Brendan Lines        July 19, 2020

Lewis Hamilton’s has equalled another milestone set by the legendary Michael Schumacher taking his 90th Formula 1 pole position, Hamilton’s second pole of 2020 is his seventh at the Hungaroring, equals Michael Schumacher for the most pole positions at this race.

Hamilton’s pole stole the show during qualifying but there was plenty happening throughout the field that will make the run into Turn 1 tonight one to watch, as Racing Point look hot favourites to split the Mercedes lock-out of the front row.

Here’s what the teams had to say after qualifying leading up to tonight’s Hungarian Grand Prix:

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – P1, 1:13.447

“Crazy. I have to pinch myself. It just doesn’t register. It’s quite humbling to be honest. I gess to work with an incredible group of people, without whom I wouldn’t be able to have the opportunity to do so. So massively thankful to the everyone back home and the guys here who do such an amazing job. And Valtteri doesn’t make it easy for me at all. It requires absolute perfection when it comes to doing laps and qualifying like that is one of the things I enjoy doing most.”

Valtteri Bottas – P2, 1:13.554

“Lewis did a great job to get the pole today and it’s going to be a bit of a drag race into Turn 1 between us tomorrow, so I look forward to that – the first lap will definitely be interesting. I’m the Championship leader at the moment, but I need to win races to maintain that, so that’s the only goal I have tomorrow and I’m fully focused on making it happen.”

Racing Point

Lance Stroll – P3, 1.14.377

“Very happy at the moment. That car was really strong all the way through qualifying throughout the whole weekend really. We’ve had the pace and it was just about piecing it together during that qualifying session. So, really great job by all the guys. I’m really pleased with the session and now sights set on tomorrow and I’m going to try to grab some big points.”

Sergio Perez – P4, 1.14.545

“Locking out the second row is a great result for everyone in the team. I’m happy with P4, but I felt my Qualifying could have been slightly better and that I could have had a tidier lap [in Q3]. The important thing is that we’ve kept the momentum going this weekend and we’ve shown strong pace in every session. If we can show the same pace tomorrow, then we can target a big result. Being able to start the race on the medium tyre is what we wanted, so it’s great that we had the speed to make that happen. I hope it pays us back tomorrow.”

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel – P5, 1:14.774

“The first time both cars in Q3. I think we know that Austria didn’t really suit us, we lost a lot of time in the straights, and here I think there’s a lot more corners to make up for it.

“The car felt better balanced as well so I think we’re much closer to the people, let’s say around us, like the Racing Point, the Red Bull, even McLaren, so that’s positive. We need to make sure we keep that up, but for now, all that matters is we need to prepare the race for tomorrow.”

Charles Leclerc – P6, 1:14.817

“It feels a bit better, 5th and 6th,” Leclerc agreed after qualifying. “I think our race pace is a bit stronger than our quali pace so hopefully we can score some good points for the team tomorrow. It was a difficult session on my side, [I] struggled a little bit with the driving in Q1 and Q2 but better in Q3. But happy for the team for the third row.”

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen – P7, 1:14.849

“Obviously we are all disappointed with qualifying. I don’t know why but clearly something is not working compared to last year where we had really good car balance around this track. The weekend so far has been pretty tricky in general, it’s hard to understand why as we have changed a lot of things but it doesn’t seem to have given us a lot more lap time.

“Around here you really need a stable car which is very hooked in the second sector, but we are just not connected balance wise with oversteer and understeer. For the race I need to stay out of trouble at the start as P7 is right in the mix and hopefully we can still score some decent points. As always, I won’t give up on the race result and of course it is not easy to overtake around here but I will still do the best I can with the pace we have, so let’s see where we end up.”

Alexander Albon – P13, 1:15.715

“I don’t have much to say at the moment. It’s massively frustrating and obviously not the result we wanted, so we need to sit down and regroup. I didn’t do a good lap but to be honest a number of things didn’t go as planned today. I felt better with the car in FP3 than qualifying, but still we had traffic on our Q2 runs and so overall it’s been a tough day. It’s not very easy to overtake here so we’ll need some rain in tomorrow’s race to help our chances of moving further up the order.”

McLaren

Lando Norris – P8, 1:14.966

“I’m pretty happy with today. I don’t think the team could’ve done a much better job. I might have done a better job if I’d completely nailed the lap, as I made a couple of mistakes and maybe could’ve been a position higher. I’m a little bit disappointed by that, but, as a team and with the car, we’ve had challenges this weekend so I’m pretty happy we’ve come out of quali with P8 and P9. I don’t think there was a lot more to extract.”

Carlos Sainz – P9, 1:15.027

“Today the car was feeling better after the changes in set-up. Yesterday we struggled too much with balance and tyre temperatures, but today we sorted some of our major issues and managed to put both cars in the top 10. I still had trouble predicting the car’s behaviour, especially in the last sector, so we still had margin to improve.

“Strategy and tyre management are going to be important tomorrow starting from P9 on the used set of Softs, but we’ll fight to score good points again here in Hungary.”

Alpha Tauri

Pierre Gasly – P10, 1:15.508*

“I’m pretty happy that I made it through to Q3 for the second time this year, but it’s a shame we had issues over the weekend and these cost us our second run in Q2 and running in Q3. I’m sure the guys will have a look at it tonight to solve the problems and hopefully it will all be sorted tomorrow. In terms of performance, I’m pleased that I could put everything together in Quali after almost no running yesterday. It was quite challenging but in the end I managed to do some decent laps and felt pretty good in the car. Hopefully that’s going to be the case also in the race tomorrow.”

*Gasly’s time was taken from Q2, no time set in Q3.

Daniil Kyvat – P17- 1:16.204

“It was a difficult weekend so far, difficult sessions, as the car still doesn’t feel right for me. We struggled to find the right set up and balance, so we could not make the tyres work. I’m just not clicking with the car and we will have to work hard with my engineers to find which direction to go in. However, if it’s tricky on the single lap, I’m generally able to get the best out of it during the race, so I’m still looking forward to tomorrow.”

Renault

Daniel Ricciardo – P11, 1:15.661

“Today, we just couldn’t seem to improve enough. The Medium in Q2, in hindsight, probably wasn’t the right idea. I don’t feel we were any slower than yesterday, more that the others found a bit more time. We’ll work on it and try and understand what happened. We can still be positive for tomorrow. We have a free tyre choice, which can be very important here, and we’ll look to make that work. I’m feeling optimistic and there are certainly points up for grabs.”

Esteban Ocon – P14, 1:15.742 

“It wasn’t a great session for us today. There are a few things we need to review as it felt we didn’t have the pace to go through to Q3. In particular, I wasn’t happy with the car balance and it felt a bit tricky to drive. It’s disappointing, of course, but it’s all to play for tomorrow. If it’s dry, we have a free choice of tyres and, if it rains, we know we have a good chance.”

Williams

George Russell –  P12, 1:15.698

“The car came alive in qualifying in these cooler conditions and I had a lot of fun out there. Again, I did not expect to be this fast, the car was feeling great and I had a good rhythm. It was a shame about the Q2 lap, we had some traffic and I think Q3 was possible today, which would have been amazing. But P12, considering where we were last year, was incredible. I love driving this track flat out, it was great fun and I’m proud of the boys and girls to get that result again. Fingers crossed we get a bit of rain tomorrow; we could do with that and we could be on for a good result. I am ready to fight, and hopefully we have a successful race.”

Nicholas Latifi – P15, 1:16.544 

“I am definitely very pleased; it was my first time into Q2. From a team point of view, it needs to be acknowledged all the amazing work that they have done. For sure we knew that this track was going to suit our car more but getting both cars through to Q2 on merit shows that we have made a lot of progress. I am still a bit disappointed in myself that I wasn’t further up, as I expected a bit more. However, I can be very pleased with the overall session and a big well done to the guys.”

Alfa Romeo

Kimi Räikkönen – P20, 1:16.614

Antonio Giovinazzi- P19, 1:16.506

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal Alfa Romeo Racing 

“Today’s performance is far from where we expected to be and we will need to find the reasons for this result. We had made steps forward in the two races in Austria but we still have a lot of work ahead of us to get to the level where we need to be. The race tomorrow will be difficult: we hope to have better pace, but starting on the back row, Kimi and Antonio will have their work cut out. We’ll still give 100%, though, and see where that gets us.”

Haas

Kevin Magnussen – P16, 1:16.152

Romain Grosjean – P18, 1:16.407

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

“It was obviously a disappointing qualifying for us, we expected more after our performances in practice. I think that is the ranking at the moment – we just need to keep on working and trying every weekend to get the best out of what we’ve got. There’s nothing else to do in such a condensed season like this. You need to try and see, at some stage, the opportunity to do something.”

Qualifying full results

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:14.907	1:14.261	1:13.447	22
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:15.474	1:14.530	1:13.554	20
3	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:14.895	1:15.176	1:14.377	22
4	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:14.681	1:15.394	1:14.545	22
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:15.455	1:15.131	1:14.774	20
6	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:15.793	1:15.006	1:14.817	20
7	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:15.495	1:14.976	1:14.849	21
8	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:15.444	1:15.085	1:14.966	20
9	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:15.281	1:15.267	1:15.027	21
10	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:15.767	1:15.508		14
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	1:15.848	1:15.661		14
12	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:15.585	1:15.698		14
13	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:15.722	1:15.715		16
14	31	Esteban Ocon	RENAULT	1:15.719	1:15.742		14
15	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:16.105	1:16.544		14
16	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:16.152			9
17	26	Daniil Kvyat	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:16.204			9
18	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	1:16.407			8
19	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:16.506			12
20	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:16.614			12

Brendan Lines July 18, 2020 08:30am

The steely skies over the Hungaroring opened up for FP2 as sopping wet conditions affected track times adversely, but the silver lining for Ferrari was Sebastian Vettel topped the session in P1.

Vettel’s time of 1:40.464s in the wet was some 24 seconds slower than FP1’s times, Mercedes flying Fin Valtteri Bottas managed P2 with a 1:40.736.

Only 13 drivers posted a time in FP2, Lewis Hamilton who was fastest in FP1, went out on the green ring intermediate tyres but did not post a timed lap on them.

However Racing Point had both drivers out on track, looking to improve their disappointing performance in the wet of the Styrian Gp last week, drivers Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez finished P5 and P6 respectively some+0.2s off the pace.

Perez’s session however wasn’t without incident going off at the Turn 6 chicane in the slippery conditions.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz finished P3 after flirting with limits of adhesion at Turn 3, Sainz will be one to watch having scored points at the last four Hungarian Grands Prix.

Pierre Gasly went out on track to make up for lost ground in FP1, managing P6 was a vast improvement for the Frenchman, but things got little hot under the collar of his AT01 as Gasly reported ‘a burning smell’ over the teams radio channel.

Kimi Raikkonen stepped back in to his Alfa for FP2 posting the most amount of laps run with 16 laps in P9, however the flying Fin didn’t soar as high as his compatriot Bottas as Raikkonen’s Alfa struggled to get heat into its wet tyres.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the top ten trying out a mix of intermediate and full wet tyres, but was some +3.0s slower than teammate Vettel.

Tomorrow’s FP3 and Qualifying sessions are likely to be rain affected again this week, with local forecasts predicting a 58 per cent chance of rain and a thunderstorm in the afternoon.

FP3  starts 07:30pm local time tonight.

Full FP2 results:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:40.464		12
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:40.736	+0.272s	5
3	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:41.784	+1.320s	6
4	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:42.380	+1.916s	6
5	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:42.470	+2.006s	5
6	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:42.588	+2.124s	7
7	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:42.820	+2.356s	4
8	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	1:43.335	+2.871s	6
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:43.471	+3.007s	16
10	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:43.725	+3.261s	10
11	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:44.411	+3.947s	9
12	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:46.000	+5.536s	5
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:47.422	+6.958s	7
14	31	Esteban Ocon	RENAULT			1
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT			1
16	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES			1
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES			2
18	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES			2
19	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA			3
20	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI			1

Brendan Lines.     July 18, 2020 07:45am

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas expectedly topped Friday’s FP1, ominous clouds threatened the Hungaroring but did not dampen the reigning World Champions +0.527 gap over Racing Point, while Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo was quick from the outset going fifth fastest.

Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault came to grips with the Hungaroring immediate posting a fifth fastest 1:17.200, running the medium tyre on predominantly low-fuel runs.

“The morning was pretty good and I felt we got into it right from the get-go. It was a bit like the first session in Austria, when we got into the track quite quickly and found a solid base set-up straight away,” Ricciardo said after FP1.

Ricciardo finished ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon in P10 and was the fastest non-Mercedes powered car for the session.

The curious case from FP1 was Hamilton’s fastest time was set on the hard tyres, his best time 1:16.003s would have comfortably been a top ten time against 2019 qualifying times.

A clear sign Mercedes might just be teasing their outright pace ahead of Saturday’s qualifying as Valtteri Bottas was just +0.086 off Hamilton’s time.

There was a high amount of degradation on track as Racing Point’s Sergio Perez delaminated the front right of his soft-shod RP20 after a massive lock-up at Turn 1, but the Mexican went back out to go third fastest with a 1:16.530s.

Perez’s teammate Lance Stroll was four tenths back in P4, sealing a top four lock-out of Mercedes engine cars.

There were promising signs for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc shared P7 and P8 respectively, Vettel’s time was +1.235 off Hamilton’s time, as the team appears to making its new upgrades work nicely.

Red Bull Team principal Christian Horner insists his cars were testing set ups on high-fuel runs, fastest of the Red Bulls was Max Verstappen with a 1:17.435 for P8, while Alex Albon seemed to struggle with traffic back in P13.

McLaren’s MCL35 didn’t adapt so well to the Hungaroring’s high downforce layout, as both Lando Norris (P9) and Carlos Sainz (P11) struggled for balance in the car running over +1.5s adrift of the Mercedes.

Robert Kubica stepped into Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa for FP1, he spun as the rain began to smatter the green track surface, but appeared to be gathering data on high-fuel runs finishing P19 while Antonio Giovinazzi was P17.

Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri had a problem with an engine sensor that retired him from the session, teammate Daniil Kyvat  finished the session in P16.

A surprise for the session was rookie Nicholas Latifi finishing in P15 ahead of teammate George Russell in P18, Russell still remains unbeaten by any teammate in qualifying.

FP1 full results:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:16.003		37
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:16.089	+0.086s	37
3	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:16.530	+0.527s	20
4	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:16.967	+0.964s	35
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	1:17.200	+1.197s	28
6	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:17.238	+1.235s	26
7	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:17.404	+1.401s	29
8	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:17.435	+1.432s	28
9	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:17.523	+1.520s	26
10	31	Esteban Ocon	RENAULT	1:17.615	+1.612s	35
11	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:17.675	+1.672s	32
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:17.713	+1.710s	35
13	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:17.727	+1.724s	28
14	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	1:17.890	+1.887s	35
15	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:17.969	+1.966s	31
16	26	Daniil Kvyat	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:18.292	+2.289s	35
17	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:18.425	+2.422s	30
18	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:18.574	+2.571s	29
19	88	Robert Kubica	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:19.150	+3.147s	26

Brendan Lines.   July 17, 2020 03:45pm

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo says the incident with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll that saw him drop from sixth to eighth at the Styrian Grand Prix will be discussed among the drivers this weekend as the Australian prepares for tonight’s FP1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo took issue with Canadian, Stroll’s move on the penultimate lap which he considers a ‘failed attempt’ to pass.

The Australian said to The Race he does not want the sport’s rules to discourage racing.

“I’ve never wanted to have the rules so tight that it discourages us to race, so I don’t want to feel we’re kind of driving on eggshells and scared to pull the trigger,” he said.

“But there’s trying and also failing. Both of us went off track – me because obviously if I turn in, we crash, but he also brought himself off the track with us.

“So he tried a move, which he was completely in his right to do so. I left room, which I guess I shouldn’t have, but he tried and because we both went off I see that as a failed attempt, so the position should have been given back.”

Ricciardo says drivers would agree with him, “I can’t see any drivers saying, ‘yeah, that’s a clean move’,  insisting drivers and stewards should be reminded of the rules at briefings over the weekend — rather than make it a personal issue with the Canadian.

“So I don’t think it’s necessarily something that you need to discuss with the driver, as if [to say] ‘yeah, that was a dirty move, what were you thinking,’ he said.

“It’s more that this needs to be spoken to as a group, with us drivers and the stewards together to try and educate everyone on what we think is right and wrong.”

Renault has wrested with mixed results from the opening rounds at the Red Bull Ring, coming away with 8 Constructors Championship points, but consecutive DNFs related to the same cooling issue.

However the tight, high downforce nature of the the Hungaroring  is a different beast, and one that has been kind to Ricciardo.

Dan Ricciardo’s Hungarian GP key Stats:

9 Starts

3rd Best grid position

1st Best finish

67 Points

1:16.818 Fastest qualifying (2017)

1:20.012 Fastest lap (2018)

7 Average points

551 Raced laps

2,413 Raced KM

The Aussie took his second career win at the Hungaroring in 2014 in a Renault-powered Red Bull, in contrast his current Renault factory team hasn’t had the same success in recent years.

Ricciardo believes the gains the team has made in aerodynamic efficiency will allow Renault to perform better following in the ‘dirty air’ of other cars. Ricciardo (AUS) Renault F1 Team RS20. Steiermark Grand Prix, Sunday 12th July 2020. Spielberg, Austria.

The field is likely to be more ‘bunched’ on a circuit that boasts one of the lowest top speeds (318kph) and on average more lap-time cornering than straight line racing.

“The downforce and the package we have is a bit more efficient, and I think on low fuel the rear of the car has improved a lot.

“So traction, if we look at our overlays from last year, we’re just getting to full throttle considerably earlier.

“The rear of the car is certainly at the moment the strength compared to this time last year.”

Daniel Ricciardo chases down teammate Esteban Ocon at the Styrian Gp – Image Autosport.com

Ricciardo displayed the R.S.20’s prowess in his hunt and pass of teammate Esteban Ocon at the Red Bull Ring last week on medium tyres.

What will be interesting to watch is Ricciardo’s one-lap pace in qualifying on the soft tyres on low fuel, if everything that’s been said is true we’ll see Renault’s improvement in outright pace.

FP1 for the Hungarian Grand Prix begins 

Brendan Lines      July 13, 2020  06:45am

Lewis Hamilton backed up his amazing pole lap in the wet, easing to victory in the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, it is the reigning World Champion’s 85th career victory and his first victory for Mercedes in 2020.

It was case of deja vu as Mercedes repeated its victory from last weeks Austrian Grand Prix as Formula 1 returned to the Red Bull Ring.

But this time Hamilton dominated from the start, on a track that has not entirely been a happy hunting ground for the Brit.

Lewis Hamilton leads the field away for the start of the Styrian GP – Image: Mercedesamgf1.com

Hamilton turned around his fortunes from last week’s disappointing penalty, dropping him back to P4 and nursing his car home with gearbox issues.

“This has tended to be one of my weaker tracks, so I am over the moon to have a performance like this today – so, so happy,” Hamilton said after the race.

“This feels like a long time coming since the final race of last year and it is a great step forward to come back from a difficult first weekend.”

“The team did a fantastic job with the strategy and then it was about keeping it together, staying off the kerbs and bringing it home.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen used everything available to hold P2 for most of the day, but Bottas was able to pass the Dutchman on lap 67 to complete Mercedes’ 54th 1-2 victory, celebrating thier 200th start in Formula 1 as a works team in the best way possible.

For Ferrari there was no reason to celebrate, a first lap incident at Turn 3 caused a double DNF for Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, Leclerc later apologised for letting the team down with his over-zealous move on Vettel, completing the teams implosion.

McLaren’s Lando Norris put on another stunning late charge to  finish P5, although this week did not end with a podium.

A double pass on Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo followed by a last corner overtake on Sergio Perez on the closing laps secured more valuable points, with the addition of teammate Carlos Sainz’s P9, McLaren now sit second in the Constructor’s World Championship.

Norris lead the McLaren v Racing Point v Renault battle right to the finish line, ending with a photo finish as Sergio Perez just held on to P6 from Stroll and Ricciardo by +0.204s.

Norris’ double overtake of Stroll and Ricciardo was triggered by Stroll’s lunge at Ricciardo’s Renault in the closing stages.

Stewards called the lunge a racing incident, a disgruntled Renault continued their issue with Racing Point, after the race lodging an official protest to the legality of Racing Point’s RP20, which has now been deemed admissible by the FIA.

Renault’s day was a mixed bag of results with Ricciardo in P8 and Esteban Ocon’s DNF coming on lap 25, due to the same cooling issue that forced Ricciardo’s retirement the week before.

Ricciardo was deep into his opening stint on the medium tyres as he attacked Ocon’s soft-shod Renault on lap 17, Ocon wouldn’t yield to the Aussie straight away costing Ricciardo time to get on with the job of hunting down the leaders.

Racing Point gained back its speed in the dry conditions as Stroll and Perez fought their way up from P12 and P17 after a disappointing wet qualifying.

Perez who pitted on lap 39 for new medium tyres, then came out the pits ahead of Sainz who’d been slowed down in his earlier pitstop from a stuck left-rear wheel nut.

The pair drag raced down to Turn 4, but Perez got the better of Sainz with a very classy move around the outside at Turn 6.

Red Bull’s Alex Albon held onto P4 as Perez bared down on the Thai driver on lap 49, Perez’s move pushed Albon wide slightly touching, nearly causing a scene all to reminiscent of Albon’s coming together with Hamilton last week.

Alpha Tauri’s Daniil Kyvat rounded out the top ten scoring his first point for his team in its new guise.

But all the arguing amongst the field was well behind Hamilton who’d amassed a +13.719s lead from Bottas to seal the 1-2 victory.

Formula 1 now  heads to the Hungary for round 3 next week.

Full results:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	71	1:22:50.683	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	71	+13.719s	18
3	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	71	+33.698s	15
4	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA	71	+44.400s	12
5	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	71	+61.470s	10
6	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	71	+62.387s	8
7	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	71	+62.453s	6
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	71	+62.591s	4
9	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	70	+1 lap	3
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	ALPHATAURI HONDA	70	+1 lap	1
11	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	70	+1 lap	0
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	70	+1 lap	0
13	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	70	+1 lap	0
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	70	+1 lap	0
15	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	70	+1 lap	0
16	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	69	+2 laps	0
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	69	+2 laps	0
NC	31	Esteban Ocon	RENAULT	25	DNF	0
NC	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	4	DNF	0
NC	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1	DNF	0

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

Brendan Lines July 12, 2020 10:00am

Sopping wet conditions at the Red Bull Ring pushed driver’s to the limit for qualifying, but amid the grey skies across the Styrian Hills Lewis Hamilton lit up the track with purple sectors to take his 89th career pole position by a staggering +1.216s from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Styrian Grand Prix.

It was a rain-affected Saturday as forecast, which forced the cancellation of the morning’s FP3, the varying conditions made for varying results as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz pipped Mercedes Valtteri Bottas for P3 on the grid.

The pace of Racing Point was washed away from their speed in FP1, as Sergio Perez did not make it out of Q1 and Lance Stroll struggled for grip in the crucial moments of Q2 to remain in P13.

Hamilton’s final flying lap, later described by Mercedes Team principal Toto Wolff to The Race as ‘not from this world’ in Q3, came just as rain intensified at the start of the session, pushing the fields laps times into the +1:20.000s.

Lewis Hamilton celebrates his pole position at the Styrian GP – Image: mercedsamgf1.com

Driving flawlessly in the sodden conditions, Hamilton’s performance was lauded by Wolff.

“What a Qualifying session. It was an absolutely stunning lap from Lewis and an incredible performance in very challenging conditions. I don’t remember the last time somebody had a gap of 1.2 seconds to second place in qualifying,” he said.

It was a perfect storm for Hamilton who timed his run amongst the traffic on track and deployed his battery pack wisely, balancing the car on the edge of aquaplaning with precise throttle control.

“I’m grateful that we got to do qualifying – I love these days. The weather was incredibly difficult and challenging out there for all of us,” Hamilton said.”A lot of the time you can’t see where you are going. I had a big aquaplaning moment on my penultimate lap, so I had my heart in my mouth, but I was able to improve on the final lap, nice and clean.”

“A lot of the time you can’t see where you are going. I had a big aquaplaning moment on my penultimate lap, so I had my heart in my mouth, but I was able to improve on the final lap, nice and clean.”

Max Verstappen challenged at the top across the qualifying sessions, but his final lap came unstuck on the entry of Turn 11, what looked an improvement on his personal best was still off from Hamilton’s pace, but the Dutchman had to settle for P2 with a 1:20.489s.

“I felt very comfortable but in Q3 it rained more and with the extra standing water we were struggling a bit more and I wasn’t as happy with the balance with a lot of oversteer.” Verstappen said after qualifying.

“My final lap could of course have been a little better and I had a four wheel drift over the last kerb but still it would not have been good enough to beat Lewis,” Verstapppen said after qualifying.

Carlos Sainz continued McLaren’s uptick in performance with P3, the Spaniard out qualified his teammate Lando Norris for the first time this season with a 1:20.671s, last week’s podium place-getter Norris qualified P6 +1.652 off Hamilton’s time.

“I’m very happy with P3, especially in these conditions! I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of driving in the wet and achieving my best-ever qualifying result today feels great. Towards the end of Q3 the track got even trickier and it wasn’t easy to judge where to take the bigger risks,” Sainz said.

Definitely the most exciting and stressful qualifying sessions I’ve done. Starting P3 tomorrow puts us in a great spot to fight for good points, but there is still a long way to go until the chequered flag. The race will be dry tomorrow so things can change quickly. We’ll prepare everything tonight and go for it tomorrow!”

Esteban Ocon continued on his merry return with Renault in P5, Ocon ran as high as P3 during Q3 and looked comfy in the wet.

“It definitely feels great to be inside Q3 and even better to be inside the top five! The car felt great and I felt confident straight away in very challenging conditions. When there’s rain, I feel comfortable, so I’m very happy to put the car in that position,” he said.

Ocon’s teammate Aussie Daniel Ricciardo is likely to benefit from Norris’ thee-place grid penalties, the Australian qualified P10, but with a dry race forecast, the prolific overtaker should be able to bag some valuable first points for the season.

“I was a little bit off in the final session, it probably just got away from us a little bit. But, it’s great for the team to have both cars inside the top ten,” Ricciardo said.

“Tomorrow will be fun. The weather looks like it will be the opposite from today, so we’ll see what happens.”

Pierre Gasly slotted into P8 with a 1:21.028s, the Frenchman’s Alpha Tauri had been knocking on the door of the top ten fastest all weekend, but Gasly believes P5 was on the table.

“It was tough but also really enjoyable and I think we really maximised our chances. It’s just a shame for the yellow flag in the last lap, as I think I was going two or three tenths faster, so there could probably have been a P5 on the table,” he said.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc struggled, the wet conditions might have favoured their lack of straight line speed, both cars were over two seconds slower than Mercedes’ pace.

Vettel looked more consistent over one lap finishing P10 with a 1:21.192s, ahead of Leclec’s 1:21.651s in P11.

Leclerc was later handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Alpha Tauri’s Daniil Kyvat.

Williams’ George Russell revelled in the mix-up of the field amid the wet conditions, gaining Williams its first appearance in Q2 since Brazil 2016, Russell’s final time of 1:19.636 in the lighter rain of q2 was enough to secure P12 on the grid.

The Styrian Grand Prix begins 10:40pm ACT.

Full Results;

Note – Norris penalised three grid places for overtaking under yellow flags during FP1. Leclerc penalised three grid places for impeding Kvyat during qualifying.

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:18.188	1:17.825	1:19.273	34
2	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:18.297	1:17.938	1:20.489	34
3	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:18.590	1:18.836	1:20.671	33
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:18.791	1:18.657	1:20.701	34
5	31	Esteban Ocon	RENAULT	1:19.687	1:18.764	1:20.922	33
6	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:18.504	1:18.448	1:20.925	34
7	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:20.882	1:19.014	1:21.011	31
8	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:20.192	1:18.744	1:21.028	33
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	1:19.662	1:19.229	1:21.192	32
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:20.243	1:19.545	1:21.651	33
11	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:20.871	1:19.628		24
12	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:20.382	1:19.636		22
13	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:19.697	1:19.645		23
14	26	Daniil Kvyat	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:19.824	1:19.717		24
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:21.140	1:20.211		22
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:21.372			12
17	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:21.607			12
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:21.759			12
19	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:21.831			12
20	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	DNS			1

Brendan Lines July 11, 2020 09:00am

An incident at Turn 9 in the opening minutes of FP2 put Daniel Ricciardo out for the session while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time in free practice for the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.

Verstappen had some choice words as he was held up in traffic by Mercedes Valtteri Bottas on an early flying lap, but the Dutchman later put in a fastest 1:03.660s around half a second clear of Lewis Hamilton’s fastest time in free practice at the Red Bull Ring last week.

Max Verstappen closely followed by Alex Albon in FP2 – Image: Redbullcontentpool.com

“The car already feels better than last week, the balance is a lot nicer to drive and we have made a good step. It is only Friday Practice and of course it is too early to say how we are looking against Mercedes, but from our side I think we are quite happy,” Verstappen said after practice.

“We have tried a few different directions to understand the car a bit more and I think we are heading the right way which I’m pleased about.”

“We have to see what will happen tomorrow with the weather but otherwise we will find out where we really are on Sunday.”

Red Bull teammate Alex Albon still struggled with his car setup posting 7th fastest .777s off Verstappen’s pace.

Bottas (P2) and Hamilton (P6) are still a little off their scintillating pace last week, leaving the door wide open for Red Bull to capitalise, Hamilton suggested after practice the field might be catching up on Mercedes’ pace.

“It seems like the field is bunching up a bit more, but it’s always tough to read into what happened in practice. We’ve got some work to do, to look into the data and find out what’s going on,” Hamilton said.

The session was red-flagged in the opening 15 minutes after Daniel Ricciardo lost the rear end of his Renault, Ricciardo limped away for a precautionary visit to the medical centre.

With no time set for the session, the Aussie will hope the bleak weather for Saturday does not wash-out qualifying as the grid will be calculated off drivers FP2 times.

“Unfortunately, it was a very short second session for us. That first push lap was going quite well up until Turn 9.” he said.

“It was a mistake, it all happened very quickly so I’m not sure what went wrong. I turned in and just lost the car straight away.”

“I know these things happen with cars and in Formula 1, so it’s not out of the ordinary.”

“I’m OK, however, I feel bad for the guys. We’ll just move on. The car felt fine this morning, especially towards the end. The second session would have been interesting, so we’ll just have to find out our pace tomorrow or Sunday.”

Racing Point continued to flaunt its founded speed, after Perez topped FP1, he backed up his earlier effort with a 1:03.877s securing P3 favouring the soft (C4) tyres, teammate Lance Stroll was right behind Perez in P4 around four tenths off.

Lando Norris was handed a three-place grid penalty after overtaking under a yellow flag in FP1, P8 was his best while Carlos Saint put in more solid long runs on the medium (C3) and softs (C4) for P5 +.673s off Verstappen.

Ferrari again wrestled with getting pace as drivers Charles Leclerc managed to scrape together P9 just four hundredths ahead of Renault’s Esteban Ocon in P10, Sebastian Vettel was P16 nearly two seconds off the leaders.

Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kyvat are knocking on the door of the top ten finishing P11 and P12r respectively, Gasly did drop from P8 in FP1, but his FP2 time was nearly one second faster.

Williams opted for high-fuel runs, yet drivers George Russell and Nicholas Latifi were still able to post P15 and P17 ahead of both Haas cars.

Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the field in P19 and P20, Team Principal Guenther Steiner says the team has ‘a lot of work in front of us.’

FP3 begins tonight 07:30pm with Qualifying 10:30pm AEST.

Top featured image – Dan Ricciardo walks away from wrecked R.S.20 – Image: Fox Sports

Brendan Lines     July 10, 2020 09:15pm

Sergio Perez flaunted Racing Point’s burgeoning speed in FP1 for the Styrian Grand Prix going fastest in a session that had all the hallmarks of a testing day as teams looked for reliability over outright pace.

There was plenty of flow-vis paint and aero rakes on display early in the session as teams began testing a raft of new updates.

As the weather forecast in the Styrian Hills looks bleak for Saturday, times from FP2 later tonight may be counted towards qualifying if weather is inclement, which could potentially mix up the grid for Sunday.

Sergio Perez Racing Point – Image: Racingpointf1.com

Notably, Ferrari brought forward its new front wing, floor and diffuser this week, ahead of its original ETA slated for Hungary next week, but drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc are yet to reap any reward finishing 10th and 12th just under a second slower than Perez.

Red Bull however benefited from its rear-wing upgrades improving its middle sector pace as Max Verstappen was second fastest just point-two of a second adrift.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Alex Albon struggled with understeer on his car setup managing sixth fastest.

Last weeks winner Valtteri Bottas and his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton appeared to be treading lightly after the Red Bull Ring curbs sent shockwaves through their gearboxes last week, went 3rd and 4th fastest.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz racked up 39 laps testing the MCL35 pace on long runs with the hard (C1) and softs (C4) tyres, Sainz went seventh fastest while Lando Norris finished 14th.

The session was red-flagged mid way through after Williams’ Nicholas Latifi’s gearbox lost drive.

At the resumption, Perez lifted the pace being the first driver to get into the 1:04s, as the rest of the field was happy to lap in the 1:05s testing their pace on the longer runs.

Daniel Ricciardo also ran long on the hard (C1) and medium (C2) his pace over one-lap was enough to finish 9th, while teammate Esteban Ocon was 13th on the same tyres.

Robert Kubica in his first run back with Alfa Romeo was 18th while Kimi Raikkonen went 15th testing over long runs.

Alpha Tauri were the quiet achievers strictly running the mediums (C2) on both cars with Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kyvat finishing 9th and 11th respectively.

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen had his car in bit across the garage all session with a battery problem, Romain Grosjean lugged his VF-20 around on the hard (C1) and medium (C2) tyres in 16th.

Williams’ Jack Aitken impressed in 17th in his first full practice session.

FP2 for the Styrian GP begins 10:30pm tonight.

FP1 Results:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	11	Sergio Perez	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:04.867		32
2	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:04.963	+0.096s	31
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:05.089	+0.222s	31
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:05.120	+0.253s	29
5	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	1:05.396	+0.529s	36
6	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:05.483	+0.616s	28
7	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:05.602	+0.735s	40
8	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:05.698	+0.831s	27
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	1:05.769	+0.902s	31
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:05.770	+0.903s	25
11	26	Daniil Kvyat	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:05.815	+0.948s	28
12	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:05.837	+0.970s	28
13	31	Esteban Ocon	RENAULT	1:05.874	+1.007s	35
14	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:05.908	+1.041s	25
15	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:06.441	+1.574s	23
16	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	1:06.446	+1.579s	31
17	40	Jack Aitken	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:06.768	+1.901s	35
18	88	Robert Kubica	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:06.797	+1.930s	31
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:09.598	+4.731s	6
20	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI

Brendan Lines July 10, 2020 02:30pm

After a DNF dampened Daniel Ricciardo’s return to Formula 1 at the Austrian Grand Prix last week, the Australian is back at the Red Bull Ring albeit for the Styrian Grand Prix this weekend, with fresh motivation from signs Renault’s pace will head the mid field.

The anomaly of 2020 continues as for the first time Formula 1 visits the same venue in successive race weekends.

It’s nothing new for Formula 1 to return to a country for multiple races as the European Grand Prix appeared in existing host Grand Prix countries; Britain, Spain Azerbaijan and Germany, strangely Germany’s second race was called the Luxembourg Grand Prix — however these races have been raced on an entirely different circuits.

Ricciardo leading Alpha Tauri, Haas and Alfa Romeo cars at the Austrian GP – Image: Renaultsport.com

Ricciardo says a second bite at the Red Bull Ring might have it’s advantages for Renault from the outset of tonight’s FP1 session.

“I think Friday practice could look different as we already know the tyres and all the little details about the circuit,” he said.

Renault has chosen to favour the soft tyres this weekend allocating eight sets to Ricciardo, along with three sets of the medium C4 and two of the hard C2.

“We’ll look to refine some key areas to make sure we’re well prepared for both qualifying and race. I’m excited to get going again as we know anything can happen in Formula 1 and we want to be in a position to capitalise on any opportunity.”

Renault’s improvements were noticeable last week coming out of the lockdown period, as Ricciardo was as high as fifth fastest in FP2, Ricciardo is certain his car does have qualifying pace.

“I think there were a lot of positives from the weekend, our qualifying pace was up there, and I know with a clean lap we could have been further up the grid. That’s the goal for this weekend,” he said.

“Qualifying, we were a bit unlucky with the yellow, otherwise I think we were a top seven, safe to say top eight car. I think we’re there, at least where we want to be. We’re certainly in that fight.”

While Ricciardo remained in Austria, Renault revealed the big news of the week signing two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso as Ricciardo’s replacement in 2021.

Alonso has signalled he will attend some races this year.

Speaking to The Race, Ricciardo dismissed any suggestions he might ‘help out’ the spaniard’s return lending his seat to Alonso for any FP1 sessions in 2020.

“No, because I heard the words ‘help Fernando’. He doesn’t need any help, Ricciardo said.

“It didn’t look like he slowed down at all with age. His last season in F1 [with McLaren in 2018] was a pretty strong one from everything I heard and saw.

“Obviously the results weren’t always there but as far as getting the most out of the car, I think that was pretty evident that he was so I don’t think he needs help.”

Ricciardo fans will also need to watch the Aussie’s future team McLaren, who continue their resurgence as Lando Norris scored a podium finish and posted McLaren’s best qualifying result (4th) in six years at last weeks season re-start.

FP1 for the Styrian Grand Prix starts 06:30pm local time

Brendan Lines July 8, 2020 11:18pm

It is official Fernando Alonso will replace Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo at Renault, the team Alonso won his two World titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, the Spaniard will partner current driver Esteban Ocon in 2021 on a reported two-year deal.

Alonso left Formula 1 in 2018 off the back of a disappointing run with McLaren, however since his departure Alonso seemingly left the door open never saying he was done with F1.

Glory days Alonso at the Japanese Grand Prix in his first stint at Renault – Image: Reanaultsport.com

“Renault is my family, my fondest memories in Formula One with my two World Championship titles, but I’m now looking ahead. It’s a great source of pride and with an immense emotion I’m returning to the team that gave me my chance at the start of my career and which now gives me the opportunity to return to the highest level,” he said.

It will be Alonso’s third stint with Renault after he left to join McLaren in 2007, but after tensions with the team and Lewis Hamilton he returned to Renault for 2008 and 2009 before joining Ferrari in 2010

Alonso’s last victory with Renault was at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2008.

With Formula 1’s budget cap reduced in 2021 and stable regulations carrying over as a side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, Formula 1 has remained a viable option for Groupe Renault after some doubts over its involvement in Formula 1.

“I have principles and ambitions in line with the team’s project,” Alonso said.

Their progress this winter gives credibility to the objectives for the 2022 season and I will share all my racing experience with everyone from the engineers to the mechanics and my team-mates.”

“ The team wants and has the means to get back on the podium, as do I.”

Alonso who will be 39 when he returns, appears to be looking at the long game with Renault says Team principal Cyril Abiteboul.

“The signing of Fernando Alonso is part of Groupe Renault’s plan to continue its commitment to F1 and to return to the top of the field,” he said.

“His presence in our team is a formidable asset on the sporting level but also for the brand to which he is very attached. The strength of the bond between him, the team and the fans make him a natural choice.”

“In addition to past successes, it is a bold mutual choice as well as a project for the future. His experience and determination will enable us to get the best out of each other to take the team towards the excellence that modern Formula 1 demands.”

“He will also bring to our team, which has grown very fast, a culture of racing and winning to overcome hurdles together. Alongside Esteban, his mission will be to help Renault DP World F1 Team prepare for the 2022 season in the best possible conditions.”

But is Renault’s pitch to Alonso reminiscent to the same sell that lured Ricciardo form Red Bull?

While it all sounded great at the time Renault hasn’t delivered as late slipping from it’s place as being the fourth best constructor in 2018, losing out to engine customer McLaren in the 2019 Constructors Championship and now Ricciardo for 2021.

But anything can happen in Formula 1 and Alonso knows this too.

In recent weeks Alonso’s return may have been Formula 1’s best or worst kept secret, as Abiteboul was quick to dismiss reports of an imminent signing from Spanish newspapers over the weekend’s Grand Prix in Austria,

Teammate-to be Esteban Ocon said he would be “very happy” when asked about the prospect of Alonso joining the team at the Red Bull Ring last week.

Alonso’s attempt to race this year’s Indy 500 for McLaren, should not be affected by the announcement, but it may now suggest he has one shot to secure the elusive triple crown.

As Renault does not have an interest in Indycar, unlike his last team McLaren who let Alonso compete in the 2017 Indy 500 the same weekend its F1 team raced in Monaco.

Featured Image: Fernando Alonso Image: Skysports