WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Overtaking games and tyre strategy in Spielberg

26 June 2025

The hills are alive with the sound of single seater racing cars as Formula 2 prepares to tackle the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg for Round 7 of the 2025 campaign.

The Austrian circuit always provides action in both the Sprint and Feature Races, and with the Drivers’ Championship fight still incredibly close, we’re poised for another intriguing weekend.

Here are a few major points you’ll want to pay extra attention to across Round 7.

UNDERTAKING SOME OVERTAKING

As is always the case in Spielberg, the layout of the Red Bull Ring means that overtaking is plentiful and 2025 should be no different.

The long DRS zones up the hill into Turn 3 and then back down into Turn 4 are very powerful and can lead to a lot of wheel-to-wheel action from start to finish.

Turn 3 is the most popular location to pull off a pass, with the uphill nature of the corner enabling drivers to brake super late and make some brave dives to the inside of the car ahead.

However, it’s a double-edged sword as the run out of Turn 3 is crucial for the next straight and DRS zone into a slightly trickier downhill braking zone at Turn 4.

As before, a dive to the inside is possible, but if a driver can brave it around the outside of Four, that turns into the inside line at the next big corner at Turn 6.

We’ve seen plenty of action last for almost an entire lap around the Red Bull Ring, so expect plenty of drama this year also.

KEYS TO QUALIFYING

Pole is usually won by very fine margins around the Red Bull Ring

The short lap in Spielberg means margins are fine and come Qualifying, a hundredth of a second can be the difference between the front row and fifth on the grid.

In 2020, Felipe Drugovich secured P2 while Mick Schumacher had to settle for fifth less than a hundredth off the Brazilian’s laptime.

Last season, the entire 22-car grid was separated by less than a second, as Dennis Hauger took pole by just 0.008s over Joshua Duerksen, so every single metre counts around the Red Bull Ring.

Nailing every braking zone, maximising traction out of the corners and minimising scrub through the high-speed sweeps will be the difference. The prospect of strong points in both races and an uphill fightback on Saturday and Sunday from outside the top 10 will be game of fine margins.

Whoever takes pole will have achieved a stellar lap, while their rivals will likely be ruing just one minor error that kept them from being P1 on the day.

With how close the Championship has already been to this point, Friday’s grid-setting session is must-watch.

STRATEGY GAMBLES

MP Motorsport and Franco Colapinto pulled off the alternative strategy to earn P2 in the Feature Race last year

The alternative strategy has been put to good use already this season, with Richard Verschoor in particular demonstrating how a late pitstop onto the softer compound can pay dividends.

The Prime-Option tyre strategy is always a difficult one to make work, but in recent years we’ve seen several examples in Spielberg of how that can lead to success.

In 2023, Verschoor and Ayumu Iwasa benefitted from a late-race Safety Car to make their mandatory pitstop and charge through the top 10 to first and second respectively in the Feature Race.

Last year, Franco Colapinto put together a hugely impressive stint on the Soft tyres before making a late-race switch to the Supersoft and charging through to second on the podium.

MP Motorsport and Verschoor have been the alternative strategy masters so far in 2025, but might we see someone else take a gamble and use the fresher rubber late on in the Spielberg Feature Race to their advantage.