Hamilton dominates F1’s Styrian GP as Ferraris collide

Lewis Hamilton got his 2020 Formula 1 season on course by dominating the Styrian Grand Prix, as Valtteri Bottas made it a Mercedes 1-2 with a last-gasp move on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

It was an appalling race for Ferrari, which effectively lost both its cars on the first lap.

Charles Leclerc slid into Sebastian Vettel as he went down the inside of a group of cars into the tight Turn 3, immediately removing Vettel’s front wing and causing sufficient damage to his own Ferrari that he also retired soon afterwards.

Leclerc accepted complete blame for the clash, which was a swift end to a race Ferrari had started down in 10th and 14th on the grid.

Debris from Vettel’s machine led to a brief safety car, with Hamilton unthreatened both at the race start and the rolling restart.

Verstappen had to fend off a strong challenge from McLaren’s third-place qualifier Carlos Sainz Jr before establishing himself in second. Sainz then dropped behind Bottas and the second Red Bull of Alex Albon early on.

Hamilton spent much of the race protecting a lead of around five seconds over Verstappen, with Bottas as much as 13s off the lead.

But Bottas ran a first stint 10 laps longer than Verstappen’s, giving him fresh tyres than the Red Bull approaching the final laps.

That, plus Verstappen picking up some minor front wing damage, set up a late battle in which Verstappen initially managed to fend off the Mercedes by re-passing it around the outside of the fast Turn 5 just after losing the place.

Next time around Bottas was able to get cleanly ahead before Turn 4 and put second place beyond doubt, finishing 14s behind team-mate Hamilton.

Verstappen pitted for fresh tyres in an ultimately unsuccessful bid for fastest lap, and stayed third as team-mate Albon was well adrift.

Albon spent the closing laps under heavy pressure from the Racing Point of Sergio Perez, which had torn through the field from 17th on the grid.

But Perez’s final attempt resulted in them banging wheels and the Racing Point picking up front wing damage.

That led to him being caught by Lando Norris – who had benefited from Lance Stroll taking Daniel Ricciardo wide as they fought for sixth at Turn 3, then quickly passed Stroll too.

Norris was right with the limping Perez at the final corner and surged ahead to grab fifth, with Perez, Stroll and Ricciardo crossing the line virtually three abreast right behind – all four cars covered by 1.1s.

Stroll’s move on Ricciardo was placed under investigation by the stewards after the race, but was swiftly ruled a racing incident.

Sainz lost a lot of ground with a slow pitstop and was later asked to let Norris past as his next set of tyres faded. A stop for fresh rubber allowed him to take fastest lap on the way to ninth.

He was one of several qualifying heroes who had disappointing races.

Pierre Gasly’s strategy of an early pitstop for hards backfired and he had to pit again, leaving him 15th, while George Russell shot off the road while fighting Kevin Magnussen in the opening laps and finished down in 16th for Williams.

Though AlphaTauri had a disappointment with Gasly, it got the consolation of a point from his team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

In contrast to last weekend’s first race at the Red Bull Ring, attrition was minimal. Apart from the Ferraris, Esteban Ocon was the only retirement with cooling problems.

Race Results