After building up such anticipation for the Baku race a fortnight ago, and then being disappointed, it's prudent to play down expectations for Austria. The Spielberg circuit may not be one of the classics of the F1 calendar, but it's certainly delivered some interesting races since its return to the F1 calendar. With changeable weather conditions, drivers constantly pushing the edges of the track limits and some tricky twisty sections, expect the unexpected at the Red Bull Ring.

Event schedule

The advantage that Hamilton had managed to claw back heading into Baku was diminished after NIco Rosberg's race victory there, and he has all the work to do. The defending champion is also wary of an impending engine related penalty, after experiencing many issues in the power unit area to date.

Red Bull own the track, and whilst they may or may not have acres of testing data from the circuit, they should still have something of a home advantage. Daniel RIcciardo is desperately looking for a race win, and having recently revealed that he could be in the running for a Ferrari drive, he'll want to impress this weekend.

The track is nestled in a picturesque location, bustling with green trees and gorgeous vistas. The incongruous sight of twenty two cars zipping through the countryside makes for fascinating viewing.

Support racing for this event includes GP2 Series.

Expected conditions

It's always hard to forecast the weather ahead of most of the European events, as the changeable conditions can switch up very quickly. At the moment, it looks set to be a damp weekend, with early thunderstorms gradually drying up as the race draws near.

Circuit history

In track news, the entire circuit has been totally resurfaced, in an effort to smooth the bumps and ease degradation. The grip should be higher after being worn in, although the tyre selection is different this year so drivers still may not know what to expect.

This year will be the 29th Austrian Grand Prix, although it has only been back on the calendar since 2014. As a smaller circuit taken from a larger historic track, the current layout has only been use for less than a decade. In that time, pole position has been useful for victory on three occasions.

Nico Rosberg has won both the races since 2014 - neither were from pole position but neither were from lower than third on the grid either. The furthest back a driver has won from is seventh.

Tyre compounds

We're back to the ultrasofts again this week, and the battle at the front is superbly interesting. Hamilton and Rosberg have opted for different strategies on their softs and supersofts, whilst Ferrari have gone all in on the purple stripes with nine sets each. Renault have also gone for this, whilst Haas have opted for six - the lowest amount on the grid.

There's a nice mix of selections this weekend, with a variety of between 1 and 3 sets of the hardest compound for each driver, and between 2 and 5 of the middle compound.

Selected tyre sets per driver

Lewis Hamilton	2	3	8
Nico Rosberg	1	4	8
Sebastian Vettel	1	3	9
Kimi Räikkönen	1	3	9
Valtteri Bottas	1	5	7
Felipe Massa	2	4	7
Daniel Ricciardo	2	4	7
Max Verstappen	2	4	7
Nico Hülkenberg	3	3	7
Sergio Pérez	3	3	7
Kevin Magnussen	2	2	9
Jolyon Palmer	1	3	9
Daniil Kvyat	2	4	7
Carlos Sainz	2	4	7
Marcus Ericsson	2	4	7
Felipe Nasr	3	3	7
Fernando Alonso	3	3	7
Jenson Button	3	3	7
Pascal Wehrlein	1	4	8
Rio Haryanto	1	4	8
Romain Grosjean	2	5	6
Esteban Gutiérrez	3	4	6

Press conference schedule

Official press conferences are organised by the FIA and happen four times during the weekend. The qualifying and post race press conferences will take place after the television unilateral interviews.

Race stewards

The FIA stewarding process includes a former F1 driver to offer added insight. These stewards are overseeing the weekend's action.