The Gurgler’s – Austrian Grand Prixview

Hopes are high for tonight’s Austrian Grand Prix with the welcome sight of not only a wet track for qualifying but some high profile mistakes from both of the dominant Mercedes pair. This gives hope of a Grand Prix with a little more excitement than a lot of the races thus far.

Talk after the Canadian GP was about the state of F1, but the disappointment was due to the New Year’s eve type expectations due to a back catalogue of action. Like New Year’s eve it disappointed completely due to raised expectations.

So onto the oversized go kart track that is the Red Bull Ring, it looks Mercedes heaven, and a quick glance at the grid confirms that with only Vettel, Verstappen and Nasr not being powered by a Merc in the Top 10. But with the mistakes in Q3 from both of the silver clad drivers, and the ominous form of Sebastian Vettel, the Williams’, and Le Mans winner Nico Hulkenburg for once there appears to be a chink in the armour and hopes for the casual viewer.

The casual viewer will need binoculars if looking for any of McLarens and Daniel Ricciardo, whose reward for driving some of the poorer cars in the field is to be relegated to the back of the grid due to their underperforming engines requiring changes. Not content with sending these slow cars to the back, all three get a small sachet of additional salt to carry with them with additional drive throughs and stop-go penatlies to be served. The only benefactor appears to be Manor, who may stay in front of some of the closest rivals longer than usual. Another may be the fans waiting for another Alonso outburst to match the one from Canada.

Someone else whose radio might be entertaining is Kimi Raikkonen who was less than impressed after he was less than impressive in qualifying as he was bundled out in Q3, the team not helping him much though.

There appears to be a better than usual chance of rain, so it is with the weather gods that we place our faith in for a chance at a possible new winner for 2015.

THE GURGLER BETS
There’s simply no point or value in betting on Mercedes, Vettel is reasonable value if the race runs to its 2015 schedule at $6.50, but we can go longer odds.

So here’s our roughies for you to avoid or throw a little street money at.

WIN/PODIUM
BOTTAS/HULKENBURG – Win $101 – Podium $6 / $8
FASTEST LAP
RAIKKONEN – $7

Here’s the final grid after all the punishments have been handed out.