Originally built in 1969, the Österreichring measured 5.942 km (3.692 mi) in length and was narrow throughout at 10 m (11 yd). Every corner was a fast sweeper taken in no lower than third gear in a five-speed gearbox, or fourth in a six-speed gearbox. The track had noticeable elevation changes of 65 m (213 ft) from lowest to highest point. The circuit was hard on engines due to the consistently high speeds, and more difficult still on tyres. The start-finish straight was very narrow — approximately 10 m (33 ft) — compared to the 12 to 15 m (40 to 50 ft) common at other circuits of the era.
Key corners included the Bosch Kurve, a 180-degree banked downhill right-hand corner with almost no run-off area; the Voest-Hugel, a flat-out 290 km/h (180 mph) right-hander; and the Sebring-Auspuff Kurve (also known at various times as Dr. Tiroch and Glatz Kurve), a 240 km/h (150 mph) corner that was essential to get right because of the long straight leading to the Bosch Kurve that followed.
The circuit's fast, uncompromising nature made it spectacular but dangerous. The Bosch Kurve was particularly feared; by 1986, when turbocharged Formula One engines produced upwards of 1,400 bhp (1,044 kW; 1,419 PS) in qualifying, Derek Warwick was speed-trapped at 344 km/h (214 mph) in his BMW-powered Brabham BT55 on the approach to that corner.
American driver Mark Donohue died after crashing at the Hella-Licht Kurve in 1975. The corner was tightened in 1976 to become a single right-hander rather than two right-handers, and then in 1977 it was slowed further into a chicane, going from the fastest to the slowest corner on the track.
The narrow pit straight caused accidents in both 1985 and 1987. The 1985 Austrian Grand Prix was stopped after one lap following a start-line shunt that eliminated three cars, including the Ferrari of championship leader Michele Alboreto and the Arrows-BMW of local driver Gerhard Berger. In practice for the 1987 race, McLaren's Stefan Johansson narrowly avoided serious injury when, at over 240 km/h (150 mph), he collided with a deer that had made its way onto the track while cresting a blind brow before the Jochen Rindt Kurve. The 1987 race itself had to be restarted twice due to two progressively more serious accidents on the narrow pit straight.
During the final Formula One race at the circuit in 1987, pole-sitter Nelson Piquet's lap time of 1:23.357 set an average speed record for the circuit of 256.621 km/h (159.457 mph), second only at the time to Keke Rosberg's 258.9 km/h (160.9 mph) pole lap at Silverstone during the 1985 British Grand Prix. Both times were set in turbocharged Williams-Honda cars.
Motorcycle rider Hans-Peter Klampfer died after a collision at the Bosch Kurve, and 29-year-old Hannes Wustinger was killed after a crash at the Tiroch Kurve during an Austrian Touring Car Championship race. These fatalities sealed the decision to build a new circuit.
Niki Lauda is the only Austrian driver to have won the Austrian Grand Prix. He won the 1984 Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring driving a McLaren-TAG Porsche. Lauda went on to win his third and final championship in 1984, beating his teammate Alain Prost by the smallest margin in F1 history — half a point. He announced his permanent retirement from driving at the circuit before the 1985 race. Four-time world champion Alain Prost often stated that while all tracks could be changed, the Österreichring should remain unchanged and simply have run-off areas added — which eventually happened up until the original track's final year in 1995.
Safety concerns at the Österreichring reached a head in the mid-1990s. In 1995 and 1996 the circuit was totally rebuilt at the same site by Hermann Tilke. Its length was shortened from 5.942 to 4.326 km (3.692 to 2.688 mi), and the fast sweeping corners were replaced by three tight right-handers intended to create overtaking opportunities. Three long straights and a twisty infield section demanded a setup compromise. As much of the construction work was paid for by the mobile phone provider A1, the track was renamed the A1-Ring. It hosted seven Formula One Austrian Grands Prix between 1997 and 2003, as well as several DTM races and the Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix in 1996 and 1997.
After the Austrian Grand Prix contract ended, the circuit was sold to Dietrich Mateschitz of Red Bull in 2004. The grandstands and pit buildings were demolished in 2004, rendering the track unusable. In January 2005, Mateschitz publicly announced he had no intention of wasting money on a deficient circuit, but speculation grew through 2005 and beyond about a renovation. Talks in 2007 involving Red Bull, KTM, Volkswagen, and Magna International for a neuer Österreichring failed after VW pulled out.
Late in 2008, Red Bull began a €70 million reconstruction of the track. The circuit, now known as the Red Bull Ring, was reopened on 15 May 2011 and subsequently hosted a round of the 2011 DTM season and a round of the 2011 F2 championship. Formula One returned in the 2014 season, and MotoGP returned in 2016 for the first time since 1997.
In 2020 and 2021, the Red Bull Ring hosted a second Formula One event named the Styrian Grand Prix and a second MotoGP event named the Styrian motorcycle Grand Prix, after the COVID-19 pandemic affected both series' schedules. In 2020, the circuit hosted the opening two races of the Formula One season — the first time Austria hosted the opening race of the World Championship, and the first time a European circuit hosted the opening round since Monaco in 1966.
On 30 June 2019, in honour of the late three-time Formula One World Champion Niki Lauda, the first turn of the track was renamed the Niki Lauda Turn.
In January 2022, a chicane was introduced at turn 2 for MotoGP and other motorcycle races, while the Formula One layout remained unchanged.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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