The race for the 2026 Austrian GP brought many interesting facts and statistics about drivers, teams, engines, lap times, and attendance in the stands. Details in the summary of the F1 race from the “A Handful of Statistics Circus F1” series after the 2026 Austrian GP.
Read more Hamilton fastest in sprint qualifying before the 2026 British GP
Achievements and records of drivers who finished on the podium
George Russell won his second F1 race this season and the seventh overall in his career.
The Austrian GP is the first race that Russell has won twice.
Russell secured Pole Position for the fourth time this season and the 11th overall in his career.
Russell won a race from Pole Position for the fifth time in his career.
For the first time in his career, Russell won two consecutive qualifying sessions.
Russell recorded his 28th career podium.
Max Verstappen recorded his 129th career podium.
Verstappen has achieved nine podiums at the Red Bull Ring, more than at any other circuit.
Second place in the race is Verstappen’s best result in F1 this year.
Verstappen has started 14 races at the Austrian circuit in his career. He retired three times and finished the others in the TOP8 positions.
Verstappen always advances to Q3 in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring: 14/14 occasions.
The Red Bull Ring is Max Verstappen’s best circuit in Formula 1 in terms of success. The Dutchman has won 5 races there, secured 5 Pole Positions, 9 podiums, and 4 fastest laps.
Kimi Antonelli recorded his tenth career podium.
Antonelli set the fastest lap in the race for the fifth time this season and the eighth overall in his career.
Antonelli recorded his worst qualifying result this season – fourth position.
Antonelli and Verstappen collided in the 2025 Austrian GP and retired on the first lap, and a year later they finished together on the podium.
Achievements of other drivers
Oscar Piastri finished the last three Austrian GPs in the TOP4 positions.
Lewis Hamilton has started 15 races at the Austrian circuit in his career. He retired once due to a failure and finished the others in the TOP8 positions.
Hamilton only finished ahead of his teammate four times (out of 15 starts) in F1 races at the Austrian circuit. Ten times his teammates were better, and once it was a tie because both retired due to failures. There is probably no other circuit where the Briton has so often finished behind his teammate.
Hamilton always advances to Q3 in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring: 15/15 occasions.
Isack Hadjar finished the last four races in the TOP6 positions but has never formally achieved a podium.
Lando Norris started ten races at the Red Bull Ring. In 2024, due to a collision, he was classified last, and in the other nine races, he always finished in the TOP7.
Charles Leclerc has five podiums in F1 races at the Red Bull Ring out of eleven starts. He has not stood on the podium that many times at any other circuit.
Leclerc recorded his best qualifying result this season – second position.
Liam Lawson finished sixth in qualifying and sixth in the race in Austria in 2025, and ninth in qualifying and ninth in the race in 2026.
Arvid Lindblad scored points for the first time in his career in three consecutive races.
Gabriel Bortoleto finished 11th in the race for the third consecutive time. The Brazilian this year finishes F1 races only in positions 9-13.
Nico Hulkenberg started his 257th F1 race in his career, thus equaling Daniel Ricciardo’s achievement. Both occupy tenth place in the all-time standings.
Hulkenberg recorded his worst qualifying result this season – 14th position.
Pierre Gasly did not score any points during the race weekend for the first time this year.
Alex Albon scored points in only one race out of eight starts at the Austrian circuit.
Fernando Alonso was eliminated in Q1 in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring for the first time in his career. An important note here is that the three-segment qualifying format was introduced in 2006. Alonso was 18th in 2001 and 19th in 2003 in qualifying at this circuit, so if the three-segment format had existed then, he would also have been eliminated in Q1. 21st place in qualifying in 2026 is his worst result in Austria in his career.
Lance Stroll finished two races this year. In five others, he had technical failures, and once he hit a barrier.
Read more Antonelli won the sprint before the 2026 British GP
Carlos Sainz, driving for Williams, always gets eliminated in Q1 in qualifying in Austria, and in races, he does not finish due to failures. Before joining this team, he always advanced at least to Q2 at this circuit.
Statistics about teams and engines
Mercedes recorded its 138th victory in Formula 1, the eighth at the Red Bull Ring.
Mercedes recorded its 151st Pole Position in Formula 1, the seventh at the Austrian circuit.
Cars with Mercedes engines have secured 257 Pole Positions in the entire history of F1, surpassing Ferrari in this regard. The summary below.
The most Pole Positions in F1 history for cars with engines from individual manufacturers (I summed up different names under one manufacturer):
1. Mercedes – 257
2. Ferrari – 256
3. Renault – 216
4. Ford Cosworth – 138
5. Honda – 129#F1PL
— Karol z CyrkF1 (@karolzcyrkf1.bsky.social) 29 June 2026 14:16
Mercedes has the most wins and Pole Positions at the Red Bull Ring among F1 teams.
Mercedes recorded a double podium at the Austrian circuit for the first time in five years.
The only case when a Mercedes driver did not advance to Q3 in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring was George Russell in 2023. They have 29/30 advances to Q3.
Ferrari recorded its worst result at the Austrian GP in five years. Like in 2021, they did not secure a podium, and their drivers finished fifth and eighth.
For the first time in history, Red Bull’s junior team (Toro Rosso / AlphaTauri / RB / Racing Bulls) scored double points at the Austrian GP.
For the third consecutive time, the Racing Bulls team scored double points.
Alpine did not score any points during the race weekend for the first time this year.
The Haas team has not scored as many points at any other circuit in F1 as at the Red Bull Ring, but in 2026 they left Austria empty-handed; the last time they performed so poorly was in 2023.
Williams last scored points at the Austrian GP in 2017. For eleven consecutive visits to this circuit (in 2020 and 2021 there were two races each year), they did not score points, including in sprints.
For the first time in history, both Cadillac drivers did not finish the F1 race.
Other statistical curiosities after the 2026 Austrian GP
The Spielberg city circuit hosted its 22nd F1 race on the shortened track layout introduced for the first time in 1997. It is the first circuit redesigned by Hermann Tilke, marking the start of his career in the racing world.
Points were scored by drivers who finished in the TOP10 in qualifying.
Hamilton is the only driver who completed all laps this season.
Hamilton is the only driver who scored points in every race this season.
Out of 24 possible podiums this year: Mercedes secured 11, Ferrari six, McLaren four, Red Bull two, and Alpine one.
Lap times, top speed, and pit stops at the 2026 Austrian GP
George Russell won qualifying for the 2026 Austrian GP with a time of 1:06.113. The Mercedes driver’s result was 3.174 seconds slower than the qualifying record of this circuit set by Valtteri Bottas in 2020 – 1:02.939.
Kimi Antonelli set the fastest lap during the race. The Italian clocked 1:10.374 on lap 59. This is 4.755 seconds slower than the official Red Bull Ring lap record (official records come from races) set in 2020 by Carlos Sainz – 1:05.619.
The highest top speed during the race was achieved by Oscar Piastri. The Australian recorded 346.3 km/h at the measurement point at the end of the first sector. In 2025, the maximum speed in the F1 race at the Austrian GP was significantly lower – 330.3 km/h, also by Piastri. According to telemetry data, Piastri accelerated to 348 km/h, meaning he slightly increased speed after passing the measurement point.
The fastest pit stop during the 2026 Austrian GP was performed by the Racing Bulls team mechanics. On lap 18, they changed all wheels on Arvid Lindblad’s car in 2.03 seconds. The season record remains Ferrari’s result from the Japanese GP – 2.00 seconds. The overall Formula 1 record is held by McLaren’s pit stop with Lando Norris during the 2023 Qatar GP – 1.80 seconds.
Attendance at the 2026 Austrian GP
Organizers announced a sell-out for this year’s Austrian GP, with a total weekend attendance of 320,000 people (Source). This is a new attendance record for this Grand Prix. Unfortunately, for several years, they have not provided information about attendance during the Sunday race, so the current circuit capacity is unknown. This is important because it was previously stated that the circuit capacity was 105,000 people, and they managed to sell out. In 2026, there were certainly more seats in the renovated hotel at the circuit and for the wealthiest fans in the service alley, as such renovations were confirmed. The stands on Sunday were indeed full; it was visible that people occupied more seats than in previous years. As fans who were at the circuit (many Poles travel there) wrote to me, due to the heat, many fans hid in the shade, so on Friday and Saturday, the stands seemed empty because people were in other parts of the circuit.
| Season | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Weekend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 40,000 | 70,000 | 95,000 | 205,000 |
| 2015 | 25,000 | 35,000 | 55,000 | 115,000 |
| 2016 | 85,000 | |||
| 2017 | 145,000 | |||
| 2018 | 185,000 | |||
| 2019 | 203,000 | |||
| 2021 | 60,000 | 132,000 | ||
| 2022 | 303,000 | |||
| 2023 | 304,000 | |||
| 2024 | 302,000 | |||
| 2025 | 300,000 | |||
| 2026 | 320,000 |
Statistical summaries of previous Formula 1 races and more can be found under the Statistics tag.
Read more Analysis of qualifications before the 2026 British GP
