Mercedes dominance, Ferrari’s troubles and much more learnt from the 2020 F1 Styrian Grand Prix

Mercedes asserted their dominance over the whole grid for the second week running as Lewis Hamilton finished first and Valterri Bottas finished second in Spielberg.

Many things can be taken from the 2020 F1 Styrian Grand Prix as the Red Bull Ring hosted its second race of the F1 season.

Mercedes once again in control

Lewis Hamilton started from pole position for the Styrian Grand Prix after qualifying over a second faster than nearest challenger Max Verstappen in Saturday’s qualifying.

Hamilton carried on his domination into the race as he led away from the grid, commanding a massive lead over Verstappen with the gap widening to over eight seconds.

In the dying embers of the race, Verstappen started to have problems with his car. He had front wing end-plate damage which hindered his car’s speed dramatically. Valterri Bottas took advantage of this and overtook the Dutchman to claim second place and a one-two for Mercedes.

The opening race in Austria last weekend saw Bottas win and Hamilton finish in second. However, the British driver dropped to fourth after a five-second penalty was added to his time. The Mercedes pairing are first and second in the drivers’ standings with McLaren’s Lando Norris being the closest driver to the pairing, 11 points behind Hamilton and 17 behind Bottas.

Ferrari lacking in pace and tangled together

After an unlikely podium in the first race of the season, Ferrari did not look confident going into the Styrian Grand Prix.

They only managed to qualify P10 and P11 on the grid for the race. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc tangled at turn three on the first lap as Leclerc lunged down the inside of Vettel.

Vettel had to retire after lap one with severe rear wing damage that was irreparable. As for Leclerc, he retired after lap three with floor damage as the Ferrari team did not want to cause more damage to his car.

The prancing horses are not really prancing as they sit in fifth in the constructors’ championship, with Vettel only on one point so far this season.

Racing Point proved a point

One driver that caught the eye was Racing Point’s, Sergio Perez. The Mexican qualified in P17 for the race and had to overcome many obstacles to get anywhere near the points positions.

Voted the Driver of the Day by F1 fans, Perez cruised his way past the grid and found his way on the back of Alex Albon, hunting the Red Bull driver for the last ten laps.

After the Mexican tangled with the Thai driver in the closing stages of the race, his race pace was hindered and in the end, he finished sixth after Norris overtook him going into the final corner.

Let’s not forget about Lance Stroll who finished in seventh. It puts Racing Point in fourth in the constructors’ championship and are showing they have a very strong car with amazing race pace.

Last lap drama is a must

We saw tussles between Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and Stroll. The three basically battled through the whole of the last lap. The Aussie and the Canadian went wide at turn three and left the door open for Norris to overtake.

Norris started the lap in eighth and finished the race in fifth after he overtook Perez going into the final corner earning good points for McLaren.

The three behind Norris did not fail to disappoint as they fiercely went into the home straight. Perez as already mentioned managed to hold onto sixth. Stroll followed after with Ricciardo finishing behind the Canadian.

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