"At Zeltweg, down the long straight to the Bosch Kurve, the car was throwing out 1400 bhp and just kept on pushing – you felt like you were sitting on a rocket."

Many considered the Österreichring to be dangerous, especially the Bosch Kurve, a 180-degree banked downhill right-hand corner with almost no run-off area which,[9] by 1986 when turbos pushed Formula One engine power to upwards of 1,400 bhp (1,044 kW; 1,419 PS) in qualifying, saw Derek Warwick speed trapped at 344 km/h (214 mph) in his BMW powered Brabham BT55 on the run to the Bosch Kurve.

At the time it was second only in F1 average speed to Keke Rosberg's 258.9 km/h (160.9 mph) pole lap of the Silverstone Circuit set during the 1985 British Grand Prix.

Motorcycle rider Hans-Peter Klampfer died after a collision with another rider at the Bosch Kurve (where most fatalities happened) and 29-year-old Hannes Wustinger was also killed after a crash at the Tiroch Kurve (the part that was left out of the present circuit) at a race for the Austrian Touring car championship and this sealed the decision to build a new circuit.

Lauda went on to win his third and final championship in 1984, beating his teammate Alain Prost by the smallest margin in F1 history, only half a point.

Its length was shortened from 5.942 to 4.326 km (3.692 to 2.688 mi), and the fast sweeping corners were replaced by three tight right-handers, in order to create overtaking opportunities.

In late 2004 and early 2005, there were intense discussions concerning whether the owner of the circuit, Red Bull, would find another use for the site, or return motorsports to the venue.

In January 2005, return of motorsports seemed more unlikely than ever, as Dietrich Mateschitz publicly announced that he had no intention of wasting money on a deficient circuit.

In 2006, Austrian racing driver Alexander Wurz claimed he would buy the circuit and have it renovated, but the idea never came to fruition.

By 2007, talks involving Red Bull, KTM, Volkswagen and Magna International for a neuer Österreichring failed, after VW pulled out.

In December 2012, Red Bull contacted the FIA to say the track would be available to host a round of the Formula One World Championship in 2013, after a slot became available following the postponement of the proposed New York metropolitan area Grand Prix of America,[14] and by July 2013, Red Bull announced that the Austrian Grand Prix would return as a round of the Formula One World Championship in 2014.

In January 2022, it was revealed that the circuit would be modified slightly for MotoGP and other motorcycle races, with a chicane being introduced at turn 2.

[19] The official lap record for the current circuit layout is 1:05.619, set by Carlos Sainz Jr. driving for McLaren in the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.