Engine failures and bouncing tyres
…why these drivers retired from the 2020 Austrian GP
THIS past Sunday, nine drivers retired from the Austrian Grand Prix, the first race of the season. These include both drivers from Red Bull Racing, and the Haas F1 team. The race was won by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), and Lando Norris (McLaren). We explain several of the retirements but list all at the end of the article.
Double retirement for Red Bull
Having taken an alternative strategy to the drivers around him, Verstappen got off the line strongly on the Medium tyre. He made good progress against his rivals on the softer tyre and repaid Red Bull in full en route to victory. Verstappen would have made good on the pre-race promise of winning the race until a hydraulic issue came into the play on lap 14. Verstappen’s car went into limp mode and even activating the anti-stall could not kick-start the engine. Red Bull would later confirm that it was an electrical issue that led to Verstappen’s retirement. His team mate, Alex Albon, retired two laps from the end on lap 69. He, too, suffered an electrical issue. Before that, Albon was bumped off the track by Lewis Hamilton after attempting to pass the defending champion.
No brakes for Haas
On laps 26 and 50, both Haas drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, retired from the race in the same fashion. Heading into separate braking points on the track, the brakes on both cars failed, sending the drivers into the run-off area and out of the race. Fortunately, both drivers walked away unscathed. Haas is in a sensitive phase at the moment. Team owner, Gene Haas, is questioning his involvement in the sport, noting that the performance gap to the top teams is too big to bridge. If 2020 is another disastrous year for the team, Haas might put the brakes on his F1 project.
Three-wheeling Raikkonen
The most spectacular retirement of the race goes to Raikkonen. On lap 55, the Alfa Romeo driver readied for the second restart after a safety car period. As Raikkonen came around the second last corner, his right front wheel came loose and dislodged entirely from the rim.
The tyre went bouncing into the barricade, and Raikkonen was a passenger as his car slid off the track. Luckily, he managed to steer the car over the main straight and park it alongside the barricade that splits the pit lane and racetrack. His Alfa Romeo team was fined for not bolting the tyre on correctly.
Raikkonen is the oldest driver on the current F1 grid and could be looking at retirement at the end of the year. Before then, he’d want to sign off on a successful second season with Alfa Romeo.
We list all the retirements from Austria 2020 Driver | Team | Cause | Lap
1. Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
Electronics | 14
2. Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | Cooling issue
| 18
3. Lance Stroll | Racing Point | Engine | 21 4. Kevin Magnussen | Haas | Brakes | 26 5. Romain Grosjean | Haas | Brakes | 50 6. George Russell | Williams | Engine/
transmission | 51
7. Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | Right front
wheel failure | 55
8. Alex Albon | Red Bull Racing | Electronics
| 69
9. Daniil Kvyat | Alpha Tauri | Puncture | 70