn’t nice to have to make those decisions, but we’ve also invested in young talent and it’s great to see some of those people coming to the fore. That’s one of the most rewarding factors.”
“Seventy-nine of our wins have come from two multiple world champions: Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. Are champions different from other drivers? Yes, in so far as they go that extra yard year after year. Max and Sebastian are very different characters and personalities, but they were – and are – equally driven, equally ambitious and totally unrelenting in their quest for performance. Sebastian was much more focused on the detail, scrutinising his and the car’s performance. With Max, you know that as soon as he gets in the car he gives you 110 per cent and he expects it in return. Great drivers move the team as well. The team doesn’t want to let them down.”
“For 23 weekends of the year, I’m a team principal, but for 52 weeks I’m the CEO of a high-technology business, and, as in any business, your biggest asset is your people. It’s about the culture, the way the team works together and how you communicate. For me, that’s one of our key strengths: the culture and the philosophy and the passion within the team. The team is much bigger now – particularly with Red Bull Powertrains under the same roof – but the culture is the same. We’re still a very nimble organisation and we continue to make bold decisions, whether that’s in creating a new engine, on drivers, on partnerships, whatever it may be.”
“When I came into the sport, I was in a room with Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Jean Todt, Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley and Flavio Briatore. Those were some big personalities, and they were all passionate and competitive. When I look around the room now, the personalities are very different, but the passion and the competitiveness are still there. When it comes to dealing with those
Last time out, in Montréal, Oracle Red Bull Racing became just the fifth team in F1 history to reach 100 wins. CEO and team principal Christian Horner tells us what he’s learnt over a century of victories
personalities, I’m not the type of person to be your best friend to your face and then stick a knife in your back. I’ve never believed you need to be best friends with your competitors. There has to be respect, but I don’t need to spend Christmas with them. I’m a competitive person. If somebody is having a go at the team, I will defend them. It’s my job to protect the team, to allow them to get on with their jobs. And yes,
sometimes there have been occasions when I’ve butted heads with opponents, but that’s all part of the game.”
“If you’re not careful, F1 can take over your life and you will burn out. I’ve learnt to be more disciplined with my time, particularly now that I have a family. Also, I know that
I give better service to the team if I’m not completely overloaded. So when you’re at home, be present. Try not to be constantly on the phone. I try to make sure I get home in time to see the children before they go to sleep, and I take them to school as often as possible. It’s important to be a present parent, because you never get that time back.”
“I’ve never been on a management course or read a management book in my life. I’ve always done things my own way and trusted my own judgement. That’s not to say that’s right for everyone – everybody’s on their own journey – but it’s been right for me.”
“What has 100 wins taught me? That anything is possible. If you’d told me in 2005 when I frst joined, taking over an underperforming Jaguar team, that we’d turn it into a world-beating organisation that would win 11 World Championships and 100 Grands Prix, I would have struggled to believe that. But it just demonstrates that if you want something badly enough, and if you apply yourself and push hard enough, then really, anything is possible.”
“I’ve never been on a management course. I’ve done things my way and trusted my own judgement”
Christian Horner, Oracle Red Bull Racing
On my signal, unleash hell!
There are hidden perils lurking in this tasty salad that require you to plan a few hours ahead for the eruptive after-effects, and which will make you unwelcome in crowded and enclosed spaces. The mixture of beans and raw onions covered in the ubiquitous pumpkin seed oil has a effect. And with that onion breath, you can forget any romantic plans you had made.
Turn on, tune in, pig out
A must for lovers of ears, tails, snouts and all the other parts of a pig that no one wants. Those offcuts and leftovers used to find their way into the Klachlsuppe, though, to be fair, modern chefs use a tasty knuckle of pork instead. This Stoastyrian (Southern Styrian) power broth has quite a delicate taste thanks to ingredients including celery, beetroot and fennel.
Someone actually had this idea: mix sour cream with caraway seed, add water and call it soup. The result – not surprisingly – is acidic dishwater that tastes strongly of caraway. Enjoy it with a little stodgy Heidensterz – roasted buckwheat flour, pictured above – to give your teeth something to worry about while your brain comes up with what to eat next. pretty effective appetiser in that it leaves you hungry and ready to try something else.
Taste my cheesy wrath
Spätzle, that stick-to-your-ribs staple that fuels a day on the piste, comes in all shapes and sizes. But grey cheese never left the Upper Styrian Enns valley, perhaps due to its idiosyncratic aroma. Made from sour skimmed milk, it’s stored in a cone shape until it cracks. Look: brown, grey or marbled. Consistency: crumbly. Taste: aggressive. Smell when heated: overpowering!
Racing drivers come in many shapes and sizes, each bringing their own strengths and attitude. And they all want to win. But which type are you? Take our fun quiz to find out…
A. Let loose with the nearest team member.
B. Just hold still and wait for the champagne.
C. Take all the credit.
D. Go wild with everyone in the Honda team.
A. Go back to the garage, crunch the data and fnd out what went wrong.
B. Find a nearby yacht and enjoy an ice cream.
C. Shout at the engineers to fx the damn car.
D. Grab a scooter and ride back to the paddock.
A. Smooth and quick. Get out in front and control the race from there.
B. Fast. So I am fast.
C. Blue fags mean you’re awesome, right?
D. There’s no one quicker on two wheels.
A. As much as he can tell me – I need to know what’s happening around me.
B. Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.
C. Don’t care as long as I can still speak to my publicist on the other channel.
D. Everything he can ft on the pit board.
A. The gym – if I want to be quick, I have to be strong.
B. Driving a rally car while dressed as a gorilla.
C. Flexing my guns – my socials go better that way.
D. The motocross track.
A. It’s time to tackle important projects that make life better for everyone.
B. I’ll just keep doing what I do.
C. Infuencer is a job, right?
D. I have years of racing left in me.
AMostly As: Like Sebastian Vettel, you’re a serious professional who does everything in their power to perform. There’s a time and a place for fun and it’s when you’re on the top step.
Mostly Cs: You’re the modern answer to the playboy racers of the ’60s and ’70s, like James Hunt. You may not be the quickest or have the fastest car, but you’re having the most fun.
Mostly Bs: Like Kimi Raïkkönen, you’re a natural talent and a maverick. If they tried to tame you, you wouldn’t be a legend.
BMostly Ds: You’re a MotoGP rider like Marc Márquez – which is great, but you’re here on the wrong race weekend.
