Hamilton wins in a fourteenth consecutive season, Bottas equals Coulthard’s Austrian podium record and Sainz scores his first Fastest Lap. Here are all the facts and statistics from the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix!
At the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton took his 85th career victory and his second win at the Red Bull Ring. It was the first time that Hamilton finished on the podium in Austria since he won the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix. With Valtteri Bottas finishing in second place, Mercedes recorded their first 1-2 finish in Austria since 2015. This was the team’s sixth win at the circuit, equalling McLaren’s record tally of Grand Prix wins in Austria.
Hamilton’s 85th victory puts him six wins away from equalling Michael Schumacher’s record tally of 91 Grand Prix victories and three podium finishes away from equalling Schumacher’s record of most podium finishes.
As a result of his win, Lewis Hamilton became the ninth driver to have taken multiple Grand Prix victories in Austria. He’s also only the second driver, after Michael Schumacher to have won Grands Prix in fourteen different seasons – and the only driver to have won a race in every Formula 1 season in which he has competed.
The 2020 Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix mark the first time that Formula 1 has raced at the same track for two consecutive rounds of the championship, as well as the sixth time that there has been two consecutive Grands Prix in the same country. The 2020 Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix are only the second pair of consecutive races held in the same country which have not been won by the same driver. The only other time it has happened was at the 1984 Detroit and Dallas Grands Prix, won by Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg.
Hamilton’s victory was the sixth for a British driver in Austria, which is a new record for the nation with the most wins in the country. Prior to this weekend, Britain had been tied with France on five Austrian wins. Meanwhile, Mercedes power equalled Ford as the most successful engine manufacturer in Austria. Both marques have now powered nine victories at the Spielberg circuit.
ON THE PODIUM
Valtteri Bottas recorded the 47th podium finish of his career and as a result maintains the lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Only he and Lando Norris remain in the same championship position as after the Austrian Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas is now the driver who has led the most Grand Prix laps in Austria in Formula 1 history. Having led seven laps of the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, Bottas has now led 149 in total in Austria, overtaking Nico Rosberg who led 143 laps here during his career. However, Bottas falls seven laps short of matching Alain Prost’s record of 677km led in Austria.
With his fifth podium finish at the Red Bull Ring, Bottas equals David Coulthard as the driver to have had the most podium finishes at the Styrian track.
The 2020 Styrian Grand Prix is the first time that Valtteri Bottas has finished in a better position than where he started at the Red Bull Ring since 2015, though he did win from pole at both the 2017 and 2020 Austrian Grands Prix.
By finishing in first and second, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas join David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen as the drivers to have scored on the most occasions in Austria. All four of the drivers listed here have scored in Austria seven times.
With third place at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen recorded his 32nd podium finish. That equals the career tallies of Jim Clark, Jacques Laffite and Jean Alesi.
Both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen recorded their fourth podium finishes in Austria, becoming the seventh and eighth drivers to have amassed four or more top three finishes.
A DOMINANT POLE FOR HAMILTON
On Saturday, Lewis Hamilton took his 89th pole position and a record-equalling third pole in Austria. Hamilton took pole by 1.216 seconds, which is the largest pole margin since Nico Rosberg took pole by 1.62 seconds at the 2014 British Grand Prix. Read more: 2020 Styrian Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Statistics.
After taking pole position, Lewis Hamilton started from the front row in Austria for a fourth time. He now shares the record for most front row starts in Austria with Rene Arnoux and his team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
This is the first time that five consecutive Grands Prix have been won from pole position since the five races between the 2017 Austrian and Italian Grands Prix.
MARVELLOUS McLAREN
Prior to the start of the 2020 season, Lando Norris had never previously finished in the top five. He has now finished in the top five in each of the last two races, and has scored over half of the points which he scored in total in the 2019 season.
At the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, Lando Norris became the 133rd F1 driver to set the fastest lap of a Grand Prix. At the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz became the 134th driver to do so. After fitting a fresh set of tyres near the end of the race, Sainz broke the Red Bull Ring’s Lap Record by 1.338 seconds.
The 2020 Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix mark the first time that McLaren have set the fastest lap in two consecutive races since the 2011 Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix. Those two races are also the last time that a team other than Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull set the fastest lap at two consecutive rounds of the championship.
IN THE POINTS
Alex Albon scored twelve points with his fourth place finish at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. That takes his total career points to 104, making him the 82nd driver to have scored 100 points in their Formula 1 career.
From his seven Formula 1 appearances in Austria, the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix is the first time that Daniil Kvyat has finished a race at the Red Bull Ring in a better position than where he started. He gained three positions from his starting place. Meanwhile, from their eight appearances at the Red Bull Ring, this is only the second time that both of the Red Bull junior team’s drivers have reached the chequered flag.
Alex Albon, Daniil Kvyat, Lance Stroll and George Russell all recorded their best Red Bull Ring finishes at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez equalled his best finishing result at the track with his fourth sixth place finish. It also equals his team’s best result here, with this being Racing Point (formerly Force India)’s fifth sixth place finish at the track.
Racing Point equalled their previous best result at the Red Bull Ring, with Perez finishing sixth and Lance Stroll finishing seventh. It’s the same result as the team recorded in their Force India guise in 2018, when Perez finished seventh and Esteban Ocon finished sixth.
As a result of Sergio Perez failing to win the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, he overtakes former team-mate Nico Hulkenberg as the driver to have started the third-most Grands Prix without scoring a victory.
By finishing ninth and fourth respectively, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon ensured that the drivers starting third and sixth have not failed to score at the Red Bull Ring in any of the races held in Austria since Formula 1 returned in 2014.
While Sergio Perez was the only driver who finished in the same position in both the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix and the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, the Renault team also recorded the same result in both races. In both races, one Renault driver finished in eighth place, while the other failed to finish.
THE RETIREES
Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc collided on the first lap of the Styrian Grand Prix and both retired as a result. It’s the second time in four races that Ferrari have suffered a double retirement due to their drivers hitting one another. It was also the team’s fourth double retirement in Austria, with both Ferraris having previously retired in 1971, 1972 and 1987. The 2020 Styrian Grand Prix is the first time that Ferrari have failed to score a point in an Austrian race since their last double DNF here.
Vettel recorded the fourth retirement in the last five Austrian races for the driver starting tenth. The 2020 Styrian Grand Prix marks Vettel’s third retirement at the Red Bull Ring, after the 2014 and 2016 Austrian Grands Prix, while this was the first time that Leclerc has failed to score in Austria.
Other than the Ferrari drivers, Esteban Ocon was the only other retirement from the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix. It was his first retirement since the final race of his first stint in F1, the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It also marked Renault’s third DNF in the last four Austrian races.
MISCELLANEOUS STYRIAN STATS
The 2020 Styrian Grand Prix marked the nineteenth time in Formula 1 that the polesitter has won, with the driver starting fourth finishing second and the driver starting second finishing third. The last time it happened was at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix.
The 2020 Styrian Grand Prix was the fifth Formula 1 race to be held on 12th July. All five of those races have been won from the front row of the grid, and all but one have resulted in a 1-2 finish for the winning team.
Lando Norris, Nicholas Latifi, Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez all maintained their 100% finish records at the Red Bull Ring.
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