Alexander Wurz on Austria 2014

[OverTake.gg]

After the announcement that the Red Bull owned Austrian track has been put on the 2014 calendar, Alex Wurz commented on the return of the grand prix.

The Austrian questioned whether the Red Bull ring will be as much of a driving challenge as it's predecessor, the Osterreichring.

"There's always a debate about whether or not this track is super-sexy or not," Wurz told AUTOSPORT.

"However, for the racing itself, even in the years where overtaking was almost impossible, every year this was the racetrack with the highest amount of overtaking and for that reason it was a cool race for spectators and drivers."

The return of the race was thought to be unlikely, with the track in a poor state of disrepair and endless red-tape preventing a comeback.

"There have been limitations on what [the race organisers] are allowed to do, there have been restrictions on the numbers of days and spectator numbers - there are still some bureaucratic hurdles to catch us.

"I hope there will be no problem with that, but there could be some fights behind the scenes – which I guess is normal to an extent."

Alex Wurz is currently one of the best Austrain drivers around. He drove for Benetton, McLaren and Williams in 69 races between '97 and '07, taking 45 points. A two time Le Mans 24 Hour winner, Wurz is more than qualified to be somewhat of a third-party spokesperson for the Austrian race.

"The main thing is that the Austrian Grand Prix coming back is very important for Austrian motorsport and 99 per cent of the people in the paddock like to come to Austria." he added.

Image: Grand Prix Games

View the Post on the Blog

 

[Jax Humanhater]

Is the former Osterreich/A1-Ring owned by Red Bull, an Austrian company?

 

[Emerson Martins]

Look at that picture, nice CRT, huh?! And A1 Ring/Red Bull Ring is a great track, i'm very happy F1 will race there again.

 

[Howard]

Is the former Osterreich/A1-Ring owned by Red Bull, an Austrian company?

Yes, it is.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Is the former Osterreich/A1-Ring owned by Red Bull, an Austrian company?

Why is this surprising?

 

[Jax Humanhater]

Why is this surprising?

It's surprising because Red Bull owns this track and they could dominate.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

It's surprising because Red Bull owns this track and they could dominate.

Could you expand your thoughts on this one a bit?

 

[Jax Humanhater]

Well, I mean the venue is called the Red Bull Ring, and, Red Bull has done a number of car displays on the track if I'm not mistaken, so, maybe for one year, they will have the edge over the competition.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

That´s with older cars, they still won´t be able to run their current car on the track until the event.
The only thing that would be worrying (if even that) is if testing is more relaxed next year and they do their testing on their own track which later will house a grand prix.
That could give them an edge going into the race weekend already knowing a lot about the car and track.

But that´s only if they are allowed to test outside the proposed venues, i believe Dubai and Abu Dhabi wanted to test.