Red Bull not expecting home-ground advantage

SPIELBERG (AUSTRIA) — Red Bull doubt coming home will be an advantage, as Formula 1 returns to Austria this week for the first time in 11 years.

Team drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel finally ended Mercedes’ six-race winning streak by finishing 1-3 in the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago.

However, just when their F1 fortunes have taken an upturn, they do not believe their home track, the old A1 Ring redubbed the Red Bull Ring, will give them anything more than an emotional boost in the Austrian Grand Prix.

Even then, teams that have been eating Red Bull’s exhaust for the past four years are keen to pay them in kind on their home track.

“It adds a bit of extra motivation,” F1 leader Nico Rosberg of Mercedes admitted. “It would be really special to win on the A1 Ring.”

Ricciardo and Vettel believe rivals Mercedes will bounce back from their hiccup in Montreal and go into the Austrian GP as deserved favourites. “We’ve got a bit of steam from the last race. We’re all really excited — the home one for Red Bull — but (closing the gap) is still going to take a bit of time — it’s not going to happen overnight,” said Ricciardo.

Only engine troubles have stymied Mercedes this season. But Lewis Hamilton said: “The car has been fixed, so that won’t happen again ... We have a lot races ahead of us, so a couple of DNFs are not concerning me too much now. I have done my optimum, but there is still room for improvement.”

The Austrian GP was last held in 2003, when Michael Schumacher triumphed on his way to the sixth of his seven world titles. At 4.3km, the track is one of the shortest on the calendar. Modified slightly since, it has fast straights and features only nine turns. Of the current group of drivers, only Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have raced there.

“To be honest, I don’t remember anything ... I have no memories,” Alonso said. “(It) is a very short circuit, so there are only five or six corners around here where you can make the time, so I expect all the cars to be very close. One or two tenths (in time), you can make a lot of places, so you just need to make a perfect lap.” AP