F1 Austrian GP: 5 races to remember including the 'Day of SHAME' in the sport

The second Grand Prix of Formula One's first ever Triple Header as championship battle intensifies at the Red Bull Ring, Austria. Statistically speaking, a victory in the Austrian GP is very important for Sebastian Vettel as Lewis Hamilton opened up the gap last weekend by 14 points.

Silverstone is like a fortress for the British ace which makes Austria a potential track for a Sebastian Vettel to conquer.

Since its inception as Österreichring in 1969, now called Red Bull Rings as named by the current owner, this beautiful circuit nestled between beautiful mountains has witnessed many clashes of titans.

This is a high-speed track in which drivers are exposed to high G-force as there are just 9 high-speed corners, and it takes a little more than a minute to complete the lap. The circuit is also the Home Track for Red Bull Racing.

So here are 5 Austrian races world can never forget about -

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#5 Austrian Grand Prix 1982

Never before in that era had as much drama occurred as it did in 1982 Austrian GP. The race saw a lot of leaderboard changes.

An interesting fact during this GP is that Austrian stands were crowded as the local hero Niki Lauda was making a comeback after the horrific accident.

As soon as the lights went out, the front runners got away unaffected by extreme chaos at the back which took out 2 Alfa Romeo's and a Williams. Riccardo Patrese took back his 2nd position from Prost at Turn 2.

On lap 20 the race leader, Nelson Piquet came into the pits to rejoin behind in fourth place behind Prost and De Angelis giving the baton of race leader to Riccardo Patrese.

Having built enough gap the Italian virtuoso came into the pits and just three laps later Patrese had to retire suffering an engine problem passing the leadership to Prost.

Keke Rosberg and De Angelis going wheel to wheel as they raced past the racing line

Nelson Piquet was having trouble with Keke Rosberg just behind him ultimately retiring with an electrical problem clearing way for Rosberg to close in De Angelis and go for potential maiden Grand Prix victory.

As the race gods favored even Prost had to retire following a mechanical failure and then what was about to happen made this GP memorable forever. In the last lap, Keke Rosberg almost closed the gap to mere 0.050 seconds which is half a car length short.

De Angelis went past the checkered flag to register his 1st GP victory pushing Keke Rosberg into 2nd position in the championship lead.

#4 Austrian Grand Prix 1987

Riccardo Patrese, Grand Prix Of Austria

This race can be remembered for failed restarts because this GP was restarted three times. Williams pair Nelson Piquet took pole ahead of his teammate Nigel Mansell followed by Gerhard Burger in a Ferrari in P3. The weekend was quite a news headline because of safety concerns at Austrian Circuit of Österreichring following the unfortunate crash of Stefan Johansson with a wild deer which broke Johansson’s rib.

On the first start, Nelson Piquet pulled off when Martin Brundle lost control and collided while a Liger and the Minardi of Adrian Campos. The drama continued with two Tyrells taking out each other out of the race thus ending up in a red flag. The grid was again formed and yet again Piquet went into a lead but this time Mansell was going slow because of an electrical problem which led Berger in Ferrari to slow down, this led to a commotion behind them as again the track was blocked leading to another red flag.

On the third restart there were 6 cars starting from pits other than those on the grid and on the restart, it was the “Herói do Brasil” Ayrton Senna who stalled his car however this time everyone was able to get away as the race started with Nelson Piquet for the third time in front of the pack. On lap 21, Mansell took the lead as both the Williams finished with a double podium.

Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Grand Prix Of Austria

#3 Austrian Grand Prix 2002

Austrian GP 2002 - Barrichello and Schumacher get emotional on the podium

12th May 2002, this is the day can be termed as "day of Shame in Formula 1". Michael Schumacher, the red baron received a lot of criticism from Formula 1world leading to a ban on team orders at Ferrari. BBC reported this with a slapping headline “Michael Schumacher steals Austrian win”. FIA fined Ferrari for podium change which occurred because of a lot of boo’s and abuses from the audience which compelled Michael Schumacher to step Rubens Barrichello on the top stand of the podium.

Rubens was clocking faster laps all over the weekends at A1 ring Austria and took pole position. Ferrari’s red baron had a comfortable lead in championship battle against Montoya and Barrichello comfortably lead most of the race from Schumacher but Ferrari decided to promote Schumacher into the first position and to the entire world’s horror, Rubens gave way to Schumacher to win a gifted victory at Austria.

Rubens making way for Michael Schumacher

Following the race, Michael thanked Rubens but kept the points and expressed his displeasure over not winning because of merit. During podium, Ferrari drivers were booed leading to a sheepish Schumacher stepping down from the podium and promoting Rubens Barrichello as German national anthem continued to play. Following podium ceremony, the media targeted Ferrari and FIA was forced to intervene.

#2 Austrian Grand Prix 2016

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg go wheel to wheel on turn 2

The 2016 Austrian Grand Prix came down as a thunderbolt on the Mercedes drivers as they ended up in crashing into each other for the 2nd time, the first being Barcelona. Lewis Hamilton after an immense lap of 67 seconds put his car on pole followed by Nico Hulkenberg, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Riccardo, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Filipe Massa completed the top 10.

As soon as lights went out both Vettel and Rosberg started to charge as Hulkenberg began to drop grid positions propelling Button into 2nd and Kimi into 3rd and also Rosberg comfortably got past the red bull of Riccardo. By lap 7 Hulkenberg was demoted to P6 as both Max and Rosberg passed him and Raikkonen overtook Jenson Button. Nico was first out of front-runners to come inside the pits and with the yellow soft tires as Hamilton opted out to stay out for a longer stint but soon he as well came into the pits however a bad stop cost him time as he saw himself behind Rosberg. Kimi followed into the pits too as he came out behind the two red bulls giving Vettel a comfortable lead however the lead was short-lived because his tires gave up and he was forced to retire.

The fight for the lead between two silver arrows came up to the last lap where an aggressive Hamilton went wheel to wheel with Rosberg, however, got pushed out of track by his teammate as they crashed again for a second time as Hamilton re-joined the track damaging Nico’s car. With potential less damage, Lewis Hamilton raced past Rosberg to take victory as the other Mercedes continued to crawl behind Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen.

#1 Austrian Grand Prix 1999

Mika Hakkinen spun

Mika Hakkinen is known as flying Finn because of his incredible speed and Austria has witnessed this when the flying Finn drove all the way to podium from the back of the grid.

McLaren Mercedes hoped that they will dominate the field however things didn’t go as planned as David Coulthard spun Mika Haikkenen on the first lap as David took the lead with Rubens Barrichello in Stewart and Eddie Ervine in Ferrari. It was looked like an easy victory for Coulthard however following pitstops Coulthard found himself struggling against Eddie Ervine who was in the lead meanwhile away from front-runners Mika Haikkenen was on an overtaking spree overtaking every car that came in his way. Now all Haikkenen had to do was find a way to nick past Rubens Barrichello and ultimately Mika overtook him on turn 4.

Coulthard was on Eddie Ervine’s tails as he looked for ways to get ahead of the Ferrari but failed, however, this race was totally stolen by Mika Haikkenen who literally flew past so many cars as he fought back to the podium. This Austrian GP goes into the vault of legendary races as one of the heroics from Haikkenen.

From Left to right 2nd place finisher David Coulthard, winner of the race Ferrari's Eddie Ervine and 3rd the man who fought his position Mika Haikkenen