F1 fans have been treated to some great racing over the last couple of rounds of the 2024 world championship and the battle at the front of the field is the closest it has been all season as the teams prepare for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.
It's a sprint-race weekend, too, so the action at Spielberg will be relentless and there's even a risk of thunderstorms in the weather forecast that threatens to add more uncertainty to events.
World champion Max Verstappen has been run close in the last two races in Canada and Spain but holds a handy 69-point lead over Lando Norris in the championship after 10 of the scheduled 24 races.
Verstappen is favourite to win in Austria (14:00 BST) but McLaren's Norris has been a close second at the last two races and Ferrari and Mercedes will also hope to be in the mix for podium places.
Verstappen has won at the Red Bull Ring in two of his three world championship seasons, with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari triumphing in the 2022 race there.
- LANDO NORRIS TO WIN
- LEWIS HAMILTON TOP-SIX FINISH
- PIERRE GASLY POINTS FINISH
Norris Could Win In Red Bull's Turf
Max Verstappen has won seven of the 10 races so far this season but he is yet to reel off three successive wins and McLaren's Lando Norris could deny him a third-straight success this time.
Verstappen has posted back-to-back wins three times this year but the previous two sequences were ended by victories for Carlos Sainz Jr. in Australia and Norris in Miami and the McLaren man looks his biggest rival this week.
Norris could have won in Montreal two races ago but missed his chance to pit when leading during a late safety-car period and finished 3.8 seconds behind Verstappen in second.
He looked to have a faster car than the Dutchman for most of last weekend's track action in Barcelona, taking pole but losing the lead at the start of the race. Norris was closing on Verstappen throughout the final stint but was still 2.2 seconds behind at the line.
Verstappen's last two wins in Red Bull's home race have both come by margins of more than 17 seconds but he is likely to be under much more pressure this time and Norris goes well at the short Spielberg circuit, which has the shortest lap time of the season.
Norris had the best result of his F1 rookie season in Austria when he was sixth in 2019 and he stood on an F1 podium for the first time at the track when finishing third in the following season.
The British driver was third again in Austria in 2021, while his fourth-place finish in 2023 marked a vastly improved performance by his team after a mid-season upgrade package.
That development by the team has continued to the point where Norris is now a genuine contender for wins and he could secure another this week.
Russell Can Improved Merc Form
Mercedes began the season off the pace in the championship but have worked their way into the mix at the last couple of races, finishing third and fourth in both Canada and Spain.
George Russell took their first podium finish of the season in Montreal, while Lewis Hamilton led the way in Spain. Hamilton has never really shone in Austria, though, with his only win there coming in 2016 and Russell could be the better bet to make the podium.
Russell took pole position in Canada and excels in wet conditions, which could again be a factor.
He won at this track in GP3 and Formula 2 and while he qualified poorly in Austria last year, he moved forward in both races, improving from 15th to eighth in the sprint and from 11th to seventh in the main race.
Gasly Could Make A Point
Alpine have raised their game in recent races with five points finishes between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in the last three rounds.
Gasly has a decent opportunity to add to his points tally for the fourth successive race.
He has scored points in Spielberg for Red Bull and Alpha Tauri and was 10th in the race last year for Alpine after qualifying an impressive ninth.
With Aston Martin expecting to have another tough weekend, the final points positions should be available for Gasly if his team can maintain the level of their recent performances.
