The Red Bull Ring is the site of both the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix and also the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. It’s a simple track, but the elevation changes and the blend of fast and slow corners make it a great circuit to drive.
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While much of the lap is taken at full throttle, the corners which do exist are challenging, and they will require you to set up your car with them very much in mind.
Aerodynamics
At the Red Bull Ring, rear end stability is relatively easy to come by.
Because of this, you can afford to run a car with a pointier front end than at most circuits. Doing so will improve your turn in and allow you to take more speed through the corners in general without risking understeer.
Specifically, 3-4 wing settings work the best for me, as you generally want to run quite low levels of downforce due to a large proportion of the lap being straights.
Transmission
Running your on-throttle differential at 50% is always the way to go. This setting alone will give you enough in the way of stability under traction for this particular circuit.
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For the off-throttle differential, I’ve gone for 65%. The fact that instability isn’t a major issue at this track means that you can run a lower off-throttle setting and therefore get better rotation through the slow corners, mainly turns 3 and 4.
Suspension Geometry
Your camber settings in Austria are a matter of personal preference to a large extent.
I’ve found that -3.00 and -1.50 give me the best performance.
If you feel that you would like more performance in the high-speed corners at the cost of stability and tyre rear, you can run a setting closer to the minimum.
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For your toe setting I suggest going with 0.05 and 0.20, primarily because it will help you limit tyre wear.
Suspension
The suspension settings around Austria are very much open to interpretation.
For the suspension itself, I’ve elected to run 2-4. This gives a nice balance between over and understeer, and using a slightly higher rear suspension stiffness helps it to keep up with the front end through the corners.
The anti-roll bars in particular are very hard to get right. Going with 3-9 is a nice balance, but tweaking these values may lead to faster outright lap times, depending on your driving style.
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The 2020 Austrian Grand Prix has shown us what a nightmare the kerbs around this track can be. Running a 3-5 ride height helps you lean on some of the larger kerbs without losing control of the car.
Brakes
If you’ve read any of my other setup guides you’ll already know my brake recommendations. 100% brake pressure with 50% bias works extremely well.
The high pressure gives you all the stopping power you could ever need, while the low bias percentage compensates for any potential issues with locking the fronts.
Tyres
The tyres can receive quite a bit of stress around Austria, so running slightly lower pressures to help prevent overheating is helpful.
My suggestion is to go with 22.6psi on both front tyres, and 21.1psi on both of the rears. The lower rear tyre pressures will also help a little with traction out of turn 3.
While Austria is a circuit that is less setup dependent than many, it’s nevertheless important to use a setup which makes you comfortable at the wheel.
This setup is designed with that in mind, and you should find these settings give you a car which is a pleasure to drive.
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