Red Bull gives (concert) wings, Mathias Lauda in his father’s Ferrari

star pianist Rudolph Buchbinder will sing the national anthem on his grand piano on the start-finish straight. “I’m always up for unusual ideas,” says the 75-year-old, who describes himself as a “huge Formula 1 fan”. “It is a great pleasure for me to interpret the anthem on the piano.”

Red Bull’s masters of ceremonies only got it wrong once with the anthem, when Andrew Gabalier sang the old lyrics, leaving out the “daughters”. But there was a shit storm for the folk rock’n’roller, who is one of the regular guests at the Formula 1 guest performance in Styria. Gabalier is no more found on the official guest lists this year than other top stars.

After all, from the Red Bull squad, celebrities like Aksel Lund Svindal, Henrik Kristoffersen and the RB Leipzig soccer team announced their coming. VIP passes are also available for the snowboard couple Anna Gasser and Clemens Millauer ready. The two-time Big Air Olympic champion will complete a special test of courage on the Red Bull Ring: she will be a KTM factory pilot Mika Kallio do a few laps on the motorbike. The “Twin Seater” bike is a hot potato with 280 hp and a top speed of 340 km/h.

The “Legends Parade” with historic racing cars also promises a special spectacle. Mathias Lauda will drive the Ferrari 312B3, which was his father’s “company car” in 1974 Niki Lauda was. The other classic cars and their pilots: Zak Brown drives in the Lotus 79 (1978/Mario Andretti), Riccardo Patrese controls the Brabham-BMW BT52 (1983), Martin Brundle sits in the Benetton B192 (1992), Ralph Schumacher in the BMW-Williams FW25 (2003) and David Coulthard in the Red Bull 8 of Sebastian Vettel (2012). Speaking of Vettel: the German Aston Martin pilot decided not to take the private plane to make the trip (environmentally) conscious and came to Styria by car.