FORMULA 1 RETURNS — Bottas takes victory in long-delayed first race of 2020 season but Hamilton loses P2 due to penalty; Leclerc promoted to P2 and Norris to P3 in wild opening round

After a nearly four month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Forumla 1 season finally kicked off on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. After such a long layoff between seasons it was a somewhat predictably wild and ragged race, although Mercedes was once again the class of the field. With their new black livery, the Silver Arrows took pole and second fastest times during Saturday qualifying, with their usual number 2 man, Valtterri Bottas  claiming pole position for Sunday’s race ahead of P2 teammate and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton. In a harbinger of things to come, Hamilton was demoted 3 spots for failing to slow properly for yellow flags during quali. That meant Hamilton, on a quest for his record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship, had to start from back in P5 on the grid, while Max Verstappen, whose Red Bull team had lodged the last minute complaint against Lewis, was elevated to P2 alongside Bottas.

Image courtesy GrandPrix247.com

When the lights went out to start the race, though, Bottas blew the Red Bull off the line and shot away from the rest of the field, leaving the rest of the top 9 squabbling amongst themselves and the speedy Hamilton fighting his way back to the front. After avoiding contact going into Turn 1, the Champ quickly began dispatching his slower rivals, getting by McLaren’s Lando Norris for P4 on Lap 4 and subsequently past the competitive second Red Bull of Alexander Albon on Lap 9 for P3. It should have set up a fascinating tussle with Verstappen but on Lap 11 the Dutchman’s Red Bull went haywire with the electrical system repeatedly putting his machine into anti-stall mode. Unfortunately the malfunction proved terminal and Verstappen was out of the race just like that. Once again, as it has been so many times since 2014, mighty Mercedes saw their two drivers dominating yet another Grand Prix from the front.

Verstappen’s was the first of many retirements on a very hot summer’s day in Austria, with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo going out on Lap 18, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll calling it a day on Lap 21 and beleaguered Haas’ Kevin Magnussen suffering break failure on Lap 26, which brought out the day’s first Safety Car. It would not be the last. With nearly everybody taking fresh rubber during the Safety Car period, the race restarted at the end of Lap 30 and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who qualified a lowly P11, contacted McLaren’s Carlos Sainz in an ill-advised move to try to sneak through two dueling McLarens. Vettel spun out and dropped down the field precipitously, later claiming that his Ferrari SF1000 was undriveable. Ironically, Sainz will be taking Vettel’s spot with the famed Scuderia after the German 4-time World Champion, who hasn’t won anything of note in his 5 years at Ferrari, was not offered a contract for 2021. Vettel’s teammate Leclerc, meanwhile, was steadily fighting his way toward the front and keeping it clean after starting from a nearly as disappointing P7.

By mid-race it looked to be an easy Mercedes 1-2 with only the order to be determined, as Hamilton began applying the pressure to his Finnish wingman. However, ominous and urgent messages began being relayed to both drivers from their pit wall to stay off the curbs at all costs. Mercedes was fearing sensor failures for their transmissions and getting both cars to the end was now looking like its own special mission to be accomplished. The second Haas of Romain Grosjean suffered another break failure on Lap 51 and then Williams’ George Russell had to park his car trackside on Lap 51, which necessitated the second Safety Car of the day. From the lead, Mercedes elected not to pit their men for fresh tires and the P3 Racing Point of Sergio Perez also stayed out. But all the other contenders dove into their boxes for new rubber. The danger this posed to Mercedes’ dominance was quickly made apparent as the last remaining Red Bull of Alex Albon, newly clad in Soft Pirellis, stormed past Perez right after the end of the Safety Car period to take P3. His momentum was briefly balked when Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen lost a front right wheel in alarmingly untethered fashion down the front straight, leading to yet another Safety Car to remove the stricken vehicle. But when things got going again at the end of Lap 60, Albon pick up right where he left off and jumped all over Hamilton’s tail.

But in a déjà vu moment reminiscent of their altercation in Brazil last year, Hamilton squeezed Albon just as the Red Bull man appeared to have made a pass and the two made contact. The unlucky Albon’s rear right bounced off Hamilton’s front left and spun, dropping him to the back of the field while Hamilton scampered away, seemingly unfazed. But on Lap 66 of this 71 lap contest, just as Leclerc was passing Perez for P3 to claim a podium spot, Hamilton incurred the stewards’ wrath and a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision. It was cold comfort to Albon, whose day got even worse when he was forced to retire on Lap 69 with yet another power failure. But the penalty booted Hamilton off the podium even as he had to watch his teammate Bottas come home with the maiden win of the season. Ferrari’s Leclerc and McLaren’s Norris caught the luck from Hamilton’s self-inflicted misfortune to finish P2 and P3 respectively, young Norris’s first ever F1 podium, and Hamilton was relegated to P4. It put the British legend in the unaccustomed position of being 13 points down on his teammate when the total number of races and championship points is still completely up in the air. But Hamilton, like so many teams and drivers this first ragged race weekend, will only have to stew on their mistakes for less than a week. And whatever other surprise may be lurking for them they will certainly be intimately familiar with the Red Bull Ring itself since they do it all again here next week.

Top 10 finishers of the first Austrian Grand Prix:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time and from the exact same place and circuit. The quite limited current schedule for the COVID-effected 2020 season, which so far features only European reasons and another such double dip at Silverstone, can be viewed here.