Mercedes’ Hamilton secures scintillating pole amidst torrential conditions at Red Bull Ring; Red Bull’s Verstappen P2 despite late spin, Sainz P3 for improving McLaren; Ferrari in trouble

For the first time in Formula 1 history two races will be run at the same circuit on back-to-back weekends, and the dubious honor goes to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. But it was the weather that lent real distinction to this second race weekend of the 2020 season and not the fig leaf of a new title, the Grand Prix of Styria, for what is in reality simply a second identical Austrian GP. With the travel and logistics concerns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic forcing this normally globe-hopping motorsport series to compress the schedule and repeat races at some European circuits on consecutive weekends, this Saturday’s “Styria” qualifying  was nonetheless completely distinct from last weekend’s sunny “Austrian” affair and offered up a lot of excitement and surprising results to match.

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton bested this generation’s nominal Rainmeister, Red Bull’s Max Vertstappen, to seize the pole in torrential and thoroughly treacherous conditions at this valley track nestled among the Styrian Mountains. Verstappen and Hamilton had been trading provisional pole throughout Q3, during which the weather actually deteriorated again, after slightly lightening up for the delayed start of Q1 and into Q2. But when Vertsappen lost control and spun harmlessly late in his final try with time expired in the final session, it meant Hamilton had secured pole after an outstanding and supremely well controlled effort under these adverse circumstances. Hamilton set his fastest time on his very last lap, gapping Verstappen’s best by over 1.2 seconds and clearly displaying his intent to take victory tomorrow as a corrective to his penalty-induced P4 finish last week.

Hamilton’s Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas was up and down the timing sheets in these super wet conditions and at the end of Q3 he found himself more down than up. Bottas, who won here last week from pole to open the season, could do no better than the fourth best time. That made for the surprise of Carlos Sainz out-qualifying the second Mercedes in what looks to be a rapidly improving McLaren. Sainz’s teammate, Lando Norris, who scored his first F1 podium last week thanks in part to Hamilton’s self-inflicted woes, qualified P6, which again reflected well on McLaren and their two drivers, though Norris will get a 3-spot grid penalty for failing to lift under yellow flag conditions during  practice. Team Renault had a promising comeback after a pretty miserable Austrian GP experience last week, with F1 returnee Esteban Ocon coming home P5 amidst the spray and Daniel Ricciardo, who suffered a fairly painful shunt in Practice 2, rallying for the 9th fastest time.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Alexander Albon was not quite as sharp in the rain as the Dutch number one and could only post the seventh fastest lap time. Perhaps he was still nursing his disappointment at being punted off track by Hamilton in the race last Sunday but either way Red Bull will be looking to score big time points tomorrow after their double DNF in the season opener. As the old saying goes, it gets late early around here and in this unpredictable F1 season, where the total number of races and therefore points on the table is still unknown,  that is certainly truer than ever. Pierre Gasly was P8 with a fine effort for newly christened Alpha Tauri (formerly Toro Rosso) and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel rounded out the Top 10 qualifiers with a time just good enough for tenth fastest. It was not a good qualifying effort from Ferrari, as Vettel was hanging on to his mount by the skin of his teeth, his car nearly hydroplaning at every sharp corner. Meanwhile, their other driver, the normally superb Charles Leclerc, followed up his strong and somewhat stealthy P2 finish last week with a disappointing P11 qualifying effort today. Worse yet, Leclerc will be demoted three positions to begin the race, as he was deemed to be impeding the other AphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat during Q2. The fabled Scuderia from Maranello had better get up to speed in a hurry because counting on Mercedes and Hamilton to shoot themselves in the foot like they did last race is hardly a long term winning strategy. And with the improvements of McLaren, as well as potentially Renault and Racing Point, and what looks so far like a clear deficit to Red Bull and obviously Mercedes, Ferrari could quickly find themselves racing for points finishes in 2020 instead of podiums and wins.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Styrian GP:

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race will be broadcast live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. The weather for Sunday in Styria should be a lot drier than today’s monsoon-like conditions so look for a massive sorting out of the field early on as the normally stronger runners press their advantage against those who over-performed in the wet today. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!