In addition to the progression in speeds seen elsewhere since last season, encouraged partly by the introduction of the ultrasoft tyre, the Red Bull Ring has been resurfaced, and some bumps have been removed. That led to a significant improvement in lap times at the recent DTM event.

Last year Lewis Hamilton set a pole position time of 1m08.455s, but the fastest official qualifying lap turned at the track was the 1m07.908s achieved by Michael Schumacher in the Friday session in 2003 - although the quickest actual pole lap was the 1m08.038s recorded by Rubens Barrichello in 2002.

Teams anticipate that this year's fastest qualifying laps will be in the 1m06s range, and may even dip into the 1m05s. DTM frontrunner and Williams F1 reserve Paul Di Resta believes that there will be a significant improvement.

“For us it was 2.5s faster in qualifying [in DTM],” Di Resta told Motorsport.com. “It's just a bit smoother with more grip in the corners, but conditions were probably spot-on as well.

"It's more difficult to get the tyre going, but it just gets quicker and quicker. It's less bumpy, so you can optimise the car a lot more. You can run it lower, which is obviously far better for the aero.

“The bumps weren't that bad before, but they were in places that challenged you a bit, especially braking for Turn 2 up the hill, and the final two corners.

"There's a lot less compression through the final corner, the profile has changed slightly, so it's a bit more of a normal corner. The kerbs are a bit different as well, so it's little flatter and a bit more forgiving to a point.

"I think it misses a bit of the character it had. I think I preferred it when it was a bit rough around the edges!

“With the evolution of the cars and the soft tyres I'd expect it to be in 1m05s or something. It's going to be mighty quick. It'll be busy for the drivers, it'll be a challenge for them.”

Any pole lap faster than Schumacher's 2003 Austrian GP benchmark will also be the lowest qualifying lap time since the 1990 French GP, when Nigel Mansell recorded a pole 1m04.402s, which will remain out of reach for now.

However, the likelihood is that next year – when rule changes will make the cars faster still – pole in Austria could be among the lowest F1 lap times ever recorded.

Here's a summary of where Austria's 2016 pole lap could fit into the all-time list:

Lowest pole position lap times in F1 history:

Year Venue Driver Lap time 1974 Dijon Niki Lauda 58.79s 1982 Dijon Alain Prost 1m01.380s 1984 Dijon Patrick Tambay 1m02.200s 1985 Kyalami Nigel Mansell 1m02.366s 1970 Watkins Glen Jacky Ickx 1m03.07s 1969 Watkins Glen Jochen Rindt 1m03.62s 1968 Watkins Glen Mario Andretti 1m04.20s 1990 Paul Ricard Nigel Mansell 1m04.402s 1985 Kyalami Nelson Piquet 1m04.871s 1967 Watkins Glen Graham Hill 1m05.48s 1985 Silverstone Keke Rosberg 1m05.591s 1981 Dijon Rene Arnoux 1m05.95s 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 1m06.691s 1987 Silverstone Nelson Piquet 1m07.110s 1988 Silverstone Gerhard Berger 1m07.110s 1985 Brands Hatch Ayrton Senna 1m07.169s 1979 Dijon Jean-Pierre Jabouille 1m07.19s 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* 2002 Spielberg Rubens Barrichello 1m08.082s 1966 Watkins Glen Jack Brabham 1m08.42s 2015 Spielberg Lewis Hamilton 1m08.455s 2014 Spielberg Felipe Massa 1m08.759s

*Not pole but achieved in Friday session, which determined Saturday qualifying order.