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Austrian F1 Grand Prix 2019: Start Time, Drivers, TV Schedule and More
June 29, 2019
World champion Lewis Hamilton will be aiming to continue his dominance of the 2019 Formula One season by picking up his seventh win on Sunday at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The 34-year-old has finished on top of the podium for the last four races in a row and has not finished lower than second in any of the eight grands prix this season.
Mercedes have made a perfect start to the current campaign but saw both cars forced to retire from this race last season.
Hamilton's race was ended prematurely by a fuel-pressure problem, while Mercedes team-mate and pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas retired on the 13th lap.
Race Date: Sunday, June 30
Race Time: 2:10 p.m. BST/9:10 a.m. ET
TV Info: Sky Sports F1 (UK), ESPN2 (U.S.)
Live Stream: Sky Go, ESPN Player
For a full list of the drivers, visit the F1 website.
Austrian GP Preview
The Austrian Grand Prix takes place at the picturesque Red Bull Ring and sees drivers take on 71 laps of a short 4.318-kilometre track.
Here's a guide to the Red Bull Ring from Max Verstappen:
Red Bull will be hoping to win their home race and will have fond memories of last season when Verstappen took the chequered flag ahead of the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.
Verstappen seems content about his team's chances this time around despite causing a red flag with a crash in practice:
Bottas also crashed heavily in practice, while Vettel endured a big spin. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc set the early pace and expects his team to be closer to Mercedes than at the French Grand Prix last time out:
The short track in Austria should help Ferrari be more competitive. The team have a straight-line speed advantage over Mercedes, and they also look quicker in medium-speed corners.
Leclerc finished third in France and has a good record in Austria. He has secured pole position at this track and tasted victory in GP3 and Formula 2. He has also spoken about how he enjoys racing at the Red Bull Ring.
"I love it. It's one of my favourite tracks, actually. I really enjoy having the short track—it reminds me a little bit of the karting days…I just enjoy driving here," he said per the F1 website.
Team-mate Vettel has not enjoyed the same success and is still searching for his first win in Austria. He has been on the podium for the last two years but did not enjoy a smooth practice session:
Yet his team's display has left championship leader Hamilton expecting a close race on Sunday, per Crash.net's Lewis Larkham:
"The Ferraris and the Red Bulls look pretty quick, particularly the Ferraris so it will be interesting to see how that pans out tomorrow, because you never know what they do. But I think it's close, which is good. I love it when it's close and that means we have our work cut out."
Hamilton finished 18 seconds clear of Bottas last time out in France, but the Mercedes team should face more competition from Ferrari and Red Bull in Austria. Yet the world champion has looked unstoppable in recent races, and the Silver Arrows remain the team to beat.