2020 Austrian Grand Prix

The **2020 Austrian Grand Prix** was a Formula 1.5 motor race that was held on 5 July 2020 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg,

## Latest Grand Prix

### 3rd Place

Carlos Sainz Jr

Austria. The race was the opening round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship.

Carlos Sainz Jr entered the round as the defending World Drivers' Champion and his team, McLaren as the defending World Constructors' Champion. The race was won by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc with Lando Norris in second for McLaren and Carlos Sainz finishing third also for McLaren.

## Background

### **Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic**

The originally scheduled calendar for the 2020 championship was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the planned opening round in Australia was called off two days before the race was due to take place; prompting the FIA to draft a new calendar. The start of the championship was delayed until 5 July, with the Red Bull Ring hosting the Austrian Grand Prix as the opening round of the championship. Organisers of the race signed a contract to host a second round at the circuit on 12 July which was known as the Styrian Grand Prix. The back-to-back Austrian races would mark the first time that a country hosted back-to-back races in the same season since 1995 when Japan hosted the Pacific and Japanese Grands Prix. This would also mark the first time in the sport's history that the same venue and circuit layout would have hosted back-to-back World Championship races and the first time that a Formula One race weekend was held behind closed doors.

### **Enterants**

Sixteen drivers representing ten teams entered the race. Scuderia AlphaTauri made their debut as a constructor having previously competed under the name Scuderia Toro Rosso. Esteban Ocon made a return to the championship with Renault. Nicholas Latifi made his competitive debut with Williams.

Mission Winnow, the title sponsor of Ferrari, was banned from the race as it did not comply with local laws governing tobacco sponsorship.

### **Tyres**

Pirelli brought C2, C3 and C4 (designated hard, medium and soft respectively) compounds of tyres for teams to use at the event. These are the second, third, and fourth hardest compounds available of the five Pirelli produce. In recognition of the need to cut costs and to give Pirelli achievable targets due to the congested calendar all drivers received identical tyre allocations getting two sets of hards, three sets of mediums and eight sets of softs.

## Practice

Carlos Sainz Jr finished the first practice session on top by 8 hundreths of a second over Sergio Perez and Lando Norris. Free Practice 2 was then topped by Sergio Perez, followed by Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo. In the third and final practice session, there was a red flag period where Nicholas Latifi crashed at turn 1. The final FP session was once again topped by Sergio Perez, followed by the 2 Ferrrari drivers of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel.

## Qualifying

Lando Norris took pole ahead of Sergio Perez with Charles Leclerc in 3rd. Carlos Sainz Jr qualified P4, whilst Canadian Lance Stroll took 5th. Daniel Ricciardo put his Renault 6th, whilst Sebastian Vettel struggled only qualifying 7th and not making it to Q3.
Q1 saw Kevin Mangussen, George Russell, Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi and, Nicholas Latifi eliminated.

## Race

### **Race Report**

#### **Early Laps**

The opening lap proceeded without incident, with the only change in position amongst the top ten being Sebastian Vettel claiming a place from Daniel Ricciardo. The Racing Point of Lance Stroll began to suffer power loss on lap 16, allowing Vettel and Ricciardo to close in. Ricciardo was soon forced to pull into the pits and retire with suspected overheating issues. On lap 21, Stroll entered the pits and retired from the race, having fallen behind Vettel and the two AlphaTauris. At the same time, Romain Grosjean spun onto the gravel at turn three. He dropped to the back of the field but was able to continue, entering the pits at the end of the lap to become the first driver to change tyres.

#### **Mid-Race**

On lap 25, Kevin Magnussen went straight on at turn two having suffered a brake failure, bringing out the first safety car of the race. All cars still remaining, except Grosjean, entered into the pits for their first tyre changes. The order of the top five after the first round of pit stops was Norris, Sergio Pérez, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz Jr and Vettel. The safety car period ended on lap 31. At the restart, Vettel attempted an overtake on the inside of Sainz Jr. at turn two. The cars made contact and Vettel's Ferrari was pitched into a spin, dropping him to last place. On lap 33 Pérez made it past Norris to take the lead.

Grosjean suffered a brake failure on lap 50, but was able to make it to the pits to retire. At the same time, George Russell lost fuel pressure and pulled onto the grass on the inside of turn three, deploying the second safety car of the race. Seven of the fourteen remaining drivers elected to pit for a second tyre change. The order of the top five was now Pérez, Norris, Leclerc, Gasly and, Esteban Ocon.

The safety car period ended on lap 54. However, almost immediately after the restart, the right-front wheel of Kimi Räikkönen's Alfa Romeo detached from the car and he was forced to stop on the pit straight, bringing out a third safety car. Racing resumed on lap 61. Shortly afterwards, Sainz passed both Ocon and Gasly to take fith place.

#### **Closing Laps**

Third-placed Leclerc began to move towards the front, overtaking Norris on lap 64 and then Pérez on lap 66 to take the lead of the race. Pérez then received a 5 second time penalty for having sped in the pit lane. On lap 68, Norris passed Pérez for fourth place at turn two. On the penultimate lap, Kvyat suffered a puncture which broke his suspension. Sainz then passed Pérez for third place on the final lap.

Leclerc crossed the line, to take the third win of his Formula 1.5 career and his first win at the Austrian Grand Prix. Norris finished second and Sainz crossing the line in third. On the final lap, a late push from Norris set the fastest lap of the race. Pérez's fourth-place finish was unaffected by his time penalty. Gasly took points for AlphaTauri with fith place on the team's first race since their rebranding, and Ocon finished sixth on his return to the sport after a year out. Giovinazzi and Vettel rounded out the points positions, with debutant Nicholas Latifi finishing 9th on his debut. Kvyat did not finish the race, however completed 90% so was classified in the end result to pick up the final point.

## Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

 2
 3
 4
 5

Constructors' Championship standings

 2
 3
 4
 5

## External links

1. ↑ Includes 1 point for fastest lap
2. ↑ Daniil retired from the race, however completed 90% of the race and was therefore classified