My first visit to Austria. I was amazed to see people riding electric scooters without helmets.

A circuit surrounded by beautiful greenery

The Red Bull Ring, where the 13th round of the MotoGP, the Austrian Grand Prix, was held, is located in Spielberg, about 200km southwest of Vienna, the capital of Austria. Author Eri Ito first arrived at Vienna International Airport, where by chance she bumped into a media representative from Red Bull KTM Tech3.

While we were waiting for our turn at a cafe, we chatted and I mentioned that it was my first time at the Red Bull Ring, to which he replied, “It’s a beautiful circuit. Have fun!” As an aside, classical music was playing in the corridors of the airport. I’m terrible at classical music, so all I could think was, “As expected…” but it was at that moment that I truly realized I was in Vienna.

The Red Bull Ring was, as he said, amidst beautiful scenery. The circuit is surrounded by greenery and has a large difference in elevation, totaling 65 meters. It is a circuit located in the middle of a hill.

The circuit itself was built in 1969 and was called the “Osterreichring” at the time. The first F1 race was held there in 1970. Tracing the history of the circuit, we can see that F1 has been held there for a long time.

As for motorcycles, the track was rebuilt in 1996 to become the A1 Ring, and the Road Racing World Championship (WGP) was held there for the first time. The circuit was renovated to become the Red Bull Ring in 2011. The bull statue that stands in the center of the circuit, the symbol of the Red Bull Ring, was completed in 2012. In 2016, the MotoGP was held there for the first time in 19 years.

This history of the circuit can be seen on the walls of the underground passageway of the building that houses the Red Bull Wing, the media center and welcome center, where posters from that time and legendary riders are lined up.

A no-helmet electric scooter seen in Graz

Graz is a large city close to the Red Bull Ring. I stayed in Graz for about 10 days after the Austrian Grand Prix, so I would like to share my experience there.

When you go to a supermarket in Austria, you’ll notice that there are a lot of sausages on display. There are so many different types of sausages. In larger supermarkets, you can find sausages in prepackaged boxes as well as in the meat section.

Schnitzel (German-style cutlet) is also common. Schnitzel is very similar to Japanese tonkatsu, but it is well seasoned and eaten without sauce. It tastes even better with mayonnaise. Tonkatsu loses its flavor when it cools, but schnitzel is still delicious even when cold, which is strange. Incidentally, the schnitzel sandwiches sold in train stations and other places are often cold (but they were still delicious). In terms of food culture, Germany and Austria seem to be quite similar.

What caught my eye was the large number of bicycles. There were a lot of bicycles in Graz. There were bicycle parking lots in front of the station and around town, and many bicycles were parked there. There were also proper “bicycle lanes” on the roads.

Austria’s “Bicycle Master Plan” (to be formulated in 2024) aims to increase the bicycle share to 13% by 2030. With infrastructure development also progressing, I felt that the environment was one in which bicycles could coexist with cars, motorbikes, and pedestrians.

What surprised me were the electric scooters. I was astonished when I saw people riding on them without helmets. At the time, I thought, “Some people are so dangerous,” but later, when I was walking around town, I saw some people riding on electric scooters without helmets, some in bicycle lanes, and even on sidewalks. After researching, I found that anything with a rated output of 250W or less and a maximum speed of 25km/h or less is defined as a “bicycle” (as of August 30, 2025).

Regardless of this rule, I saw electric scooters cruising the streets of Graz, and later in Salzburg (home of the birthplace of composer Mozart), where I visited. They weren’t “frequent,” but they weren’t “rare” either. It seems that electric scooters are becoming more common, just like bicycles.

So, I have brought you a look at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and the atmosphere of Graz, which I visited to cover MotoGP.