Lewis regains his mojo, Red Bull has a mountain to climb
FINISHING STRAIGHT
F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2
For the first time in the 70-year history of the world championship, the same venue hosted grands prix on successive weekends – but anyone imagining the Styrian GP might unfold similarly to the Austrian GP was in for a surprise. After labouring in the opening round, Lewis Hamilton returned to his exceptional best at the second time of asking, leading Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas home by 13.7s in a resounding 1-2 which left Red Bull reeling.
This time around, despite some public expectation-management in the days preceding the event, there was no outward sign of the gearbox vulnerabilities which had left Mercedes open to attack in the season opener. And while Red Bull was at least able to keep both cars in play this weekend, Alexander Albon couldn’t repeat the plucky heroics of round one.
Qualifying took place in conditions of Stygian murk – there was the potential for it to be cancelled or delayed until Sunday morning – and during constantly changing depths of water on track Hamilton excelled. His 1m19.273s pole lap, 1.2s faster than second-placed Max Verstappen, was rightly described by team boss Toto Wolff as “not from this world”.
Verstappen might have got closer – after encountering Sebastian Vettel’s pit-bound Ferrari on his hot lap Max understeered onto the kerbs between Turns 9 and 10 and half spun – but not 1.2s closer.
Wet qualifying meant a free choice of tyres for the race start. All the frontrunners elected for softs and, as Hamilton streaked into the lead from pole, Mercedes balanced its tactical focus between ensuring he kept that lead and finding a way to bring Bottas forward. A glazed front-right brake in Q3 had sapped his confidence and left him fourth on the grid, behind Mclaren’s Carlos Sainz but ahead of Albon. Once the early Safety Car had cleared (called for debris from the colliding Ferraris), Bottas made short work of Sainz and set off in pursuit of Verstappen.
Meanwhile Albon, who had what Red Bull team boss Christian Horner described as “a race of two halves”, had to pass the Renault of Esteban Ocon as well as Sainz from sixth on the grid. He nailed Ocon at Turn 3 on lap one and passed Sainz two laps after Bottas, but then fell away from the leading group at up to a second per lap.
When Verstappen pitted on lap 24 he still had Hamilton in sight but Bottas was just 2s behind, with Albon a further 20s in arrears. Bottas eked out another 10 laps before his own stop, and the fresher rubber enabled him to battle his way past Verstappen, who by now was struggling with the effects of a damaged front-wing footplate.
Verstappen then pitted again late on for an attempt on the fastest lap, but that was frustrated when he emerged into a train of traffic.