F1 Austrian GP 2024: What is the Weather Forecast for the Red Bull Ring?

From Spanish sunshine to the Austrian Alps! After racing on the home turf of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, it’s time to head to the Red Bull Ring. Unfortunately, both Spaniards didn’t achieve the results they wanted, and fans, it’s not the same for the defending champion team. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are ready to bring pride to Austria as they represent their team at the Red Bull Ring. Although they are dominating the championship, other teams are catching up, so this race will be crucial for the team to win.

For the Austrian GP weekend, drivers will head into round 11 of the championship. And let’s not forget the third sprint race of the season. With the weekend having a sprint race too, its important to know the weather conditions to know if there will be any rain during the weekend. Rain often makes the race unpredictable and with just 1 practice session before the qualifier shootout, it will play a huge role in the coming weekend. So what does the forecast say about the weather conditions at the Austrian GP?

Weather update for the Austrian GP 2024

Looking at the weather forecast, Spielberg will tell us that this will not be a dry race. Unlike Spain, Austria will have cloudy weather with chances of rain on all days of the weekend. This will be interesting, as the rain always brings unexpected results.

Friday, June 28: FP1 and Sprint Shootout

The first day of on-track action at the Grand Prix is poised for some potentially disruptive weather. Fans can expect windy weather with a small chance of showers during the only practice session and the sprint qualifiers. The team is most likely to use intermediate tires in case they encounter showers, as the chance of precipitation is at 20%. The temperature in Spielberg will be at a warm 25 °C during the FP1 and 27 °C during the sprint shootout.

Saturday, June 29: Sprint race and Qualifying

Day 2 will be a little hotter, with the temperature peaking at 30 °C. However, during the Sprint race, a temperature of 26C will be observed and it will be around 29C during the qualifier for the Grand Prix. The second day will also have slight chances of rain as there is an expectance of less than 20% chance of rain. Although there might be short showers of rain, it will be quite warm and humid, making it not that favorable for drivers in the high-speed single-seaters.

Sunday, June 30: Race day

Finally, the day of the Austrian Grand Prix race will have the highest chance of rain. There is a 40% chance of precipitation and it will be windy as the final race at the Red Bull Ring decides who is the fastest team in Austria. With the race taking place in the afternoon, the forecast states that it will be around 27C. Being Red Bull’s home track, fans expect the defending champions to bring home the win, however, rain has always led to unconventional results. The rain added to Mercedes’ threat to its competitors has everyone wondering what could happen at the Austrian GP.

Mercedes’ message to their rivals ahead of the Austria race

“Fighting for bigger points” is the new mission of Mercedes as they achieved a podium in the last 2 races. Now that the team has made changes to its front wing, the drivers will be fighting for the top positions. So far, both drivers have had a podium finish and this was not expected from the W15 looking at how they started the season off.

Now Mercedes are at P4 with 151 points and they have under half the points currently scored by Red Bull. However, the team is positive that the new car will close that gap soon. The trackside engineering director of the team stated, “It’s great to see both drivers on the podium in the last two events. That’s a sign of the progress that we’ve made with all the hard work back at the factory.”

Shovlin explained how the team plans on monetizing the weekend format by saying, “In terms of Austria, it’s a tricky circuit and it’s a sprint race. So with a sprint race, you’ve got one hour to get the car sorted out and set up.” Despite having less time to prepare the car, the team is positive that with a total of 59 maximum points they have a chance at getting back in the front.

There are many more upgrades planned from Mercedes as they are trying to shorten the gap between them and other teams. That being said, do you think Mercedes will make it into the top 3 this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.