2016 Austrian Grand Prix

The 2016 Austrian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Österreich 2016) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 3 July 2016 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The race, which was contested over 71 laps, was the ninth round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marked the 30th running of the Austrian Grand Prix and the 29th time it had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the series inception in 1950.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg entered the round as the defending race winner and championship leader, with a 24-point advantage over his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton started the race from pole and went on to win the race after colliding with Rosberg on the final lap; as a result, Rosberg finished fourth behind Max Verstappen and Kimi Räikkönen, and saw his championship lead cut to eleven points. Mercedes led rivals Ferrari by 81 points in the Constructors' standings at the start of the round, extending their lead to 103 after Sebastian Vettel retired.

Going into the weekend, Nico Rosberg was leading the Drivers' Championship with 141 points, 24 points ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Sebastian Vettel a further 21 points behind in third. In the Constructors' Championship standings, Mercedes was in the lead with 258 points, followed by Ferrari and Red Bull Racing with 177 and 140 points respectively.

The circuit was resurfaced ahead of the race weekend, smoothing out many of the bumps and imperfections that had developed over time. The new surface—introduced to allow the circuit to accommodate a round of the MotoGP World Championship—saw teams projecting lap times of under 1:06.000 for the first time.

The event also saw the introduction of "baguette" kerbs, a series of low-set ridges positioned on the outside of corners designed to prevent drivers from abusing track limits by forcing them to run wide to avoid them or slow down to avoid damage. The baguette kerbs were positioned one car-width from the outside of corners to allow drivers some margin for error. Max Verstappen was critical of the changes, calling the new kerbs "dangerous" after damaging his car twice in free practice after having run over them. Others joined into the criticism, with Mercedes urging the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the sport's governing body, to make changes to the kerbs.

Following an unscheduled gearbox change made ahead of the race weekend, Sebastian Vettel received a five-place grid penalty for the race.

Sole tyre supplier Pirelli brought the ultra-soft, supersoft and soft tyres to the event. As per the regulations of the 2016 season, every driver had to set aside one set each of the two softest compounds for the race and one set of the ultrasofts for Q3 (should they advance). The drivers had freedom of what other compounds they chose for the remaining ten out of thirteen sets.

Per the regulations for the 2016 season, two 90-minute practice sessions were held on Friday and another 60-minute session was held before qualifying on Saturday. In the first session on Friday morning, Nico Rosberg set the fastest time at 1:07.373. The projected fast lap times were confirmed as Rosberg's time was faster than the previous fastest time set on the track by Michael Schumacher in 2003. Rosberg finished more than three-tenths of a second clear of teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen third and fourth respectively, the only other drivers within a second of Rosberg. There were several minor incidents during the session, including Hamilton spinning at turn 3, causing Romain Grosjean to go into a spin behind him when trying to avoid hitting him. Rosberg also went off the track at the same corner later in the session. Daniel Ricciardo posted the fifth-fastest time, but was lucky to escape a situation in which Marcus Ericsson got sideways while trying to get into the pitlane entry at turn 8. The revised kerbs of the track caught several drivers out, among them Max Verstappen who lost parts of his front wing when leaving the track at turn 8. Later on, he made contact with the kerbs again in turn 6, damaging his suspension, causing him to end the session early.