The 2021 Styrian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 BWT Großer Preis der Steiermark 2021) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 27 June 2021 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria as the eighth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. It was the second and final Styrian Grand Prix, and the thirty-fourth Grand Prix held at the venue. The event was added to the schedule after other races were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, forming the second leg of a series of three races on back-to-back weekends. The race was won from pole position by Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen, who led every lap of the race. Lewis Hamilton, driving for the Mercedes team, finished second and set the fastest lap, with his teammate Valtteri Bottas finishing third.
Background
The event was held over the weekend of 25–27 June, and is officially named the Formula 1 BWT Großer Preis der Steiermark 2021. It was the eighth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, and the second Styrian Grand Prix following the first edition held the previous year. It was held at the , ten-corner Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, the sixteenth world championship Grand Prix held on the modern version of the circuit, and the thirty-fourth in total. Of the locations on the 2021 schedule, Spielberg falls behind only Mexico City in terms of altitude. Changes had been made to the verge and barrier at the second and third corners and to the kerb at the sixth turn since the previous year. It was hoped that the changes made would prevent drivers from gaining an advantage by leaving the track. The kerbs at the venue are known for the demand they place on the suspension of cars that run over them.
The event was added to the schedule after the Canadian Grand Prix was cancelled and the Turkish Grand Prix was postponed, both because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of these changes, the Styrian Grand Prix formed the second leg of a series of three races on consecutive weekends, following the 2021 French Grand Prix in Le Castellet, Var and preceding the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix, which was also held in Spielberg. The addition of a fourth group of three back-to-back races to the already-crowded calendar received criticism, with concerns expressed over the workload and its effect on the mental health of workers who travel to the races. This race was held with a limited number of spectators in attendance, while the following week's Austrian Grand Prix had a much larger crowd. At the time outdoor events in Austria could have no more than three-thousand attendees, however the large size of the venue meant spectators could be split into five separate groups, allowing a crowd of fifteen-thousand. The 2021 W Series hosted its season's first round as a support race.
Sole Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli were expected to bring their middle three dry-weather tyre compounds in terms of hardness—the C2, C3, and C4—which were originally intended for the next round. Ten constructors and twenty drivers participated, with no changes from the season entry list. Robert Kubica drove for Alfa Romeo Racing in the first free practice session in place of Kimi Räikkönen. Max Verstappen entered the event leading the World Championship, with a twelve-point advantage ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Red Bull Racing led the World Championship by thirty-seven points from the Mercedes team. Verstappen, who had won at the circuit twice before, felt that the race would be close between Red Bull and Mercedes and that understanding the weather conditions would be important. Hamilton described Spielberg as "a power-hungry circuit", believing that Red Bull had a straight-line speed advantage and that it would be necessary for Mercedes to "maximise absolutely everything" to compete with them. Hamilton had swapped chassis with teammate Valtteri Bottas for the previous round at Le Castellet, but in Spielberg the pair returned to using the chassis they had used from the third-through-sixth rounds. Red Bull had a new floor and diffuser at this event, which created more downforce in slower corners and allowed the team to reduce drag elsewhere on the car.
Practice The first practice session passed without major incident and ended with Red Bull's Verstappen fastest ahead of Scuderia AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly and Mercedes driver Hamilton. Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz Jr were amongst the drivers who had spins during this session. There was some very light rain during Friday's running which did not effect proceedings significantly.
Verstappen set the fastest official time in the second free practice session with Daniel Ricciardo second for McLaren and the Alpine team’s Esteban Ocon third, after Hamilton had a faster lap time disallowed for a track limits violation. Bottas spun in the pit lane after leaving in second gear; he was penalised for this, being required to start from three positions further back in the race and having two penalty points added to his FIA Super Licence. Gasly did not participate in this session because the AlphaTauri mechanics were attempting to diagnose a fault with his car's engine.
Hamilton set the fastest lap in the third practice session followed by Verstappen in second, and Bottas in third. Verstappen felt that Hamilton had impeded him during his fast runs. Bottas and Gasly nearly collided in the pit lane while Gasly was exiting his pit garage.
Qualifying Qualifying started at 15:00 local time on the Saturday. Qualifying was held under clear skies with ambient temperatures between and surface temperatures between . The session is composed of three segments. At the end of the first two parts the five slowest drivers have their qualifying positions set and are prevented from participating in the rest of the qualifying session. The final segment determines the top ten qualifying positions. The qualifying results are then used to determine the starting order of the race.
Verstappen set the fastest time of the final segment of qualifying to claim pole position. This was the sixth pole of Verstappen's Formula One career, and his third of 2021. Both of Verstappen's lap times during the final segment of qualifying were fast enough to secure pole position, and no other driver set a time under sixty-four seconds. Bottas qualified second, with his penalty pushing him back to fifth, with Hamilton qualifying third and Lando Norris fourth. McLaren had an advantage over Scuderia Ferrari in qualifying because of the design of their drag reduction system. Pérez was only able to make one run on new soft tyres during the final segment after he had to use a set during the first segment. The soft-compound tyres were believed to give an advantage of around two-fifths of a second per lap over the medium-compound tyres. Bottas, Hamilton, Norris, and Verstappen only made one run in the first segment as their times were sufficient to progress. The Mercedes team had preserved tyres across prior segments to allow Hamilton three fresh sets for the final qualifying segment. Congestion was sometimes an issue during qualifying on the short layout, with Yuki Tsunoda, who qualified eighth, ordered to start from three places further back as a penalty for holding up Bottas. Hamilton passed several other drivers during the final outlap of qualifying because he was worried about maintaining tyre temperature, however this resulted in his tyres getting dirt on them, which slowed him down. Gasly was fast enough to qualify sixth for AlphaTauri, giving him the most top-six starts in a single season of any Minardi, Toro Rosso, or AlphaTauri driver at that time. Charles Leclerc qualified seventh for Scuderia Ferrari. Fernando Alonso set the ninth fastest time of the final session, having beaten George Russell out of the second session by less than a hundredth of a second. Lance Stroll was further from the pace in the final segment and qualified tenth for the Aston Martin team. A slow final sector in an understeering Ferrari meant Sainz qualified twelfth. Ricciardo qualified thirteenth with a time half-a-second slower than teammate Norris in the second segment, which McLaren believed was a result of the circuit's heavy braking zones. Sebastian Vettel experienced issues with understeer and had his best lap in the second segment deleted after he went off the track, meaning he qualified fourteenth. Nicholas Latifi encountered traffic during his final attempt, and qualified sixteenth. Ocon qualified seventeenth after he was nearly a quarter of a second slower than teammate Alonso in the first segment. Räikkönen went off into the gravel trap at the fourth corner during his first attempt, and qualified eighteenth with a fastest time in the first segment a third of a second slower than teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, who qualified fifteenth after losing time through the last turn. The Haas Formula cars were the slowest, with Mick Schumacher quicker than Nikita Mazepin. Haas were the only team whose drivers were over a second slower than Verstappen's benchmark in the first segment, with Schumacher six-tenths of a second behind Räikkönen.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructor133 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda1:04.4891:04.4331:03.8411277 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:04.5371:04.4431:04.0355344 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:04.6721:04.5121:04.067244 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:04.5841:04.2981:04.1203511 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda1:04.6381:04.1971:04.1684610 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1:04.7651:04.4291:04.2366716 Charles LeclercFerrari1:04.7451:04.6461:04.4727822 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda1:04.6081:04.6311:04.51411914 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1:04.9711:04.5821:04.57481018 Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1:04.8211:04.6631:04.70891163 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1:05.0331:04.671N/A101255 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari1:04.8591:04.800N/A12133 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1:05.1421:04.808N/A13145 Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1:05.0511:04.875N/A1415991:05.0921:04.913N/A15166 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1:05.175N/AN/A161731 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1:05.217N/AN/A17187 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari1:05.429N/AN/A181947 Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1:06.041N/AN/A19209Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari1:06.192N/AN/A20107% time: 1:09.003Source:
Notes – Valtteri Bottas received a three-place grid penalty for dangerous driving in the pit lane during second practice. – Yuki Tsunoda received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas during qualifying.
Race The race started at 15:00 local time on the Sunday. It lasted seventy-one laps for a total distance of . The ambient temperature before the start was , and during the race there were ambient temperatures between and surface temperatures between . Verstappen and the two Mercedes drivers started on the medium compound tyres. The rest of the top-ten qualifiers started on the soft tyres, while those who did not reach the final segment of qualifying mostly opted for the mediums. Räikkönen was the only driver who started on the hardest tyre compound. Verstappen started quickly, allowing him to prevent second-placed Hamilton from passing him into the first turn. Pérez passed Norris at the third corner, but Norris regained the position at the fourth turn. Scuderia Ferrari driver Leclerc collided with Gasly on the first lap, causing a puncture which forced AlphaTauri to retire the car with damaged suspension, whilst Ferrari replaced Leclerc's car's front wing in a pit stop at the end of the first lap, where they also fitted new hard tyres. The incident also resulted in Giovinazzi spinning as his car touched Gasly's ailing machine. Stroll overtook Alonso on the first lap, while Latifi also made a pit stop because his car's rear-right tyre was punctured. Ricciardo passed Tsunoda on the first lap at the second-to-last corner, whilst Räikkönen gained four places over the course of the first lap.