The 2020 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix opened the 2020 F1 season on July 5th as a result of Australia’s cancellation back in March due to the quickly spreading Covid-19 pandemic.
After Australia had been cancelled two days before its scheduled race day, it was clear that the 2020 F1 season would require some calendar adjustments, so this race marked the beginning of a two-part season opener around the Red Bull Ring.
The F1 Styrian Grand Prix took place one week after the Austrian GP, marking the first instance in F1 history where the same track layout and venue hosted consecutive championship races.
The Austrian double-header was required to be held behind closed doors due to lockdown restrictions, but there was still major global interest as to how the 2020 grid would shape out as the reduced testing had left many question marks around car performance.
“We Race as One”
To tackle global discrimination, F1 launched the “We Race as One” initiative and displayed rainbows around the circuit to connect communities and promote inclusiveness.
Mercedes changed their W11’s livery from silver to black in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in its ongoing quest to end racism.
McLaren also tweaked their livery as they displayed a rainbow on the halo and sidepod and noted “End Racism” messaging on their car.
Who showed up looking fast?
On F1’s return to the track post-Covid, it was reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton that topped both of Friday’s free practice sessions as Mercedes once again looked to be the ones to beat.
However, Red Bull Racing-Honda lodged a complaint with the FIA on Friday evening concerning the legality of Mercedes’ DAS system. The complaint was subsequently reviewed but ultimately dismissed by Formula 1’s governing body.
On Saturday’s hotter temperatures, more drivers seemed to struggle as Nicholas Latifi became the first driver of the season to crash as he found the barriers at turn one.
Hamilton led home another Mercedes 1-2 in FP3 as his teammate Valtteri Bottas looked to be the only man who could deny Hamilton pole position in qualifying.
F1 qualifying returns
In Q1, it was the Williams and Alfa Romeo cars that made up the back two rows of the grid with George Russell and Antonio Giovinazzi outqualifying their teammates. They were joined in the bottom five by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen who missed out by 0.070 seconds. Max Verstappen topped a session for the first time across the weekend as he went fastest.
It was a nightmare for Ferrari in Q2 as Sebastian Vettel was knocked out in P11 with his teammate Charles Leclerc just sneaking through in P10. Also eliminated was both Alpha Tauris, Esteban Ocon and Romain Grosjean. Bottas this time denied Hamilton as he showed promising pace to top the timing sheet.
In the opening advances in Q3, Bottas claimed provisional pole ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen, with the Mercedes pair almost five tenths clear of the rest of the field. However, the Finn went off in sector two on his final run which brough out the yellow flags and put his provisional pole position under massive threat. Hamilton came close but it wasn’t enough as Bottas took the opening pole position of the 2020 season by 0.012 seconds. Verstappen, Lando Norris and Alex Albon completed the top five, but they were all a long way off the leading Mercedes.
Hamilton handed penalty
After qualifying, the stewards summoned Hamilton for allegedly failing to slow down for yellow flags that Bottas had caused during his final run in Q3.
The stewards initially cleared the Briton of any wrongdoing. However, when Red Bull challenged the decision, the stewards reviewed new footage and concluded that Hamilton had ignored yellow flags.
They handed the world champion a three-place grid penalty for the race, forcing him to start the Austrian GP from fifth and promoting Verstappen to the front row alongside Bottas.
Let’s go racing
As the lights went out for a F1 grand prix for the first time in seven months, Bottas got the perfect start as he sprinted off in the lead. Meanwhile, the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Albon were under pressure from Norris and Hamilton, but both held position in second and fourth respectively.
By lap nine, Norris had dropped to fifth behind Albon and Hamilton, with the latter passing the Red Bull into turn four to move into the podium places.
Season opener mechanical issues
It was disaster for Red Bull on lap 11 as Verstappen seemed to be going slowly with an electrical issue which his mechanics couldn’t fix in the pits, forcing the Dutchman to retire from the race.
Daniel Ricciardo was looking on for a points finish with Lance Stroll struggling in ninth with a power loss issue. However, the Australia was forced to retire from the race himself with a suspected overheating problem. Stroll wasn’t too far behind him as on lap 21 he retired after dropping three places due to a lack of power.
On lap 26, Kevin Magnussen suffered a brake failure which caused him to go straight on at turn three and stranded in the gravel, bringing out the safety car.
Safety car pit window
With the safety car deployed, everyone expect Grosjean, who had already pitted, came in for a fresh set of tyres.
At the restart on lap 31, the top five were Bottas, Hamilton, Albon, Norris and Sergio Perez.
Into turn three, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were battling over P6 when Vettel behind them locked up his front right tyre and found himself lunging up the inside of the McLaren, causing contact and spinning Vettel’s Ferrari around.
Two laps after the restart, Perez was finding some fast pace in his Racing Point and breezed past Norris with DRS to take fourth.
Tyres and failures
On lap 51, Russel’s Williams lost fuel pressure which left the Briton stranded on the grass as he pulled over at turn four. Meanwhile, Grosjean headed to the pits for retirement after another Haas brake failure.
Race control recalled the safety car to the track as marshals removed the Williams, which split the strategies of the remaining 14 drivers: the leading Mercedes cars stayed out on hard tyres, while Albon pitted for a fresh set of softs.
The Thai driver only dropped one position to Perez and would start the restart from P4 where a potential maiden win now looked possible.
However, when the restart got underway on lap 55, the right-front wheel of Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo detached from the car, forcing him to come to a stop on the pit straight and bringing out the safety car once again.
Albon took advantage of the very short restart period, passing Perez going into turn three just moments before race control deployed the third safety car of the afternoon.
Hamilton and Albon collide
The race finally returned to green flag racing on lap 61 as Bottas held his lead at the front, but behind him his teammate was coming under huge pressure from Albon on the soft tyres.
The Red Bull gained on Hamilton on the run down towards turn four and Albon attempted a move around the outside, but they made contact, and the Thai driver was sent spinning into the gravel and out of the points.
Further back, Sainz was moving forward in his McLaren as he overtook Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly to take sixth place.
Leclerc and Norris chase the podium
Leclerc was flying in his Ferrari as he passed Norris and Perez on laps 64 and 65 respectively to move into third place.
On lap 66, the stewards handed Hamilton a five-second penalty after judging him responsible for the collision with Albon. Perez received an identical penalty, but for speeding in the pit lane.
Whilst Albon retired with an electrical failure to compile his misery, Norris made a late move on Perez at turn three to take fourth on lap 69 as he attempted to remain within five seconds of Hamilton’s Mercedes for a maiden podium finish.
On lap 70, Daniil Kvyat became another driver to retire after suffering a rear puncture that damaged his suspension, leaving just 11 drivers running in the Austrian GP.
Bottas takes a thriller
At the end of lap 71, Bottas crossed the line to take a measured victory in which he led every single lap. The victory was the eighth of his career and his second in four years around the Red Bull Ring.
Behind him, there were battles everywhere on the last lap as Norris desperately attempted to stay within five seconds of Hamilton and with many a fastest lap, he achieved his maiden podium finish in F1 with a gap of 4.8 seconds to the Mercedes.
As a result of his penalty, the world champion would have to settle for fourth behind the impressive trio of Bottas, Leclerc and Norris.
Meanwhile, Sainz passed Perez on the final lap to take fifth, and Perez kept sixth on the road, as his penalty did not affect his position. Gasly, Ocon, Giovinazzi and Vettel completed the points with Latifi in 11th the only finisher not to score points.
While the Drivers’ Championship standings spoke for themselves, the Constructors’ Championship standings told a more interesting story: Mercedes led by 11 points over McLaren, with Ferrari, Racing Point, and AlphaTauri rounding out the top five.
Jenson Button greets an incredibly happy top three
In the F1 post-Austrian GP track interviews, conducted by Jenson Button, Bottas said: “There was definitely quite a bit of pressure all through the race. I mean one safety car was still OK, but with the last safety car, I was like: ‘Come on, again?’
“There were so many chances to get the lead if I made even a small mistake. He was really quick today, but I managed to keep it together and I could really control the race from my side and obviously no better way to start the season.”
Leclerc said: “I did not expect it either. A huge surprise but a good one. I think we did everything perfect today to finish second.
“We had a little bit of luck obviously, with Lewis’ penalty and some crashes here and there but it’s part of the race too and yeah, that was the goal – to take every opportunity we had. But P2 – I’m extremely satisfied.”
Norris said: “I don’t know, I’m speechless I think. The were a few points during the race where I thought I kind of fudged it up quite a bit. I dropped to fifth with a few laps to go. Carlos was almost getting past me, but I didn’t give up and I managed to get past Pérez and I ended up on the podium!
“It was a long race but I kept going, I kept trying to give it my all. A pretty cool last few laps having to push as much as I can, and you can tell, I’m a bit out of breath. I’m so happy and proud of the team. Considering where we were a few years ago, to last year, to now, I think is a pretty cool achievement and I’m proud to be part of it all.”
