3 x Safety Car: Turbulent start to the season in Spielberg

Even before the delayed start of the new Formula 1 season at the Red Bull Ring, things were turbulent: Red Bull successfully lodged a protest against world champion Lewis Hamilton, the Briton was moved back from 2nd to 5th on the grid.

After the minute's silence with a silent protest against racism, Pole man Valtteri Bottas entered the first corner as the leader, and after one lap the Finn was already 1 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Little happened behind them, only the dropped Ferrari star Sebastian Vettel was able to improve from 2th to 1th place on the first lap.

World champion Hamilton grabbed Lando Norris in the McLaren in the early stages of the Austrian GP and a little later - with some effort - Alexander Albon in the Red Bull.

Max Verstappen caused the first moment of shock on the 1th lap when the electronics in his company car stopped working properly. The winner of the last two races in Spielberg dragged his car to the pits, but then got out of the car. Also Ricciardo and Stroll Ko While there was not a single failure in Spielberg in 2019, around lap 20 the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) and Lance Stroll (Canada/Racing Point) had to go to the garage early due to technical problems. Safety car is deployed After the Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas F1) shot past Turn 26 on lap 3 and spun in the run-off zone, the safety car came onto the track at the start of the season. The leading Mercedes duo Bottas and Hamilton switched to the hard tire compound, as did the Ferrari team Leclerc and Vettel in 6th and 8th place.

LAP 26 / 71

Magnussen spins out of the race and brings out the ⚠️ SAFETY CAR ⚠️ #AustrianGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/vu3bpurOJR

- Formula 1 (@ F1) July 5, 2020

After 4 laps the track was clear again and Carlos Sainz Jr. immediately attacked. (McLaren) his future teammate Leclerc in turn 3, Vettel wanted to benefit from the skirmish as a laughing third, touched Sainz and spun. The four-time world champion slipped back to the back of the field, while Sergio Perez (Racing Point) on medium tires overtook both Norris, Sainz and Leclerc and moved from 8th to 4th.

At the front, Hamilton was closing in on his teammate Bottas, while the rest of the field couldn't keep up with the Silver Arrows' pace. When the command post warned the world champion to take it easy on the car, the 37-year-old countered over the radio that Bottas would put more strain on the car. Nevertheless, Hamilton moved back to 2 seconds behind Bottas. 2. Safety car phase 20 laps before the end of the race, George Russel's (Williams) drive unit stopped, the Brit parked his racing car on the side of the track and the safety car was deployed again. Albon immediately went to change tires, as did Leclerc and Norris. Only the Silver Arrows and Perez made it through. After 4 laps the track was reopened. 3. Safety car phase During the restart, veteran Kimi Raikkonen lost the left front tire in the penultimate corner and the safety car was deployed again. At exactly that moment Albon (4th) had overtaken the Mexican Perez (3rd), the Red Bull driver neutralized the overtaking maneuver himself. However, the race stewards saw it differently and asked Albon and Perez to swap positions again. Albon cocky in the hectic finish Alex Albon in the Red Bull was cocky at the restart, he was fighting with world champion Hamilton in second place, wanted to overtake on the outside and spun into the gravel. As at the Brazilian GP at the end of the 2/2019 season, Hamilton and the youngster with a Thai license got into a fight. This meant that Perez moved back to the last place on the podium, while Albon was passed to the back of the field.

With 7 laps to go, Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari pushed past Lando Norris in the McLaren into 4th position, meaning the Monegasque driver benefited from the tire change in the 3rd phase of the safety car. Leclerc then grabbed Perez, while Hamilton was given a 5-second time penalty for the maneuver against Albon. Perez also received a time penalty of 5 seconds because he exceeded the speed limit in the pit lane. Norris, Perez and Sainz fought heated duels for positions 4-6 in the final phase, and Vettel also used all his might to push past Nicholas Latifi (Canada/Williams) into 10th place on the penultimate lap.

Pole man Valtteri Bottas secured victory in the opening race, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. The 20-year-old Norris entered the history books as the third youngest driver on a Formula 1 podium. Norris also received the extra point for the fastest lap of the race. Hamilton crossed the finish line in second place, but due to the time penalty of 5 seconds, the world champion was ranked fourth. GP of Spielberg (AUT): The result after 71 laps Pos Name Country Team Time 1. Valtteri Bottas END Mercedes 1:30.55,739 hours 2. Charles Leclerc MON Ferrari +2,700 sec. 3. Lando Norris GBR McLaren +5,491 4. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes + 5,689 * 5. Carlos Sainz ESP McLaren +8,903 6. Sergio Perez MEX Racing Point +15,092 7. Pierre Gasly FRA Alpha tauri +16,682 8. Esteban Ocon FRA Renault +17,456 9. Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo +21,146 10. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari +24,545 *Five-second penalty for collision with Alexander Albon

The second race of the season continues in Spielberg in a week.

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3 x Safety Car: Turbulent start to the season in Spielberg

Formula 1 started the new season on Sunday in Spielberg. Due to the global corona pandemic, the Austrian Grand Prix took place without spectators, but there was still no boredom with Valtteri Bottas (FIN)'s start-to-finish victory.

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