Austria: The Tops and Flops from the Editorial Team

Very linear for 50 laps, the first Grand Prix of the 2020 season took off in its final part, to our great delight. Mercedes’ domination was real (since the beginning of the weekend) but the numerous twists and turns at the end of the race brought a dose of adrenaline, reminiscent of a German Grand Prix or a Brazilian Grand Prix in 2019.

A great pleasure after an unprecedented 7-month period without F1 due to the global coronavirus pandemic. 217 days of waiting, swept away by a thrilling scenario!

1. Lando Norris, sensational and authoritative

Third at the finish line, Lando Norris is the first name in our ranking for this thrilling opener! Starting higher up than Leclerc, the Briton had already achieved a very impressive qualifying, securing the 4th fastest time, ahead of Albon’s Red Bull and Pérez’s Racing Point.

Starting 3rd after Hamilton’s penalty, Norris yielded without resisting early in the race to the six-time world champion and to Albon. In 4th position during the second Safety Car appearance, ahead of Pérez, Leclerc, and Sainz, Norris made the right pit stop on lap 51, switching to mediums to go to the end of the Grand Prix.

Outpaced by Leclerc, the McLaren driver held off his teammate Carlos Sainz, who came knocking at his door on the 66th lap. Particularly, Norris overtook Pérez three laps later (the Mexican hadn’t stopped a second time), in a very forceful maneuver, with almost all four wheels on the curb going up the second corner: the Racing Point driver had closed the door on him, but Norris went through anyway!

Returning fourth on the track, the McLaren driver delivered a monstrous final lap (the best in timing) to climb onto the podium, two-tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was penalized for his contact with Alex Albon. At 20 years and 235 days, Lando Norris has achieved his first top 3 finish in Formula 1. He is the third youngest driver on a podium in history, behind Verstappen and Stroll. And the youngest ever in McLaren’s storied history, ahead of Hamilton. The Twitch community still can’t believe it!

2. Charles Leclerc, an unthinkable second place

Second on track as in our ranking, the Monegasque driver emulated Fernando Alonso during his great years at Ferrari: an achievement in a more than average car (we will come back to this a little later).

Nowhere in qualifications, Charles Leclerc contained his anger to deliver a race full of composure. Starting 7th, moving up a place after Verstappen’s retirement on lap 15, Ferrari’s new star also benefited from a frantic end to the race with fresh mediums on lap 51. But it was he who seized the opportunities, overtaking the other McLaren, Norris’s, with DRS on the 64th lap.

Then this forceful attack (also) on Pérez at the second turn of the 66th lap. The very turn that had caused him so much trouble in 2019, against Verstappen. This time, Leclerc was in the hunter’s position: on the inside, wheels locked, charging at Pérez, an aggressive yet courageous dive!

Third on the track, second after Hamilton’s penalty, Leclerc exceeded all expectations of an SF1000 that did not deserve such a strong performance. We’ll have to do it again on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring: the task looks challenging!

3. Valtteri Bottas surged and held firm.

A new opening race victory for Bottas! After the Australian Grand Prix in 2019, the Finn clinched the win at the first Grand Prix of 2020, in an unprecedented post-Covid-19 context, without an audience, with masks, and mandatory social distancing. Although slower than Lewis Hamilton during the three free practice sessions, Valtteri Bottas shifted into a higher gear starting from Q2 and especially in Q3, with the circuit record, pole position… and a little unintentional provocation by going off track on his final attempt, bringing out a yellow flag in front of Hamilton, much like Nico Rosberg in 2014 in Monaco.

Joking aside, Bottas also flexed his muscles during the race: his start was perfect, immediately taking a two-second lead over Max Verstappen, his first rival on the grid, who was dropped by his Red Bull on the 15th lap.

Aboard the best car in the field, the Finn still had some luck: before the last two Safety Car interruptions, he was under pressure from Hamilton, who had caught up with him.

Who knows what Bottas would have become without those interruptions, with his gearbox problems, also experienced by Hamilton? Also helped by the Hamilton-Albon collision, Bottas clinches a fine victory, having led the Grand Prix from start to finish, a first in his career. The Finn, however, slowed down at the end of the race: was it to prevent Hamilton from getting on the podium? A little psychological pressure doesn’t hurt in a championship that might be decided in 8 or 10 races!

In the background, let’s also note the exemplary race of Pierre Gasly. The AlphaTauri is currently behind McLaren, Racing Point, or Renault? No problem: the Frenchman still managed to bring in the six points for 7th place for AlphaTauri. While he certainly benefited from the chaos ahead of him, Gasly made no mistakes, just like in Brazil at the end of 2019.

1. Scuderia Ferrari: the weaknesses of the SF1000

Leclerc’s magnificent second place cannot hide the failed debut of the SF1000, which fell short: a full second behind Bottas’ Mercedes in qualifying! The Italian car lacks everything: a suffocated engine power (Leclerc was last in top speed on Saturday!) and insufficient aerodynamic downforce, particularly at the front, as evidenced by Vettel’s oversteer, who was eliminated in Q2.

So yes, the weekend ends well with Leclerc’s second-place finish at the Grand Prix, but the communication from the Ferrari camp demonstrated it: the legendary Italian team went astray in the development of the SF1000. On the front line, Mattia Binotto bears a heavy responsibility. The team principal was even “happy” with the podium, but “sad” about the performance. To top it all off, he was discredited by Vettel’s comments regarding Sainz’s arrival in 2021. Leclerc’s podium, a tree that hides the forest!

2. Without brakes, technical KO for Haas

The American team definitely no longer likes season openers: after the poorly-tightened wheels in Australia in 2018 and 2019, this time it’s brake problems. Issues that plagued the Haas F1 Team’s weekend, particularly for Romain Grosjean, who already had to wait on Friday morning before hitting the track in FP1.

To come full circle, the Frenchman dropped out of the race (on the 50th lap)… due to brake overheating.

Same misadventure for Kevin Magnussen, who retired on the 26th lap while battling with Ocon for 11th place. But aside from the brake issues, the performance of the VF-20 is questionable. Especially in qualifying where Grosjean barely made it out of Q1, at the expense of Magnussen. The Dane started from 5th place in 2019… Haas is among the teams that have regressed along with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. The engine is not the only culprit!

3. The Red Bull disappointment at home

Here too reliability is a concern. Proud to host the F1 for the opening, in compliance with safety measures, Red Bull Racing faced an initial setback on Saturday with the front row locked by Mercedes. A disavowal, as Christian Horner and Max Verstappen proclaimed that their team was coming in strong this season.

And there was an uppercut on Sunday: after the new claim requested on Hamilton (the yellow flags after DAS on Friday), Verstappen retired on lap 15 due to an electrical issue related to the Honda engine. The same outcome for Alexander Albon, following his collision with the #44 Mercedes driver at the end of the Grand Prix. The Thai driver also experienced an electrical problem, forcing him to stop at the side of the track. It’s worrying (this had never happened since the start of the Red Bull-Honda collaboration in 2019) in a very tight schedule with two races in the next two weekends.

On the other hand, we can’t be too hard on the drivers: Albon was aggressive and thrilled us with a bold yet fair overtaking attempt on Hamilton. The world champion speaks of “a racing incident” but he is somewhat more at fault in this action. Verstappen didn’t have the time to execute his offset strategy. Still at the Red Bull Ring, will he have the chance to take his revenge this weekend at the Styrian Grand Prix? In the meantime, Red Bull Racing is still at zero points in the constructors’ standings.