Lewis Hamilton won the Styrian Grand Prix with a flawless piece of controlled driving from pole to flag for Mercedes. His teammate Valtteri Bottas finished second with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third at the Red Bull Ring.
Ferrari, however, suffered an absolute shocker with both cars retiring after they collided on the first lap. Charles Leclerc later apologised to his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, for the incident, saying he had “let the team down”.
With last week’s Austrian GP also run at the Red Bull Ring, this was the first time F1 had held two races at the same circuit in the same season. After finishing in fourth place here last week, Hamilton owned the race this time round in an ominously routine piece of dominance from Hamilton and Mercedes. The British driver led from the off and was not threatened as he dictated the race from the front.
After two rounds of a season likely to run to 15 races, Bottas still leads the drivers’ championship with 43 points, in front of Hamilton on 37 points. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz took the extra point for fastest lap.
Before the race there was another anti-racism gesture on the grid, with drivers wearing “End Racism” t-shirts as 12 drivers, including Hamilton, took the knee. The British driver also raised a single clenched first on the podium after winning the race.
Hamilton’s 85th career win and his second in Austria completes a remarkable weekend for the British driver.His car had been off the pace in practice, with Mercedes unsure as to why he was lacking balance and grip. Having been beaten by Bottas to pole last week his qualifying was magnificent in the wet, a class apart form the rest of the field. He backed it up with another performance that did not allow his rivals so much as a look in.
With Mercedes also dominant last weekend, it seems the team has lost none of its momentum in the long break enforced by the coronavirus. Attempting to match Michael Schumacher’s record of seven titles this season, Hamilton is now also within just six race wins of Schumacher’s tally of 91.
Mercedes are also looking to score a record-breaking seventh consecutive constructors’ championship.
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