WHAT TO WATCH: The storylines to keep an eye on in Spielberg

23 June 2026

The 2026 season continues in Spielberg with the drivers and their teams set to go head-to-head once again at Round 6.

It has been an incredibly competitive campaign, with multiple polesitters and winners, and the action is set to continue this weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

So here are a few topics to look out for this weekend…

THE QUALIFYING BATTLE

Spielberg is one of the shortest tracks on the calendar and that means the margins are incredibly tight, especially in Qualifying.

For example, in 2024, Dennis Hauger took pole position ahead of Joshua Duerksen by just 0.008s.

Last season, Victor Martins lost out on P1 to Leonardo Fornaroli by 0.014s, in a Qualifying session that saw the top 10 covered by three-tenths.

Fornaroli took pole last year by just 0.008s over Victor Martins

In fact, the gap from Fornaroli to P21 was 0.861s, showing how close the battle for pole is in Spielberg.

So the drivers and teams will come into the weekend knowing that the tiniest things can make or break a lap, and a slight mistake can be the difference between pole and potentially being outside the top 10.

As a result, the drivers often want to get a tow, with the majority of the first two sectors made up of long straights and three DRS zones.

But if you are too close to the car in front, the drivers may have to deal with dirty air in the final sector which is made up of medium to high speed corners.

Both drivers and teams will have to be on their A-games this week as there will be little to no room for error.

CAMPOS BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN?

Campos Racing became the first team to win in each of the first four rounds of a season, but that streak ended in Barcelona.

Tsolov leads Campos charge this year with the team having five wins already this season

That record matched Invicta Racing’s run of four victories from the middle part of 2025, with only PREMA Racing’s six wins in six consecutive rounds in 2021 beating them.

The Spanish outfit will be eager to start a new streak of wins, and they return to Spielberg where they won last year with Josep María Martí in the Sprint Race.

But there are other teams on the grid who will be keen to get in the win column, as only Campos and Invicta (2) have more than one win this year.

There are also six other teams who are yet to win a race this season, and with the close nature of the races in Spielberg and the long DRS straights, it could be anybody’s game this weekend.

THE START OF A BIG FIVE WEEKS

Five rounds in and the championship contenders are starting to make themselves known.

Gabriele Minì leads the Standings on 86 points, but he is certainly not running away from the field, with Nikola Tsolov just six points behind.

The championship fight is incredibly close heading to Spielberg

Rafael Câmara, Alexander Dunne and Noel León – who have all been on the podium multiple times this season – round out the top five.

But the likes of Dino Beganovic, Martinius Stenshorne, Laurens van Hoepen and Kush Maini from sixth to ninth have all had success this year.

In addition to that, there are drivers who have shown strong pace at times but are yet to consistently string a good set of results together.

Spielberg kicks off a run of four rounds in five weeks before the summer break, and this next month could be critical to every driver’s chances of winning the title.

A bad result at the Red Bull Ring will not end your championship hopes but positive momentum is always ideal during this busy period.