Lewis Hamilton lead Mercedes to their first 1-2 finish of the 2020 season. Both Ferrari cars were parked in the garage early after Charles Leclerc’s optimistic overtake on his teammate went wrong on the first lap of the race. While the race wasn’t as thrilling as last weekends, it did heat up in the closing laps for a tight battle.
After an entertaining season opener last weekend, the teams return to the Red Bull Ring once again for part two of the triple-header opening leg of the season. Lewis Hamilton was on pole for the race, looking to recover from a difficult start to the season last weekend.
Off the grid, Carlos Sainz got away well from his position on the second row of the grid. He was alongside Max Verstappen in the first corner, but had to run wide and slotted back in behind the Red Bull.
Ferrari’s race was over partway through the first lap after their driver pairing collided in the second corner. Sebastian Vettel had a poor start and was on the inside of Kevin Magnussen entering into the corner. Charles Leclerc made a late lunge up the inside of the corner and they collided.
Vettel came away from the collision with a shredded rear wing and Leclerc with front wing damage. The safety car was deployed to allow the marshals to clear the bits of Ferrari bodywork off of the circuit. Leclerc was the only Ferrari able to continue the race, but he retired just a couple of laps after the race restarted.
Leclerc later admitted in an interview during the race that the incident was his fault and that he was a little too optimistic.
On the restart, Lando Norris and Lance Stroll had a tight battle for P9 and P10. George Russell and Kevin Magnussen were battling over P11. Russell ran off the circuit into the gravel in turn 5, joining his teammate at the back of the field.
Meanwhile, at the front of the field, the top three drivers were separated by about 3 seconds apiece, while Alexander Albon sat in P4 about 15 seconds behind Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes. The Renault teammates were battling over P6 and Daniel Ricciardo came out on top.
Verstappen was the first of the leading cars to pit for fresh tyres, diving into the Red Bull pit box for a set of medium tyres on lap 25. Mercedes waited a few laps to respond to the undercut attempt. They called Hamilton into the pit lane when he started to hit traffic, in the form of Pierre Gasly. Hamilton rejoined comfortably ahead of Verstappen.
Sainz was the next of the top 5 to pit for tyres, coming in on lap 33. Issues securing the left-rear tyre created a slow pit stop that cost McLaren lots of time, eventually putting him behind the two Racing Point cars when the pit window cycled through.
Bottas pitted from the lead on lap 35, returning P1 to his teammate. Bottas rejoined the race about 15 seconds behind Verstappen, but with tyres that were a whole 10 laps younger.
When Sergio Perez pitted, he left the pit lane in a tight battle with Sainz. The McLaren made a pass and was briefly ahead, but Perez fought back around the outside of turn 5, retaking the position.
The two Racing Point drivers moved on the battle each other later in the race. Perez was the quicker of the two, getting by his teammate and past a slower Daniel Ricciardo. Perez then began his charge towards Albon, setting multiple fastest laps in the process.
Lance Stroll did not get by Ricciardo as easy as his teammate did. He was stuck behind the slower Renault for many laps. It’s believed that Ricciardo’s engine had been turned down after the second Renault car retired from the race with a mechanical issue.
Back near the front of the field, Bottas received news of minor damage over the team radio in the closing half of the race. However, the team was still optimistic that he could catch Verstappen in the closing laps of the race.
Perez showed a strong pace and was able to close to within DRS range of Albon, partially thanks to some lapped traffic that the leaders needed to navigate past.
With the help of the DRS, Bottas was able to fly by Verstappen on lap 66, but Verstappen pushed back around the outside of turn 4. The pair were wheel-to-wheel around turn 5 before Bottas decided to back off for a couple of laps. Bottas was eventually able to get by into P2.
As the race began to come to a close, Sainz and Verstappen both made free pit stops for new tyres so they could push for the fastest lap of the race. In the end, it was Sainz who earned the fastest lap and the additional championship point associated with it.
But in the closing laps, all eyes were on the battle for P6. Stroll, who had been stuck behind Ricciardo for many laps, made a late dive up the inside of the Renault at turn 2 on the penultimate lap. He carried too much speed and both were forced wide off the circuit, in a move that will be investigated by the stewards after the race. But Stroll maintained the position, rejoining in front of Norris.
On the final lap, Norris overtook Stroll, with the assistance of DRS. In the final corner, he also flew past Perez, who had lost his front wing in a collision with Albon a few laps prior. Perez barley managed to beat his teammate and Ricciardo in a three-wide drag race to the line. Perez maintained P6 but just 0.066 seconds.
On the podium, it was Hamilton on the top step with Bottas alongside for Mercedes’ first 1-2 finish of the 2020 season. Verstappen wrapped up the podium, finishing comfortably ahead of his teammate.
In the World Drivers’ Championship, Hamilton recovered some points he lost in the season opener, closing the gap to his teammate down to just six points. After a dismal weekend, Leclerc fell two positions while Ferrari slumped further down the World Constructors’ Championship table.
After two weeks in Austria, the teams will make their way to Hungary for the only race of the season that circuit next weekend.
Above results table does not include any post-race penalties
