Preview – Formula 1 –

Austrian ?? Grand Prix – Friday 29th June – Sunday 1st July – Race 9 – Red Bull Ring ? nThe Red Bull Ring beckons as Formula 1 enters Stage Two of its first ever triple-header. Time for the hills to be alive with the sound of F1 cars… Lewis Hamilton is the driver with the wind in his sails heading to Austria, after a dominant win at the Circuit Paul Ricard for the Mercedes man. He’s leading the drivers’ standings by 14 points over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who endured a mixed bag in France, crashing into Valtteri Bottas on lap one, but countering that with a scything drive back through the field to take fifth place.Red Bull were in the mix in France too and will be hoping to be there or thereabouts on their home track, so once again, it’s looking tightly poised at the top.nnMercedes have been the team to beat since the Red Bull Ring joined the F1 calendar back at the start of the hybrid era in 2014. The Silver Arrows have hoovered up every victory since then, twice taking a one-two as well – and they would have had three if Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg hadn’t crashed into each other on the last lap of the 2016 race.nnKey Stats:n- Vettel has never won at the Red Bull Ring – one of a surprisingly-high six circuits on the 2018 calendar at which he’s never taken victory.n- Bottas has led more laps at the Red Bull Ring than any active driver (72 laps), and is seeking a third consecutive front-row start for the first time in his F1 career, having also been there in Canada and France.).n- Magnussen has finished in the top six more times this season (3) than in the rest of his F1 career combined (2).n- Alonso has failed to finish four of his six previous starts on this track and only has one points finish and one top-10 start on this track (when he qualified fourth and finished fifth for Ferrari in 2014).nPrediction: With previous strong form at the track Bottas looks great value for victory this weekend at 8/1