2020 F1 Austrian Grand Prix race results

Valtteri Bottas won an incident-packed Austrian Grand Prix, the first race of the delayed 2020 Formula 1 season, for Mercedes at the Red Bull Ring.

2020 F1 Austrian Grand Prix race results
Listen to this article

Mercedes’ dominance was challenged by Red Bull but Max Verstappen, who was running second behind Bottas, was forced out with an electrical failure early on. Towards the end of the race, Alex Albon took fresh soft tyres during a safety car period and was passing Lewis Hamilton for second when they made contact, and Albon was spun around.

Read Also:

Ahead of the race Hamilton was moved back on the starting grid from second to fifth, for not lifting off under yellow flags in qualifying when Bottas went off ahead of him.

Bottas led from the start, McLaren’s Lando Norris briefly grabbing second before Verstappen retook the place by Turn 3. Hamilton tried to pass Albon at Turn 4, but was rebuffed. Albon passed Norris for third when DRS was enabled on Lap 3, and Hamilton followed suit a lap later at Turn 1. Hamilton then used DRS to power past Albon for third on the run to Turn 4 on Lap 9.

Verstappen was 3s behind Bottas when his car slowed with an electrical problem at the start of Lap 12. He toured back to the pits, where Red Bull tried to fix it with no avail.

The safety car was deployed on Lap 26 when Haas’s Kevin Magnussen suffered a big spin due to a brake failure, just as Esteban Ocon’s Renault was overtaking him at Turn 3. That sent all the leaders into the pits for their tyre stops, during which Sergio Perez (who took the medium tyre instead of the hard) almost hit Norris, who suffered a slow change on his left-rear wheel.

At the restart, Carlos Sainz attacked Charles Leclerc for sixth but was clipped by Sebastian Vettel as he tried to take advantage, causing the Ferrari driver to spin. Perez soon blasted past Norris for fourth on Lap 33.

Both Mercedes drivers were warned about sensor issues, and told to stay off the kerbs, due to gearbox concerns. Bottas was told he was in “worse shape than the other car”.

Romain Grosjean (brake issues) and George Russell both retired with 20 laps to go, the latter causing a second safety car due to being forced to pull off the track. The restart lasted a matter of seconds, as Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo lost its right-front wheel at the penultimate corner, requiring a third safety car – but not before Albon had grabbed third from Perez.

It left a 10-lap sprint to the finish, with the Mercedes pair ahead of the fresh-tyred Albon, who attacked Hamilton but they collided at Turn 4 and Albon was punted into a spin through the gravel. Hamilton was given a 5s penalty for causing the collision.

Bottas scampered clear to win by half a second over Hamilton. But Hamilton’s penalty meant Leclerc finished second ahead of Norris, with Hamilton falling to fourth. Norris also scored the extra point for fastest lap.

F1 Austrian Grand Prix race results:

Cla Driver Laps Time Points
1 Finland Valtteri Bottas 71   25
2 Monaco Charles Leclerc 71 2.700 18
3 United Kingdom Lando Norris 71 5.491 16
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 71 5.689 12
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. 71 8.903 10
6 Mexico Sergio Perez 71 15.092 8
7 France Pierre Gasly 71 16.682 6
8 France Esteban Ocon 71 17.456 4
9 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi 71 21.146 2
10 Germany Sebastian Vettel 71 24.545 1
11 Canada Nicholas Latifi 71 31.650  
12 Russian Federation Daniil Kvyat 69    
13 Thailand Alex Albon 67    
  Finland Kimi Raikkonen 53    
  United Kingdom George Russell 49    
  France Romain Grosjean 49    
  Denmark Kevin Magnussen 24    
  Canada Lance Stroll 20    
  Australia Daniel Ricciardo 17    
  Netherlands Max Verstappen 11    

F1 Austrian Grand Prix race fastest laps:

Cla Driver Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lando Norris 71 1'07.475   230.378
2 Finland Valtteri Bottas 68 1'07.657 0.182 229.758
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 67 1'07.712 0.055 229.572
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc 64 1'07.901 0.189 228.933
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. 63 1'07.974 0.073 228.687
6 Mexico Sergio Perez 63 1'08.305 0.331 227.579
7 Thailand Alex Albon 50 1'08.432 0.127 227.156
8 Germany Sebastian Vettel 71 1'08.623 0.191 226.524
9 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi 70 1'08.796 0.173 225.954
10 France Esteban Ocon 70 1'08.932 0.136 225.509
11 France Pierre Gasly 64 1'09.025 0.093 225.205
12 Finland Kimi Raikkonen 48 1'09.031 0.006 225.185
13 Russian Federation Daniil Kvyat 50 1'09.135 0.104 224.847
14 United Kingdom George Russell 49 1'09.317 0.182 224.256
15 Netherlands Max Verstappen 5 1'09.351 0.034 224.146
16 Canada Nicholas Latifi 63 1'09.662 0.311 223.146
17 France Romain Grosjean 46 1'10.228 0.566 221.347
18 Canada Lance Stroll 4 1'10.326 0.098 221.039
19 Australia Daniel Ricciardo 8 1'10.610 0.284 220.150
20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 23 1'10.720 0.110 219.807
 
shares
comments

Norris feared he had "fudged" podium shot

Hamilton penalty for Albon clash "too harsh", says Wolff

How Vasseur has begun Ferrari’s mission to keep Leclerc on side

How Vasseur has begun Ferrari’s mission to keep Leclerc on side

Prime
Prime
Formula 1
GP Racing

How Vasseur has begun Ferrari’s mission to keep Leclerc on side How Vasseur has begun Ferrari’s mission to keep Leclerc on side

Why Red Bull's biggest F1 adversary is now itself

Why Red Bull's biggest F1 adversary is now itself

Prime
Prime
Formula 1
Saudi Arabian GP
Jonathan Noble

Why Red Bull's biggest F1 adversary is now itself Why Red Bull's biggest F1 adversary is now itself

How Tost's public lack of trust could hurt AlphaTauri

How Tost's public lack of trust could hurt AlphaTauri

Prime
Prime
Formula 1
Saudi Arabian GP
Jake Boxall-Legge

How Tost's public lack of trust could hurt AlphaTauri How Tost's public lack of trust could hurt AlphaTauri

What Perez's Jeddah joy means for the hopes of a real F1 title fight

What Perez's Jeddah joy means for the hopes of a real F1 title fight

Prime
Prime
Formula 1
Saudi Arabian GP
Alex Kalinauckas

What Perez's Jeddah joy means for the hopes of a real F1 title fight What Perez's Jeddah joy means for the hopes of a real F1 title fight

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2023

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2023

Prime
Prime
Formula 1
Saudi Arabian GP
Alex Kalinauckas

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2023

How Perez kept Verstappen’s Saudi Arabian GP surge at bay

How Perez kept Verstappen’s Saudi Arabian GP surge at bay

Prime
Prime
Formula 1
Saudi Arabian GP
Jake Boxall-Legge

How Perez kept Verstappen’s Saudi Arabian GP surge at bay How Perez kept Verstappen’s Saudi Arabian GP surge at bay

The enormous job facing F1 for its Vegas gamble to pay off

The enormous job facing F1 for its Vegas gamble to pay off

Prime
Prime
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
GP Racing

The enormous job facing F1 for its Vegas gamble to pay off The enormous job facing F1 for its Vegas gamble to pay off

Testing times for Vasseur, but the true challenge at Ferrari is about to come

Testing times for Vasseur, but the true challenge at Ferrari is about to come

Prime
Prime
Formula 1
Jonathan Noble

Testing times for Vasseur, but the true challenge at Ferrari is about to come Testing times for Vasseur, but the true challenge at Ferrari is about to come