Austria – Race: Valtteri Bottas wins a crazy race

After seven months of interruption, F1 resumed on the Red Bull Ring circuit, in the middle of the Austrian Alps. The first dramatic turn of the day happened 40 minutes before the start of the race, with the FIA’s announcement that Lewis Hamilton was penalized three grid places for not slowing down yesterday when his teammate Valtteri Bottas went wide at the end of qualifying. The six-time world champion therefore found himself fifth on the grid, benefiting Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Alex Albon.

At the start, he tried to move up the hierarchy but didn’t succeed, especially when the Thai driver from Red Bull widened his trajectory, forcing Lewis Hamilton to ease off. However, the Briton knew how to take his time to quietly climb back up the ranks, successively overtaking Lando Norris and Alex Albon.

But his comeback was further aided by a technical problem that struck Max Verstappen on lap 11. The double title holder, who was keeping Valtteri Bottas under pressure, found himself slowing down with electronic issues. While he was able to bring his car back to his pit box, he was unable to leave.

Seven laps later, it was Daniel Ricciardo’s turn to be struck by a reliability issue while he was in a position to threaten Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari. It was a cooling problem that curtailed the Australian’s progress. Following that, a third engine manufacturer was found lacking, this time Mercedes, on Lance Stroll’s Racing Point. The Canadian was in 8th place but informed his engineers that he was experiencing a power issue with his engine. He was therefore forced to retire by the 22nd lap.

However, five laps later, the race was completely restarted by the intervention of the safety car caused by Kevin Magnussen’s off-track excursion at the top of turn 3 due to a loss of his braking system while Esteban Ocon was attempting an overtaking maneuver. Obviously, the entire field took advantage by going through the pits to switch to hard tires.

At the restart, Carlos Sainz showed a threatening approach towards his future teammate Charles Leclerc, but the latter stood firm against the Spaniard. Behind them, Sebastian Vettel tried to take advantage by diving inside the McLaren. But as often happened in the past, the maneuver ended badly for the future ex-Ferrari driver, resulting in a spin that relegated him to 15th position.

While the two Mercedes were in their own world, reliability began to cause concerns on the Mercedes pit wall. Multiple times, the engineers communicated with their drivers to advise them not to take the curbs due to issues with the sensors on the gearboxes of the Anglo-German cars.

On the 51st lap, the safety car entered the track for the second time as George Russell was forced to abandon his Williams on the side of the track due to a reliability issue related to a drop in fuel pressure. Alex Albon, Lando Norris, and Charles Leclerc then took the gamble of changing their tires. Upon restart, Kimi Räikkönen saw his front right wheel literally detach in the penultimate corner. Fortunately, there was no damage except for the Finnish driver’s retirement. However, it was necessary to immediately send the safety car back on track, but Alex Albon had been able to pass Lando Norris just before the new neutralization.

The Thai driver was indeed in third place when hostilities resumed for a final sprint of 10 laps. He was very aggressive against Lewis Hamilton, first at the top of turn 3 before trying the outside in turn 4. However, the maneuver didn’t go all the way due to a collision between the two drivers. While Lewis Hamilton was able to continue without issue, Alex Albon spun into the gravel and found himself relegated to 13th and last position. This earned the Mercedes driver a five-second penalty, which created a thrilling end to the race.

It was all beneficial for Charles Leclerc, who managed a daring overtake on Sergio Perez, struggling with his worn medium tires, at the top of the hill at turn 3. The Monegasque, despite a poorly born car, was thus able to clinch second place, just like last year. But above all, McLaren provided all the available power to Lando Norris so he could outpace Lewis Hamilton. This was achieved thanks to a fastest lap on the very last lap, greatly helped by Valtteri Bottas’s clear drop in pace at the end of the race to further penalize his teammate. The Brit thus snatched his first F1 podium by just one-tenth of a second. The celebrations in the McLaren pit could have made one think it was a victory, especially since they were deprived of celebrations at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

Behind, the French managed to score points thanks to the seventh and eighth places of Pierre Gasly and the returning Esteban Ocon. Sebastian Vettel was able to salvage his race with a point for tenth place. But the contrast with his teammate remains stark…

The ranking of the Austrian Grand Prix, the first of the 2020 season!