Weather biggest challenge for Verstappen and Red Bull at Austrian Grand Prix home

Max Verstappen and Red Bull are set for a poignant return to Austria praying the closing pack do not spoil the party.

It will be the first time the Formula One champions have raced on their home track since billionaire co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz died last October aged 78.

Their Austrian benefactor has been one of the most influential men in F1 history. He not only financed the team and its sister operation, AlphaTauri, but invested tens of millions re-building the Spielberg scene of Sunday’s Grand Prix near Graz and getting it back on the calendar.

On pure form there is only one team in the game as Red Bull have won all eight Grands Prix so far but the rest are closing in.

Max Verstappen’s 50-second advantage at the opening round in Bahrain has been trimmed to less than 10 seconds at the last round in Canada.

But with Montreal showing that even a little rain can wreak chaos, it will warm fans’ hearts to know the forecast for the weekend is rain, rain and more rain, and that should make it the toughest test yet for the young Dutchman, especially with the packed sprint schedule.

There will be just one practice session Friday morning before afternoon qualifying for Sunday’s race. Then Saturday will see a shortened 30m qualifying for the afternoon mini race as F1 experiments again with the sprint format.

As the most successful driver at Spielberg in recent history with four wins, it is pressure Verstappen has overcome before, and he, no doubt, gets a boost from knowing it has proven the Achilles Heel of his biggest rival, Lewis Hamilton, time and again.

Lewis Hamilton has traditionally struggled at Spielberg, collecting two wins. AFP

The Mercedes driver's perennial struggle to produce his best on the 10-corner shortest