Very bad weather is expected in Austria for Saturday, so qualification may not take place. Should it actually come to that, there is a possibility that the times of the second free practice session will be used to make up Sunday's grid.
Bad weather on the way
"The weather doesn't look very good in the mountains", says team boss of Mercedes Toto Wolff at the press conference prior to the Styrian Grand Prix. A lot of rain is expected on the Red Bull Ring.
"We're therefore going to step up a gear during the second free practice, in case the result of the second free practice is used as a starting position", says Wolff.
Different race than last week
According to Wolff the race next Sunday will be a different one than the one we saw last Sunday: "We were surprised by those safety cars. They want to mess things up sometimes. Besides, a lot went wrong with us." Wolff is referring to the reliability problems with the Mercedes W11.