Red Bull Ring – Austria

The Red Bull Ring was born in 1969 under its original name ‘Osterrichring’ and was a fast circuit with similarly breath-taking views of the Styrian hills. Unfortunately, it proved to be too fast and after a severe crash in ’75 the first corner was slightly tightened to reduce speeds and a chicane was then added to the corner to reduce speeds even further. However, this still didn’t prevent crashes and due to its dangerous nature, the track was dropped from the F1 calendar.

As a result, the Bosch-Kurve was tightened and the track was widened in places including the start/finish straight that was made three whole metres wider. By 1996 full renovations were complete and F1 racing returned to the now named A1-Ring. The circuit had been dramatically shortened, bypassing the section from Hella-Licht and Tiroch with a new section ending in a tight hairpin before rejoining the old track. The Bosch-Kurve was also replaced by another hairpin and the Texaco-Schikane was also tightened to a squared-off Rindt Kurve.

Alas, due to financial reasons, the circuit was sold to Red Bull who had big plans for the circuit, but this wasn’t enough to save the Austrian F1 race as plans were blocked by local authorities. But, in 2014 the F1 calendar did return to a once again renamed Red Bull Ring.

Plans are in place to extend the circuit but as of yet, no development has been completed.

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