@ValtteriBottas wins action-packed #AustrianGP. #F1 #F1IsBack @MercedesAMGF1

Valtteri Bottas won a drama-filled season-opening Austrian Grand Prix from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was hit with a five-second timed penalty.

Bottas reached the chequered flag 0.6 seconds ahead of the Briton, but Hamilton was immediately relegated to fourth, which gave McLaren’s Lando Norris his first podium in third.

Hamilton’s incident with Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon happened after the third safety car deployment and after Mercedes had to warn its drivers to stay off the kerbs due to reliability concerns.

When the 71 lap Austrian Grand Prix began, Bottas blew the field off the line and held a two second gap at the end of the opening lap, as Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen – the only driver in the top ten to begin on the yellow-branded mediums – had intense pressure behind from Norris after several drivers including Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc toured across the run-off at the turn one exit.

Bottas began extending his lead as the race started to settle down and was warned by his team to look after his F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer on lap three, as Verstappen focused his attention towards the Finn.

But the promise of Red Bull’s alternate strategy ended abruptly on the eleventh lap as Max Verstappen’s potential hattrick of Austrian Grand Prix victories at the team’s home circuit faded due to a sudden loss of power approaching the first corner. The Dutchman travelled slowly back to the pits trying to fix the problem – a suspected electrical issue – forced him to retire.

This left Hamilton to chase race-leading team-mate Bottas, as the reigning world champion earlier flew passed Albon’s Red Bull with DRS assistance on the run-down to turn four and rapidly began cutting down the Finn’s advantage.

As the initial stint went on, Hamilton lowered the gap to Bottas, but the soft-tyre run ended early due to the first deployment of the safety car due to Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen spinning out after suffering a brake failure as he was overtaken by Renault’s Esteban Ocon into the third corner.

Mercedes managed to double-stack both drivers, putting both on the white side-walled harder compounds, without losing any time – and when the race resumed, Bottas pulled away.

However, Hamilton started to mount pressure on team-mate Bottas and called on his engineer if he would be allowed to choose his own engine mode, as the Silver Arrows planned to turn the power down on the two F1 W11 EQ Power+ racers.

As the leaders converged closer, Mercedes alerted both drivers about a threatening gearbox sensor issue that could have spelt the end of the race for both cars. Bottas and Hamilton’s race engineers warned them to stay off the kerbs before the Silver Arrow’s Chief Strategist James Vowles intervened that the problem was critical.

As the pairing adapted their driving styles, Hamilton started to fall back from Valtteri Bottas when the race suddenly brought out the safety car again as Williams Racing’s George Russell retired after being in P13 as his FW43 racer encountered a fuel pressure issue.

The two Mercedes and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez remained on their harder compounds, whilst Albon put on a set of softs, emerging in fourth.

Immediately after the race went green, it was Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who was the next retiree after just pitting for a set of softs and lost his front-right wheel through the penultimate corner.

However just before the safety car returned, Albon managed to jump ahead of Perez at the exit of turn three as the latter ran deep and locked up.

When the safety car was called in for the final time, Bottas blitzed away and on the following lap – Albon – who gave his position back to Perez, only to take third place while the Grand Prix was stabilised – attacked Hamilton around the outside on the run-down to turn four. The Thai-Briton looked to be in-front on the outside line but a collision between Hamilton’s front-left and Albon’s right rear sent the Red Bull driver spinning into the gravel – bringing back memories of last season’s Brazilian Grand Prix when both made contact.

As Valtteri Bottas charged towards the finish line to win the Austrian Grand Prix in what was an 11-lap sprint to the end, Hamilton was hit with a five-second penalty. This meant Ferrari’s Leclerc, who had been driving a quiet race before the safety cars turned the tables, finished second as he pitted for a fresh-set of mediums during the safety car deployment from the retirement of Russell.

He made short work of Perez with five laps remaining after a late move into turn three and was close enough to Hamilton take second off the Briton’s hands.

Norris clinched the final podium spot after surviving a late battle between McLaren team-mate Carlos Sainz and bumping by Perez, who had tried to make his long medium tyre stint work earlier in the Grand Prix, at the third corner. But Norris needed to rapidly close the gap to Hamilton and set the fastest lap of the race on the final loop to snatch third place by 0.1 seconds.

Sainz rounded out the top five with Perez sixth after receiving his own five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in eighth place and in-front of Renault’s Ocon with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi coming home in ninth.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel claimed the final point position of tenth after misjudging his braking into turn three while running behind Sainz’s McLaren and bumped into the Spaniard causing him to spin.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi finished his debut Grand Prix in 11^th, with Albon a late retiree alongside a long-list of casualties who suffered various mechanical issues – except AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat who retired in the closing stages due to a punctured left-rear tyre as he ran into the first corner with two laps remaining.

The Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2020 Race Results Classification (71 Laps)

* Provisional results. Note – Norris scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

Credit to https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1045/austria/race-result.html

You can see the full 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship standings at the following link: Formula 1 2020 Championship Calendar

Austrian Grand Prix – The Top Three

Winner – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+: “There was definitely quite a bit of pressure over the race – the last safety car was like, c’mon, again?! We had to manage the car quite a lot and I was slightly worried, but we managed to finish so that’s a very good start.”

2^nd – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF1000: “I did not expect [the podium] it’s a huge surprise but a good one, we had a bit of luck with some crashes here and there but that was the goal – to take every opportunity even though we didn’t have the pace. We are not where we want to be, but anything is possible.”

3^rd – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Racing-Renault, MCL35: “I’m speechless. I felt I had fudged it up quite a bit, but I did not give up, I managed to get back past Perez and I ended up on the podium! The last lap… you can tell I am a bit out of breath. The last few laps, the Lewis penalty – I turned it up a little bit.”

Round two of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship will once again be at the Red Bull Ring this weekend for the Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2020.