Hamilton wins Styrian GP; teammate is second
SPIELBERG, Austria – Lewis Hamilton won the Styrian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday to clinch an 85th career win and move within six of Michael Schumacher’s Formula One record.
Most of Schumacher’s wins were during a dominant spell with Ferrari, but his old team is struggling badly. For the second time in the past four races, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel crashed into each other and went out.
When Hamilton stood on the podium he raised a clenched right fist.
Hamilton’s record-extending 89th career pole on a rain-drenched track was one of his best in extreme conditions, but during the race he was hardly challenged as he finished a sizeable 13.7 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and 33.7 ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Because of social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic, the drivers on the podium had their trophies delivered by a remote controlled device.
“What a weird year but (it’s) great to be back driving with this kind of performance. The team did a fantastic job, it was just for me to bring it home,” said
Hamilton, who finished fourth last week after a time penalty. “Difficult weekend last weekend but this was a great step forward.”
Bottas won last weekend’s seasonopening Austrian GP on the same Red Bull Ring track in Spielberg at the foot of the Styrian mountains – hence the name change.
Despite the sizeable margin of Hamilton’s win, Bottas maintains he can challenge for the F1 title. He leads in points 43-37.