Austrian GP qualifying and race comments:
This is probably the last time F1 will race at the A1 Ring and I'll miss it, despite not being the most inspiring track, it is one of the few that encouraged overtaking and that gave us some exciting races. Looks at its most recent history:
1997 - Villeneuve won in a race saw Schumacher running into trouble and charging back through the feild to finish in 6th;
1998 - Hakkinen won and again Schumacher ran into trouble, being forced to charge through the field amd finish in 3rd. In the race, Irvine suffered from misterious brake problems which allowed Schumacher to overtake him for 3rd position;
1999 - Some say it was Irvine's best race ever, I think of it as another one of his few burocratic inherited wins. Coulthard punted Hakkinen off at the first lap and from there on battled with Irvine for the lead. Irvine passed him in the pit stops and fnished ahead of Coulthard and Hakkinen who had to fight his way back through the grid;
2000 - Schumacher is punted off at the first corner and Barrichello is touched from behind and forced to go wide. With Both Ferraris out of contention, Hakkinen lead Coulthard to an easy 1-2 which, at that time, set the championship on fire and made people doubt Schumacher whether Schumacher and Ferrari would crumble under the pressure. Barrichello fought back and finished in 3rd.
2001 - One magnificent battle between Montoya and Schumacher and some contraversy at the last lap when Barrichello allowed Schumacher to pass him for 3rd metres before the finish line. Coulthard won and saw his title hopes rise again;
2002 - One of the most denegrating momments in F1 and in motorracing, Ferrari employed team orders and Barrichello was force to give the win to Schumacher again on the last lap and metres before the finish line. The entire crowd 'boo-hooed' the Ferrari pair on the podium and showed its indignation with Ferrari's tactics. Barrichello won the race, but Schumacher kept the 10 points for it, points which did not make any difference at all in the championship standings.
As you see, there is more to write about regarding the Austrian GP than we have about other tracks, such as Imola and Barcelona. Our only hope is that the Bahrain tracks turns out to be one that encourages spirited racing and gives us some good momments.
Anyhow, lets talk about this year's event...
