After a long delay, July saw the 2020 Formula 1 season underway with three rounds back to back. While some things have remained the same, such as the dominance of the Mercedes outfit, there have been plenty of talking points across the paddock. Lets look back at the first three rounds of the shortened ten race series...
The Austrian Grand Prix kicked off the 2020 F1 calendar at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. With a range of new changes: Toro Rosso returning as team Alpha Tauri, Nicholas Latifi joined the Williams team and the F1 return of Renault's Esteban Ocon, the months of waiting were finally behind them. The cars made their way out on the track, but in front of empty stands for the first ever time in F1 history, and with safety and social distancing guidelines in full effect.
After three practice sessions all finishing with a Hamilton - Bottas one two finish, the qualifying session saw the Finnish driver flip the script and steal pole position from Hamilton by a hundredth of a second, with Max Verstappen half a second further back in third place. Other notable qualifying session points included a strong showing from the McLarens of Norris (4th) and Sainz Jr (8th) and the Racing Points of Perez (6th) and Stroll (9th), in contrast to the disappointing results for the Renault (Ricciardo 10th and Ocon 14th) and most surprisingly Ferrari (Leclerc 7th and Vettel 11th) teams.
After a controversial national anthem where 14 of the 20 drivers took a knee to protest racial equality, the race itself was a highly entertaining affair, with plenty of action and almost half the field forced into retirement. The Mercedes of Bottas quickly established a lead out front with Hamilton behind him in second, while behind them the teams were racing very tightly. The first retirement came with Max Verstappen, whose attempt at three successive wins at the Red Bull Ring came to an end on lap 11 when an electrical issue forced him back to the pits, as would his teammate Albon later in the race. A succession of drivers followed, Ricciardo and Stroll among them, however for thrill value the sight of Kimi Raikkonen driving along with only three wheels was very entertaining.
After clipping Albon off the track mid race Hamilton was handed a five second penalty to be added on to his time post race. Despite crossing the finish line second behind Bottas, not only did this penalty push the Ferrari of Leclerc up to second, it also allowed Lando Norris in the McLaren into third ahead of Hamilton who fell into fourth place by 0.2 of a second. In a great result for team McLaren Sainz Jr rounded out the top 5. In a bizarre sign of the times the winners trophies were delivered to the podium by remote controlled stands!
Round 2 saw a return to the Red Bull Ring in a Formula 1 first. Never before had one circuit hosted two races in a season. In line with Formula 1 rules that disallow for two races to have the same name, this round the race was named the Styrian Grand Prix, reflecting the state that the track is based. With a week of teething under their belts the teams set about fixing the bugs that cost so many during the last race.
The practice sessions came and went relatively incident free, all except a heavy collision for Daniel Ricciardo into the barriers at turn 9 during P2. Despite the heavy crash Ricciardo was cleared to continue racing. The P3 session was rained out completely.
Qualifying for Round 2 was a very wet affair, with non slick tyres the order of the day. After missing the podium in round 1 Lewis Hamilton set himself up for race day by claiming pole position ahead of Max Verstappen and another strong McLaren showing with Carlos Sainz Jr qualifying third ahead of Valteri Bottas in fourth.
Just 7 days on from Race 1 we saw the same track host a very different race the second time around. Hamilton started well on pole position and took the cars out, but the drama was about to unfold behind him. After a disappointing round 1, the Ferrari team were hoping for a better return this week, but on the very first lap their day suffered a crippling blow. Keen to overtake his partner, Charles Lecerc collided with Sebastian Vettel on trun three, damaging the German's rear wing as well as his own car. Both cars headed straight to the pits, with Vettel immediately being garaged. Leclerc tried to go back out, but with too much damaged to his cars floor he was gone three laps later and the day for the Scuderi was a write off.
The race ran relatively smoothly, with Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas out in front. While Hamilton was never headed, Bottas slowly wound in verstappen and with a handful of laps remaining passed him to complete a Mercedes 1-2. Further back, the lower points saw planty of changes in the last laps, including Lando Norris moving from 8th place all the way up to 5th on the final lap!
After two weeks in a row at the Red Bull Ring, Round three saw the teas head to the Hungaroring track i Hungary for the third race in as many weeks. After the Mercedes of Bottas and Hamilton split the wins in the first two rounds the pressure was on to see who wrestle the lead in the drivers championship.
The practice session all went through with little controversy, with once again the Mercedes dominating proceedings, however the perfromance of the Racing Point cars was duly noted since Renault lodged an official protest to the cars after the Styrian Grand Prix. Renault alleged that the Racing Point team were not only running Mercedes engines, but that they had received design plans for the Mercedes brake ducts, something not allowed under F1 rules. The claim has seen many dub the striking cars the 'pink Mercedes.
The qualifying rounds were held under threat of rain, though thankfully none arrived. While the Red Bulls of Verstappen (7th) and Albon (13th) struggled, the Ferrari team performed stronger with 5th and 6th place locking out the third row of the grid. The big talk was all about the Racing Point team, who beat all drivers not in a Mercedes to finish 3rd and 4th, the first time they have done this since 2018.
The action on race day started before the flag had even dropped, when Max Verstappen crashed into the barriers on his way to the start line! Having damaged his steering rod, his mechanics scrambled to get his car back in order before he was removed from the grid altogether. Thankfully they completed this task and Max took his place with the rest of the drivers.
With the track still drying from earlier rain, the Haas tea took a gamble at the end of the formation lap, bringing in both of their drivers and fitting them with racing slicks. This proved an inspired, effectively giving the team an extra pit stop for nothing, and their drivers were able to take some rare air at the front of the pack, eventually helping them to record their first points of the season. At the start Valteri Bottas jumped early in second position, before a stuttering correction saw him drop back to sixth position. Perez behind him also dropped back from 4th to 7th. Verstappen, who just made the start line, made the most of his second chance to drive to an impressive 2nd place. While Bottas looked like he was going to catch Max for the second week in a row, Verstappen held firm to keep the Finn at bay. In regards to the lead, Hamilton was never headed, and coasted to his second straight victory, the bonus point for fastest lap of the day, the overall drivers championship lead, and to within 5 wins of Michael Schumacher's all time recornd for F1 wins.
After 3 rounds the usual pattern is showing on the tables, with the Mercedes dominance again on display. Lewis Hamilton has pulled ahead of Valteri Bottas, with Max Verstappen in third place in front of young Englishman Lando Norris. The constructors standings show that after Mercedes, the race for the lower standings is well and truly on. While Max Verstappen remains strong, Alex Albon's failure to succeed in the second Red Bull has kept them close to the field, while everyone is wondering how and when Ferrari will get their act together, currently languishing in 5th place on the constructors board and almost 100 points behind their Mercedes rivals.
With a week off to let us all catch our breath we look forward as we head to Great Britain for round 4 of the 2020 Formula 1 Grand Prix season.
