Rate the race: 2017 Austrian Grand Prix

2017 Austrian Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Austrian Grand Prix.

Since 2008, F1 Fanatic has held polls on every F1 race to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (1%)
  • 9 (2%)
  • 8 (7%)
  • 7 (26%)
  • 6 (28%)
  • 5 (18%)
  • 4 (11%)
  • 3 (4%)
  • 2 (1%)
  • 1 (3%)

Total Voters: 498

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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111 comments on “Rate the race: 2017 Austrian Grand Prix”

  1. Last few laps were very good but rest of them… Gave 6.

    1. I think 6 is too generous for an animated Heineken billboard and nice shots of a low-flying yellow helicopter.

      1. Robin Bollen
        9th July 2017, 15:21

        And then to think that Baku is off next year, should be swapped with Austria

        1. Baku is off next year? No it isn’t, you can even buy tickets for the race already.

          …And be it good or bad, no grand prix should be judged on the basis of one race whether it should be on the calendar.

    2. Same for me, a 6 at best. last laps were a bit more interesting, but the rest was rather dull.

  2. Nothing happened at all. This track and these new cars – boring :(

    1. I think the new cars (and tyres) have generally been a success @f1lauri. The races in general have been good (very good imho), I think we missed Verstappen being in the mix today (may also have been more interesting if Hamilton didn’t have the gearbox penalty and started in third)

  3. Sundar Srinivas Harish
    9th July 2017, 14:12

    Yes! Haha!

  4. Can’t say I enjoyed that at all – could have predicted the finishing order after about lap 2.

    An intriguing last few laps, but not “battles” as such… just Vettel and Hamilton getting closer to Bottas and Ricciardo respectively.

    Not the worst race I’ve seen, but a long way from the best! Perhaps we were spoiled by Baku.

  5. We needed more of the last 3 laps, and less of the first 68…

    1. Agreed @fer-no65 even an additional 3-4 more of the last few (even if the finishing order was the same) would have made a big difference, would have been like the rest of the race was to setup the climax

    2. @fer-no65 and this folks is the start of refuelling’s return to F1! :p

      (those last 3 laps is, like sucrose, something we can eventually have to much of but I guess I don’t think I’d mind just a bit more either)

  6. Well that was dull. Apart from the start and the last three laps nothing happened. It was like Suzuka 2002 and similar snoozefests.

    1. Hahaha, you needed to go all the way back to 2002 to indicate a boring F1 race? :))

      1. Nah, but that race was infamous for being one where nothing actually happened (apart from a few pitstops).

  7. That ending had my heart racing. The middle was quite boring but still worthy of a good score. I’d rather pure racing with less action than a return to the pathetic tyres of old. 8/10

    1. @strontium I agree with you, the race was not a thriller but I still enjoyed watching it. Real racing, real tension in the final laps, you cannot expect much more from the average F1 race unless you are a fan of high deg tyres, reverse grids, caution clocks and similar stuff.

      1. For me it was a blast all the way, but that was probably more to do with being there live than the race @girts, @strontium. Agree though that overall it was good to see real battling, cars trying to catch up, trying to pass and defending position.
        Seems all tyres worked pretty well, good to see that cliff that could drop a car from 1st to around 8th in a lap or two is gone.

        1. @BasCB It’s really cool you were there. Actually I believe that the results would often be different if separate polls were held for the fans that were at the race themselves and those, who were watching it on TV. When you are in the grandstands, you have a very different experience – you see only one part of the circuit but you also see a lot of things that TV cameras miss. You can watch how the gaps between cars shrink or grow, you feel the atmosphere, the sound etc.

          1. I guess that the simple fact that only a relatively small part of us F1-Fanatics manage to visit each race live means that it will only influence the vote by a little bit @girts.

            Yeah, being there is quite a different experience than watching the tv live with the race blog, twitter and timing apps. You get less of the overall picture but more of the emotion and feeling and detail in the parts you can really see.

            I do think that the GA banking at Spielberg is actually the best place to be to follow the race (compared especially with the main grandstand) because you can see a very large part of the track from there. And it is hugely different if you are close to a screen or not – being further off is better IMO, because it prevents you from looking constantly at that instead of the real cars out there :-).

            Also, I must say that Red Bull do a very good job of the organisation of the race. And the little things like having the “grass” in the fan zone FOM introduced recently do help making it feel more welcoming. I think that might help getting more people to want to come back (by the way, GA for Spielberg is only 75 EUR for the whole weekend when bought until the end of the year great pricing)

  8. Jimmie in LA (@)
    9th July 2017, 14:15

    It was all tire strategy and Lewis’ failed. If you can’t run longer on the supers than the ultras, you’re not gonna make up the ground you need.

    1. @reverendfyt Hamilton is certainly capable staying longer and posting faster lap times, but he stuck behind Raikkonen. Pitting him is obviously the best move they can do.

      1. Jimmie in LA (@)
        9th July 2017, 15:26

        I agree, but his aggressive driving wore out his tires too soon. If you’re gonna have the “longer” stint tires on, and can’t get by, drop back and stay out till the other pits and then make your moves.

        1. @reverendfyt it wasn’t Hamilton’s aggressive driving. All the drivers had issues with tyre deg, the Merc’s more than Ferrari. It’s no surprise Hamilton’s tyres went off earlier than the front runners who had clear air. He called for less front wing at the pit stop but they didn’t take enough out, so this hit the SS tyres in the first stint particularly hard following Raikonnen. Not a bad recovery overall, sniff of a podium at the end and he US tyres came back to him in the last part of the race.

          1. His front wing message was broadcast around 5 laps after his pitstop. I don’t believe Mercedes knew that he was struggling with balance.

        2. @reverendfyt I don’t know what you mean. In his first stint, his driving has nothing to do with it because his stop is determined to not get stuck behind Raikkonen, not because his tires are finished. If he stay behind Raikkonen, he’s losing about 0.7s per lap from the top 3, and with hindsight, he would’ve stuck for more than 15 laps more, losing a lot of time in process. Remember after the stop, he effectively gained about 5s to the leaders while Raikkonen is 10s behind him.

    2. @reverendfyt Lewis got past RAI so I wouldn’t say it really failed

      1. Jimmie in LA (@)
        9th July 2017, 19:32

        You are all right and given more time, he would have probably passed Ricciardo. I believe he still ended up with the fastest lap.

        I’m just not a fan of the strategy that isn’t followed through.

  9. Why does it always seem like a race should have had 3-5 more laps? :-)

    The ending built up to a thrill, but prior to that it was a bit of a bore. That said, I did enjoy a nice clean race with no SC/VSC interruptions (unlike Baku, which while flashy, got a bit annoying).

    Good recovery by Williams too, despite the retirements of others they also made up places on their own.

    1. Jimmie in LA (@)
      9th July 2017, 14:34

      You know, if they did make these races longer. It would add a 2nd pit and things could get really interesting.

  10. I thought it was alright, not much battling for most of the race but the cars looked on the limit at least, and some different strategies. Last few laps earn it an extra point or two, so I gave it a 7/10.

  11. I liked it… I really enjoyed seeing how the different strategies panned out throughout the field. Apparently I’m in the minority though.

  12. boring race but this is f1. sometimes interesting sometimes not. no overtaking. it proves the track doesnt matter. so don’t you guys complain about sochi or baku next time. Austria deserved solid 5.

  13. Good race, that end saved it. My heart was racing on those last 4 laps, didn’t even notice that Seb was so close to Bottas, but this season, particularly after Mercedes sorted their Pre season PU woes, power took a jump, they are further ahead in power relative to 2016. Ricciardo defended well it wouldn’t have been possible with the previous spec of Renault engine. In the end it was a little stale but the top 3 teams were very close and that’s really positive.

  14. Thank God we have Austria in the books because it means Sky commentators will have to stop talking about Baku.

  15. This season it looks like races ares shy of a few laps.

  16. Want highlights? First lap, last lap, and I guess show Williams blistering pit stops.

  17. I slept through laps 10 – 51… Gave it a 3.

    1. The race or sleep? 😁

  18. Michael Brown (@)
    9th July 2017, 14:27

    6/10 Better than races like Australia because it had some action during the race and it was close in the last laps

  19. Heh… It could have been very interesting, but other than the first two laps and the last three laps, there really wasn’t much to talk about. The thrill was mostly about whether a driver would’ve to make an unplanned stop due to critical tire issue. It will thus be a 5.

  20. Pretty sure Bottas jumped the start. Still pics taken one frame apart, reds still on but Bottas has clearly shifted.

    https://d2kmm3vx031a1h.cloudfront.net/nnG2ZWk5TPyX1nCweCZf_Bottas%201.jpg

    https://d2kmm3vx031a1h.cloudfront.net/Cwf01iUlTq6BkT1A4SGk_Bottas%202.jpg

    1. Nice one! I presume the stewards are going purely by the detectors on the grid, and while it might have been marginal would have given the benefit of the doubt to the driver.

    2. Pretty sure FIA has the telemetry you don’t have

      1. Pics show he’s engaged gear as well

    3. Agree. Not sure where the sensors are, and how they work exactly, but I guess the rules are clear and he did not break the rules. But he clearly did not react to lights but just started. He was very lucky the lights turned off straight away!

    4. Should have gone to Specsavers. That is all.

    5. petebaldwin (@)
      9th July 2017, 15:10

      Firstly, there needs to be a clear rule on this – what exactly is allowed and what isn’t. It has to be measurable so a jump start can be automatically detected.

      Secondly, if the stewards have access to reaction times, why don’t they show it on TV? That’s really good information that is easy to understand for fans. You could also show 0-100mph or something to show who got up to speed the quickest. It’s really basic information but it’d give you a clear idea of who had the best start.

      1. “if the stewards have access to reaction times, why don’t they show it on TV”

        But they did…and 0-200 km/h time..

      2. They did show this repeatedly; Bottas’s reaction time was 0.201s according to FOM sensors, data & telemetry – so no jump start.

  21. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    9th July 2017, 14:29

    5/10. This race was way too average and fell short of expectations.

  22. Not the worst of the season, but definitely a lot more boring than the previous race, for example.

    1. Well… That was a tall order.

  23. Just a plum average race. Couple of ok overtakes, bit of interesting strategy being played out. But no one will be taking about this race a few weeks from now. It wasn’t switch it off or fall asleep poor. But so meh…

  24. 7/10 Dunno why people said it’s boring, because for me it’s still better than typical F1 race. Good battle for top 5, no one really safe until the chequered flag although I think Ferrari keeps Kimi out for too long before his first stop. Shame to see Ocon vs Massa battle didn’t pan out because they keep getting lapped.

  25. Ferrari, Seb fan
    9th July 2017, 14:34

    Exact same as Russia

  26. Typical 2017 race. It had some promise before the start, but did not deliver.

    Martin Brundle may say it’s a fantastic season, but that is clearly not the case. In fact it’s a rather poor one so far, especially compared to the last five years or so.

    1. In your opinion. I have watched F1 since the mid 80’s and this is a good year. This race was good but not the best. If all races were awesome then awesome would equal average.

      1. I’m watching F1 since the 80’s as well, which means I managed to hang on through the late 90’s and early 00’s. This year is very reminiscent of that period. Little on track action, races decided in qualifying or the pits, that kind of stuff. I don’t know why you think I need an awesome race every race, but the least I can ask for is to be entertained.

        I chose to switch away from the Tour de France to watch the Grand Prix. With hindsight that was a huge mistake.

        1. I’d rather watch an F1 car testing on it’s own all day over cycling….or any other sport.

  27. Neil (@neilosjames)
    9th July 2017, 14:41

    Glad it’s a fairly short race, time wise. Dull on-track showing saved a little bit by a drop or two of uncertainty, and some sort of possibility that overtakes or battles may occur later in the race. They never quite happened, Hamilton and Ricciardo’s brief tussle aside, but as long as there’s something to get a little bit excited about, or to anticipate, F1 is never that dull to watch.

  28. A 7 for me….was a bit quiet in the middle….but still plenty going on…..and what race could follow Baku….and yes the end could have had a different outcome with 2 or 3 extra laps…but I reckon Seb would not have tried a risky pass….too many points on his licence…..

  29. What a thriller! I was thinking about giving it a 9/10 but the shoey drama on the podium made it a clear 10/10! Fewer passes, more shoeys!

    Seriously though, this was just one of those races that could or should have been exciting. However, the weather stayed dry, there was not much room for strategic battles, there were no safety cars and the cars spent almost all of the race in their deserved positions so some 90% of the race was basically a procession. Still, the start was nice and the last couple of laps were really tense; there was a real battle for the top positions, which is never a given. It’s all good. 7/10.

  30. I gave it a 7. There were some battles between the midfielders and towards the end with the front-runners. That gave took it above the mediocre level.

  31. Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
    9th July 2017, 14:56

    6/10
    The excitement came a bit late, we needed 5 laps to have a better show but we didnt have those laps. Unortunately the rain never came, but still we had some interesting strategies, with some staying out(Ferrari’s) & other going for the undercut(Hamilton).

  32. I prefered this one over the chaotic and unfair Baku GP.

  33. The only enjoyable thing was Verstappen’s DNF yet again. The stewards didn’t punish him for his shenanigans last year so lady luck duly does. Also Ferrari should just get rid of Raikkonen. I guess have the grid would have 83 points in 9 races with that car.

    1. Robin Bollen
      9th July 2017, 15:32

      I don’t see your point, his car failed again, he has put F1 in the picture again last season and will keep on doing so, even you don’t like it…

      1. What he did last year was to impress in Brazil while wrecking other’s races elsewhere.

    2. Yeah, Ferrari totally should replace Raikkonen. With:
      Grosjean: can’t work around car difficulties, you know, like the multiple fails Raikkonen had today
      Hulkenberg: fast but prone to error when opportunity arises, kind of like Kimi not winning Monaco
      Perez: fast but gets dicey, also ditched from Ferrari Driver Academy
      Magnussen: outed at McLaren and Renault
      Verstappen/Ricciardo: locked in at Red Bull
      Sainz: hit or miss, plus locked in at Red Bull
      Ocon: too inexperienced
      Wehrlein: too slow in qualifying and too inexperienced
      Alonso/Massa: don’t make me laugh
      Vandoorne/Ericson/Kvyat/Palmer/Stroll: not a chance in hell

      Great idea. Rate it 8/10

      1. @npf1 Giovinazzi or Leclerc? Nah, Ferrari won’t hire a rookie.
        Kimi was pretty weak in first few race weekends, but most of the time he has been just plain unlucky, just like today with technical problems (yet again!) and silly strategy with too long 1st stint just to slow Bottas down. When Kimi will have a trouble-free weekend he will be right there fighting for podiums alongside with VET, HAM and BOT.

      2. I would go for Perez.

    3. Kim Philby: I got away with treachery ‘because I was upper class’

      Enough said ;)

      1. @erikje Is this directed to me? Because I am not the real Kim Philby =:)

  34. petebaldwin (@)
    9th July 2017, 15:01

    I went for a 6. Not a bad race but not a thriller either. It didn’t feel like there was too much wrong with the sport today – it was just a race where not a huge amount happened. DRS wasn’t too strong and the result was interesting for the title fight.

  35. 6/10. Nothing too special, but rather a typical ‘if only this lasted a few laps longer’ race.

    With Ferrari and Mercedes being as close as they are, and Ricciardo there to pick up the pieces, hopefully we can look forward to some more decent races the rest of the season. While the individual races might not always be tremendously exciting, it does feel good that there are more than 2 drivers who can go for race wins and more than 4 who can go for podiums.

  36. 7/10 pretty normal F1 race with a good ending

  37. 6/10 for me, same as Russia. Boring up until the last few laps where Seb went chasing after Bottas with lapped traffic getting in the way. I do think our expectations were artificially raised by Baku though.

  38. terrible race.. DRS is the only thing that made passes or attempted passes, even with cars catching others at the end, only DRS would have made the passes possible. lets get rid of this terrible track.

  39. 5/10
    I would like F1 to be more Brutal. No more everyone is a winner nonsense. If you are lapped your race is over and you have to pit. As a compromise I would say all lapped cars need to retire ten laps before the end of the race.

    1. You would like to have had 10 cars driving after 26 laps?

      1. I was thinking about this during the race, I had the crazy idea of the race being half length, with the field split at this point to have a best of the rest final of 30 laps then the proper final. Each race with a mandatory pit stop.

    2. Totally agree, if sit back there or are not good enough and get lapped, thats where your race ends.

  40. Just want to mention the track advertising. I found it extremely distracting with that massive Heineken bottle flying across the screen. Credit to them, it was very effective advertising but extremely annoying. The position of the cameras made it look like there were beer bottles racing on track. The little action there was was easy to miss today but maybe it was just me.

  41. 5/10 I think – the very definition of an average F1 race.

  42. It was an okay race, but then I watched some footage of the old Osterreichring. OMG- what a monster of a track that was. I can’t believe how much it was butchered – the new layout has almost none of the high speed sweepers that defined the old one.

    So I have to give the race a 5

  43. The best thing about this race was that is was over so quickly.

  44. 5. Although I always say the drivers make the race, only a lunge dive would’ve made this better.

    The problem is that the straights for the current Formula are too short, especially because 2/3 are uphill. You need to extend the first straight.

    Liberty needs to buy some circuits or enforce longer straights on these kind of stop-and-go circuits. But then again, that would be the ultimate solution and money becomes a problem if they don’t just buy the circuits. If they do I would like them to run along the Lorvotto Boulevard at Monaco as well.

  45. Mehhhh….

  46. A good race in one of most beautiful racetrack of formula 1.

  47. Another race where the commentators hyped there being a chance of rain when in reality it was never going to happen. To be honest I’m getting a bit fed up with it.

  48. …flat race (-)
    However, the view is beautiful.

  49. Rick Lopez (@viscountviktor)
    9th July 2017, 20:37

    5. Dull, dull, dull, but at least the last few laps were quite interesting.

  50. I gave it a 7 due to middle pack racing which is not shown enough when the front runners are very predictable. Too bad it did not rain as rain takes away many of the car advantages and allows drivers to show their capabilities. Thanks, Racer Norriski

  51. Beautiful track….boring race

  52. 7.
    Exciting finish.

  53. Very Sochi-like.

    Nothing happened, then you begged for 5 more laps at the end. Love the circuit, but today just wasn’t one to remember.

    4.

  54. I watched the race and just woke up.
    Only a 3 for the part I was awake.

  55. All these negative comments for this Austrian GP make me cringe. I’m not sure what is wrong with modern F1 viewers, weather they look at historical F1 races through rose tinted glasses or they just don’t have the attention span to sit through a race anymore.

    I think this race was one of the better races from the last couple of years. While I agree that the first portion was not that action packed, you always had the sense that it was building towards something.

    This was the first race I can remember in a long time that the director didn’t know where to focus in the final laps because there where 2 great battles happening.

    It just goes to show that you don’t need passing to have an exciting race that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

    1. +1

      Right from the start there were interesting things happening. Gaps and lap times between the top 5 kept varying and it became obvious that there was every chance of a close finish and some close battle,

      I just can’t see how anyone could think that it was a boring race.

  56. 2. Only the last few laps brought it up by a point. Shocking race. At least this championship is very interesting so you have to look at the big picture

  57. Great contender for the Most Average Race of the year. The first and last three laps save it the humiliation of being ranked 4 or lower but the middle 65 Ensure it doesn’t go above 5!

  58. I give it a 4/10. It was a typical boring race. Few overtakes, much predictability, awful stewarding. Even at the end, it was evident Hamilton was not going to pass Ricciardo, and Vettel would not overtake Bottas. The 4 points are merely given because of the good build up towards the race, and the beautiful Austrian scenery.

  59. I missed Azerbaijan due to “it will probably be boring” and then it seems it isn’t.
    I watched the Austrian race due to “it will probably be interesting, because last time was and I did not watch” and then it wasn’t.

    Sigh. 4.

  60. Typical F1 these days.
    Mercedes driver breaks the rules ( I looked at a frame by frame of the start with a view of Bottas’ front wheels and the start lights and Bottas rolled a bit BEFORE the lights went out) but got away with it .
    So,best moment of the race : Bottas jumping the start and so deserving a penalty..
    Worse moment : Bottas jumping the start and getting away with it.
    What will I remember most : Bottas getting away with an illegal start.
    How do I rate the event : 5 ,because the stewards let Bottas break the rules .( I said “event” and not “race” because a race must have a level field and F1 plays favorites :case in point , Bottas’ jump which was permitted )

    1. @rikdi
      Yes, a guy sitting at home watching it frame by frame on his TV would know more than a group of stewards with all the technical analysis in the world. Give me a break.

      1. Yes, some guy sitting at home with NO IDEA of who the stewards are and how they are owned by those placing them in their positions and this same guy who is unaware of or simply ignores the history of F1 officials being repeatedly pro-British driver, anti-German driver and doing whatever is pro-bottom line would know anything other than what he is told by those who he blindly trusts and who obviously did not independently look at the footage to see the wheel roll .
        Yes, a guy who is one of the guys who still believes that if someone in a position of power says it is so then it must be so .
        No wonder the world is in disarray and economic collapse -just believe the party line .

  61. I gave the race a 6.

    It was a decent race and while there was some action, even though I only watched the highlights there didn’t seem to be that much going on.

    I thought the top positions were settled fairly early, although the gaps did close up I didn’t really think anything would happen for most of the race until the final two laps when Vettel got really close to Bottas and Hamilton attempted a move on Ricciardo, for a minute I thought there would be some last lap drama which did raise my rating slightly.

    I am not as anti grid penalties for car problems as some people are, the cases when I mostly don’t like it is when a driver is quickest in qualifying but loses pole because of a grid penalty, so I am glad that Bottas was quickest on Saturday and got pole outright and not because someone else was demoted as heading into qualifying it looked like Hamilton could continue his recent form of being fastest in Q3.

    Vettel’s lead at the top of the championship is slowing increasing, I still feel that it is between Vettel and Hamilton and whichever team wins the development race between Ferrari and Mercedes but more importantly has the best reliability will win the title.

    Bottas may have closed up in the championship and without his DNF when his car failed would be even closer but I can’t see him beating Hamilton over the course of this season unless Hamilton has significantly worse reliability than Bottas.

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