Analysis: F1 set for lowest pole time in 30 years in Austria

Last year's resurfacing of the Red Bull Ring helped to produce quicker laptimes, although rain compromised Q3.

However, in Q2 Lewis Hamilton set the fastest official qualifying lap ever achieved at the venue, a 1m06.228s, beating the record set by Michael Schumacher in 2003.

It was also the lowest qualifying laptime set anywhere since the 1990 French GP, when Nigel Mansell was fastest for Ferrari at the short version of Paul Ricard.

If this weekend's pole is quicker than Mansell's mark of 1m04.402s, it will be the lowest qualifying laptime since 1985, when the same driver took pole at Kyalami with the Williams-Honda.

To achieve that pole at the Red Bull Ring will have to be some 1.827s quicker than Hamilton's 2016 Q2 lap.

With the changes to the regulations in 2017 pole times have been faster at every venue this year, with the year-on-year improvement ranging from 0.724s in Bahrain to 3.724s in China. The average gain over the eight races held thus far has been 2.106s.

While the short lap in Austria means that the proportional improvement may be smaller, it's worth noting that Hamilton's 2016 Q2 time did not represent the ultimate pace of his car, which he was not able to demonstrate due to the rain before Q3.

The all-time list is dominated by laptimes recorded at Dijon, which was extended after the original 2.0-mile track was first used for the 1974 French GP, but still had a very short 2.3-mile lap even in its new guise.

The original Watkins Glen was also a short 2.3-mile lap until it was lengthened in 1971.

Kyalami would have figured higher on the all-time list had turbo F1 cars raced there in 1986-87, so its fastest lap remains the one achieved by Mansell in 1985.

The following table shows where Austria's 2017 pole lap could fit into the all-time list:

Year	Circuit	Driver	Laptime
1974	Dijon	Niki Lauda	58.790s
1982	Dijon	Alain Prost	1m01.380s
1984	Dijon	Patrick Tambay	1m02.200s
1985	Kyalami	Nigel Mansell	1m02.366s
1970	Watkins Glen	Jacky Ickx	1m03.070s
1969	Watkins Glen	Jochen Rindt	1m03.620s
1968	Watkins Glen	Mario Andretti	1m04.200s
1990	Paul Ricard	Nigel Mansell	1m04.402s
1985	Kyalami	Nelson Piquet	1m04.871s
1967	Watkins Glen	Graham Hill	1m05.480s
1985	Silverstone	Keke Rosberg	1m05.591s
1981	Dijon	Rene Arnoux	1m05.950s
2016	Spielberg	Lewis Hamilton	1m06.228s (Q2)
1982	Kyalami	Alain Prost	1m06.351s
1987	Paul Ricard	Nigel Mansell	1m06.454s
1986	Paul Ricard	Ayrton Senna	1m06.526s
1983	Kyalami	Patrick Tambay	1m06.554s
1986	Brands Hatch	Nelson Piquet	1m06.961s
1987	Silverstone	Nelson Piquet	1m07.110s
1985	Brands Hatch	Ayrton Senna	1m07.169s
1979	Dijon	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	1m07.190s
1989	Paul Ricard	Alain Prost	1m07.203s
1990	Silverstone	Nigel Mansell	1m07.428s
1988	Paul Ricard	Alain Prost	1m07.589s
2003	Spielberg	Michael Schumacher	1m07.908s*
2016	Spielberg	Lewis Hamilton	1m07.922s (Q3)
2002	Spielberg	Rubens Barrichello	1m08.082s
1966	Watkins Glen	Jack Brabham	1m08.420s
2015	Spielberg	Lewis Hamilton	1m08.455s
2014	Spielberg	Felipe Massa	1m08.759s