2020 Styrian Grand Prix: Hamilton Wins the First Race at the Red Bull Ring Double-Header

The 2020 Styrian Grand Prix was round two of the 2020 world championship, staged on 12 July 2020 at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring in Austria. Lewis Hamilton converted pole into victory, with Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen completing the podium, and the result brought him to within six points of the championship leader while Mercedes extended its constructors' lead to 41 points.

The race was the first Styrian Grand Prix, run one week after the Austrian round on the same circuit. Its existence was a result of the rescheduled season, which had been reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sections below set out how the calendar came together, the weekend's running and what the result meant for the championship.

How did the 2020 season come to start at the Red Bull Ring?

The original 2020 calendar was badly affected by the pandemic. Australia's season opener was cancelled just two days before its scheduled start, and the FIA drew up a new schedule. The championship began on 5 July with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.

The circuit's operators then reached a deal with Liberty Media, which controls the sport's commercial rights, for a second race there a week on. The event was named after Styria, the Austrian state where the circuit is located. The two back-to-back races were the first time the same venue and layout had hosted consecutive world championship rounds, and the first time a country had hosted two rounds in one season since 1995.

A wet pole, a dry win and a week of back-to-back racing on the same Austrian circuit, all in the first Styrian Grand Prix.

What was the championship picture before the race?

After the Austrian Grand Prix, Bottas led the championship by seven points from Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. Lando Norris of McLaren was two points further back in third, while the defending champion Hamilton was fourth, 13 points off the lead.

In the constructors' championship Mercedes led with 37 points, ahead of McLaren on 26 and Ferrari on 19. Those figures made the Styrian round an important opportunity for the teams to answer the Austrian weekend, which had been difficult for Ferrari in particular.

Ferrari brought a broad package of SF1000 upgrades, planned for Hungary but moved up after a disappointing Austrian weekend. Mercedes tested new gearbox components designed to solve electrical problems that had affected the car at the first race, and McLaren used a new chin spoiler.

How did the drivers and tyres line up for the weekend?

The entry was the same as the season list, with no stand-in drivers for the race. In the first practice session Jack Aitken took over from George Russell at Williams, and Robert Kubica deputised for Antonio Giovinazzi at Alfa Romeo.

Pirelli made a medium selection of its C2, C3 and C4 compounds available to the teams. These were the same options used at the Austrian Grand Prix the week before on the same circuit, which meant the teams had recent data to work from.

What happened in practice?

The first session ended with Sergio Perez fastest for Racing Point, ahead of Verstappen and Bottas. Norris took a three-place grid penalty for passing under yellow flags, and Nicholas Latifi stopped with gearbox problems. Kevin Magnussen set no time because of a battery fault.

Verstappen topped the second session, with Bottas and Perez behind him. Daniel Ricciardo crashed heavily at turn nine, which brought out the red flags, and he was declared fit to race after a check at the medical centre. Hamilton finished the session sixth, seven-tenths behind his teammate Bottas.

Alexander Albon spun at turn three and complained about the handling of his Red Bull, and later spun again at the turn seven and eight chicane. Norris reported chest and back pain, which meant he completed fewer laps than his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., although his condition improved overnight. The third practice session was cancelled because of heavy rain.

How did qualifying take place in the wet?

The session started late, at 15:46 local time, after a delay of 46 minutes. Every driver began on wet tyres, and all of them kept those tyres for the whole session. The track was very wet and the cars were prone to aquaplaning.

Antonio Giovinazzi was the main incident in the first part, sliding off his Alfa Romeo after the seventh corner. The car slid onto the grass and touched a barrier, and the session was red-flagged when he stopped at turn four. Giovinazzi, Raikkonen, Perez, Latifi and Romain Grosjean were all eliminated, and Grosjean had not set a lap because of an energy recovery system fault.

George Russell reached the second part for the first time in his career, and the result was the first time a Williams driver had made it through since the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix. Five drivers went out in that part, including Leclerc, along with Russell, Stroll, Kvyat and Magnussen.

The final part was run in heavy rain that gradually eased. Hamilton took pole in the wet, ahead of the rest of the final session. Verstappen was more than a second behind on his final attempt after spinning, and Carlos Sainz Jr. took third, the first McLaren qualifier to reach that spot on pace alone since the 2014 British race.

Bottas was fourth, followed by Esteban Ocon, Norris, Albon, Pierre Gasly, Ricciardo and Vettel. Norris was demoted from sixth to ninth because of his practice penalty, and Leclerc was docked three places for impeding Kvyat. Giovinazzi was penalised five places for an unscheduled gearbox change, and Grosjean began from the pit lane because his team had breached the parc ferme rules.

Three drivers were investigated after qualifying. Perez was looked at for ignoring yellow flags in Q1, and Raikkonen and Leclerc for breaches of the red-flag protocol in the same session, with Leclerc also investigated for impeding Kvyat in Q2. No action followed the first three cases, although Leclerc received his grid penalty. The 107 per cent rule did not apply, because qualifying was held on a wet track.

Grosjean avoided disqualification for the parc ferme breach because his team blamed a water pump fault in the energy recovery system, which had to be repaired before he could take part. The team had nevertheless worked on his car for more than three hours longer than the regulations allowed, without a scrutineer present.

What happened at the start and in the early laps?

The race was dry, so every driver could choose his starting tyre freely. Hamilton kept the lead from pole. Vettel dropped to twelfth at the first corner behind Russell and Stroll, then Leclerc attempted an inside move on his teammate at turn three and the two cars collided, damaging Vettel's rear wing.

The safety car was deployed to clear debris, and Vettel retired at the end of the opening lap. Leclerc's front wing and floor had been damaged, and the front wing was swapped. He was forced out on lap four when Ferrari judged the damage too great to continue.

Russell went into the gravel at turn six on lap four and rejoined at the back of the field. Sainz had dropped from third to fifth by lap eight after passing by Bottas and Albon, and Perez passed Norris for tenth on lap 14 after starting from seventeenth.

How did the race unfold in the middle stint?

Verstappen made the first scheduled stop on lap 24, and Ocon retired on the following lap with a cooling problem. Hamilton pitted on lap 27, which handed the lead to Bottas. Sainz suffered a slow stop on lap 32 that cost him three positions.

Two laps later Bottas made his stop and handed the lead back to Hamilton. When the first round of stops was over, Hamilton led Verstappen, then Bottas, Albon, Ricciardo, Stroll, Perez, Sainz, Norris and Gasly.

Perez moved forward after his stop, passing his teammate Stroll on lap 46 and Ricciardo two laps later. Gasly became the first driver to make two stops, falling to thirteenth on his hard tyres before recovering to fifteenth by the finish. On lap 62 Sainz let Norris through for eighth.

How did the closing laps decide the order?

Bottas, who had been closing on Verstappen since the first stops, passed him for second on lap 66. Verstappen briefly took the place back, but Bottas passed again on the following lap. Verstappen and Sainz then pitted two laps from the end to chase the fastest lap, and both had enough room behind to keep their places.

On the penultimate lap Perez tried to pass Albon for fourth at turn four. The cars touched, and Perez broke his front wing, which dropped him back. Stroll and Ricciardo ran together for much of the race, and Stroll made a move for sixth at turn three that sent both drivers off the track.

On the last lap Norris got by Stroll for sixth on the straight after turn three, then caught the struggling Perez at the final corner to take fifth. Sainz set a new race lap record on lap 68 and finished ninth. Kvyat took the final point in tenth.

What was the result for the championship?

Hamilton's victory was his first of the 2020 season and the 85th of his career. He moved within six points of Bottas, who had led the table before the race, and Mercedes stretched its constructors' advantage to 41 points.

Verstappen's third place was the best result of his weekend, and the podium gave Red Bull a solid result after a difficult start to the weekend. Albon finished fourth and Norris fifth, while Perez, Stroll and Ricciardo crossed the line close together behind them, separated by just over 0.2 seconds.

What were the post-race incidents?

Stroll was investigated for his penultimate-lap move on Ricciardo, but the stewards judged it a racing incident and took no further action. Ricciardo called the move desperate. Leclerc apologised for the opening-lap collision, saying he had let the team down, while Vettel said he had been surprised by the attempt.

After the race Renault lodged a formal protest with the stewards about the legality of the Racing Point RP20, arguing that its design had similarities with the previous season's Mercedes W10.

Race classification