.
The Austrian Grand Prix was a headline-writers nightmare. Some might have said “Bore-Ring” or “Snore-Ring” but the race was better than that, while not being a classic. Perhaps Simmer-Ring was the best description. The race was always just about to break out into action but only did so on occasion… In the end Nico Rosberg led Lewis Hamilton home for another Mercedes 1-2, while there was a tense fight for third place between Williams and Ferrari.
Also in GP+ this week…
– We look at Renault F1’s history – and its choices
– We enjoy Nico Hulkenberg’s Le Mans victory
– We remember Mark Donohue
– JS is happy for Sir Patrick Head, but wants more racing honours
– DT finds inspiration in motocross
– The Hack looks at the many sides of Max Mosley
– Plus the usual fabulous photography from Peter Nygaard and his team.
GP+ is the fastest magazine in the Formula 1 world. It is published as the mechanics are still wiping down the cars after each and every race. It appears in PDF format so that you can read it on your computer, your tablet and even on your smartphone, but it’s an old style racing magazine in a modern format. It goes right to the heart of the sport, inside the F1 Paddock. We are there at every race and we get to the people that matter. We are also passionate about the history of the sport and love to share it with our readers.
GP+ is an amazing bargain. You get 21 issues for £29.99, covering the entire 2015 Formula 1 season.
For more information, go to http://www.grandprixplus.com.
joeblogsf1 
Not quite the runaway Hamilton season we were expecting…
this link doesn’t seem to be working for me. It lists Canada as the latest GP+ issue…
CC
>
You need to close your browser and reopen it. Your machine cacheings content
Saw you on the grid talking to Toto. Has he managed to get hold of TotoWolffknickeres.com yet?
Hi Joe, thanks for yet another quality magazine!
Small remark:
On page 24 I read that Tandy, Bamber and the Hulk had “never sat in an LMP1 prior to the Le Mans test day on 31/05.” Perhaps something else was meant then what I understood, but the Porsche already ran the WEC round at Spa on 02/05, no?
Porsche only run two regular cars with 2 groups of 3 drivers including the likes of Mark Webber for the main WEC championship rounds. The Tandy,Bamber,Hulk car was a 3rd specifically only racing at Le Mans.
but I believe testing is less restricted in WEC than F1, and Hulk certainly had sat in an LMP1 and driven round a circuit (Aragon & Bahrain if not Paul Ricard as well) at speed before the LeMans test day
No, the Hulkenberg-Bamber-Tandy Porsche qualified 2nd and finished 6th at Spa… on 2nd May.
I missed the BBC highlights show yesterday, is it worth watching ? It didn’t really sound too exciting, listening to the commentary on Radio 5 yesterday afternoon.
It was so interesting I went out and tidied the shed!
Worth a watch, there was some good racing throughout the midfield amongst other things. Saw Marussia, that might be old news now maybe? Did wonder if it was because of a retirement ie the only way you will get shown is because you are out of the race. Nice to see them anyway, I like the livery.
A beautiful location for the track, rolling green hills and forest, always a good backdrop for a motor race, and gives a little of that grand tour geomagic that looks lush on a modern television. Would have been better to be there of course, and it looked like some spots gave a good view across several parts of the track thanks to the elevations and depressions involved.
I was waiting for Julie Andrews to pop up and start singing : ” The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music “
I was waiting for her to be rolled out to do the podium interview…alas no…
Yes, it’s worth watching. Lots of decent midfield battles with the likes of GRO, KVY, PER, VES, MAL overtaking each other (well, mostly the others overtaking KVY :-)) and some good stuff between BOT/HUL, even VET chasing MAS at the end brought a bit of interest, if not an actual pass.
Sure it would be nicer if a Ferrari or Williams could disturb the serenity of the Merc boys at the front, but there is still plenty worth seeing.
Those who claim modern-era F1 is boring must have been in a 7 year hibernation when Ferrari was winning everything. The typical race there was MSC and BAR in formation at the front, positions from about 7-15 in an overtake-free train behind Jarno Trulli, and not much else. I’d take 2015 anytime over that, thanks.
Saw you on Sky being shoved out of the way by Martin Brundle and you were talking to Toto Wolff on the grid 🙂
Best not Tibet one way of the TV tribes!
Congrats, Joe, for allowing unsupervised spell correction to turn what may have been an amusing response into hilariously wonderful gibberish. Did you happen to write this on a French phone?
Yes
Brundle seems to be struggling recently. Less and less of the drivers seem willing to talk on the grid these days and Austria seemed to be lacking in the c-list celeb to talk to. Vettel used to give a few decent comments, but I wonder if he’s decided to keep quiet, or Ferrari have told him too?
Shift + F5 will also clear browser cache!
Glad it’s not just me who get’s caught out with predictive text😎 Nice feature on Nico by the way.
Great photo of Sir Frank and Ron just talking.
I would have loved to know the content, but it looks like old friends chatting.
+1 on that!
“Not quite the runaway Hamilton season we were expecting…” perhaps there is a God after all
Joe,
Do you know if Alonso will have to carry over his five-second time penalty to Silverstone because he didn’t serve it Austria?
It is not like he crashed to avoid the penalty. I don’t know, the FIA penalty system is now officially ridiculous…
Hear, hear.
Hello Joe,
I heard a unfounded rumour last weekend that sounds rather unlikely but maybe you can share some insight on this.
Supposedly Red Bull is in fact very much interested in a Ferrari engine supply for 2017 and part of that deal would be a hefty discount and other perks in exchange for Max Verstappen which would mean tearing up his long term contract. Red Bull didn’t exactly say no immediately because Ecclestone and Mateschitz had a rather secretive meeting about some sort of purchase of F1 shares on Mateschitz’ side. Subsequentely the team’s budget would be reduced, hence the interest.
It’s sounds far fetched and highly odd but then again, this time last year I didn’t think that Fernando would be seen driving a McLaren this season…
Thanks Joe!
Anything to stop Horner whinging about Renault. I still think they’re angling for Honda longer term.
Please explain your TV tribes comment. Is that English or Tibetan? DT
Camera crews
I really appreciated the article on Mark Donohue. Time to take “The Unfair Advantage” out of the library again.
Great read as always – and the link D.T. put up at the end was amazing – thank you.
Being an avid defender of new Formula 1 normally, nevertheless I must confess that the intricate catalogue of penalties for each lost component of the car is too deep for me. Considering ALL penalties Alonso and Button got during Spielberg 2015, according to my calculations both Mc Laren-Honda drivers actually should have started from the outskirts of Szombathely/Hungary. I hate it to give right to the whingers, but in that case something should be considered…..we had a lively after-race discussion about that issue on our way home yesterday. Additionally, penalties for the usage of a new turbocharger seems to be a little bit exaggerated too, if someone witnessed them being changed half-hourly during a practice of 1986…..
Saw you on the grid yesterday nearby a neat “Dirndl”-clad lady Nr. 44 btw…. 😉
Due to penalties in the next race the McLaren Honda cars will be starting from the pit lane in Austria.
Good to see you on the grid Joe. As for the race, when the safety car came out I fell asleep, I woke up for the closing 20 laps and it didn’t really grip me. I’m hoping the British GP will be more entertaining. Maybe I picked a bad time to give up drinking!
Proofreading, rather than camera crews, I would have thought. DT
I’ve turned off predictive text for that reason David, too many hilarious errors! Spent more time correcting those than writing text.
Joe
Thank you for your comprehensive coverage. Grand Prix + is brilliant and great as an archive.
One stat from the race that does seem strange to me and that does not seem to have received much comment was that Rosberg’s fastest lap and indeed the fastest lap of the race was at half distance. In a non weather effected race, surely this is an anomaly.
I realise that Rosberg dominance was such that did not need to raise his speed after that Lap. Further that a great deal of tyre preserving was going on to realise a one stop and that Hamilton had switched off even more after his penalty. Even so that Hamilton’s fastest lap 25 laps later still did not match Rosberg’s does seem strange.
I am enjoying F1 in 2015 and whilst Sunday was not the greatest race it certainly had it’s moment’s.
Perhaps the anomaly is a reflection of the characteristics of the ‘Rosbergring’ and that normal service will resume with fastest laps toward the end of the race as drivers chase position.
Have you or your knowledgeable contributors any thoughts?
Siddle