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lots of precipitation Saturday at red bull ring

Raining day at Red Bull Ring: most likely two wet sessions

1 July 2023 at 07:43
Last update 1 July 2023 at 09:50
2
  • Kada Sarkozi
  • Editor

It is soaking wet at the Red Bull Ring and that means we seem to be in for at least a wet Sprint Shootout. It rained almost all night and even in the morning, rain continues to move across the track in Spielberg outside. Chances of rain remain throughout the day, although it will dry out later on Saturday.

Until 12:00 pm local time, the chance of rain remains more than 90 per cent, so there is a very good chance that we will be driving on a wet Red Bull Ring at the start of the Sprint Shootout. Dry track driving is most likely not in the cards, as the chance of rain during the session is still more than 80 per cent.

For the sprint race, scheduled for 16:30, there is a 50 per cent chance of rain. However, the same goes for this: the track will probably still be so wet due to the rain in the hours before, that it will be started on intermediates and perhaps a pit stop for slicks can be made later. Only in the evening hours is it predicted to become dry in Spielberg anyway.

Tyre situation

No doubt not all drivers will be happy with the rain in Austria, but there will certainly be plenty of drivers who are happy with it. Why? Because so many times were dropped in Friday's qualifying, teams have already had to use a lot of their sets of tyres just to set extra (good) times.

Most of the drivers no longer even have new softs available for the Sprint Shootout and, if the track is dry, would have to fall back on rubber that has already been driven the necessary laps. Now that the full wets or intermediates seem to be going to be used, all drivers have an 'equal chance' again, as everyone has the same number of these sets ready.

Weather updates from Austria