Styrian Grand Prix 2020: Lewis Hamilton starts on pole at the Red Bull Ring in Austria (Image: GETTY)
Styrian Grand Prix 2020 LIVE
- Lewis Hamilton leads after starting on pole
- Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas in second and third
- Sebastian Vettel retires after Charles Leclerc smash
- Racing Point in the mix for good points in Austria
Lap 69: Hamilton has a 14-second gap to Bottas, Verstappen is now eight seconds adrift of the Finn.
Lap 68: Stroll almost ends up in the back of Ricciardo as Renault retain sixth. Hamilton might lose fastest lap to Verstappen or Sainz here. Both men have new tyres on.
Lap 67: Bottas passes Verstappen to set up the Mercedes one-two. Sainz comes in for a new set of softs.
Lap 66: Verstappen and Bottas go wheel-to-wheel. Bottas uses the DRS to go ahead but then Verstappen fights back. Fantastic racing.
Lap 65: Bottas is reeling in Verstappen. Mercedes are on course for a one-two. Norris has now set the fastest lap of the race.
Lap 63: Ricciardo holding off Stroll to keep his hands on sixth as it stands. Renault will be buoyed by this from the Aussie.
Lap 62: Hamilton’s lead now more than 8.5 seconds. McLaren swap Norris and Sainz round to help close the gap on Stroll in seventh.
Lap 61: The McLaren are tussling for eigth. Sainz is in front at the moment, but Norris is ready to pounce.
Lap 60: Verstappen has front wing damage. Doesn’t look critical, but it’ll be a boost for the chasing Bottas.
Lap 57: 15 laps from the end. Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas looks set to be the top three here. Latifi and Russell at the back.
Lap 55: Hamilton now the best part of 7 seconds clear of Verstappen. Albon has Perez in his mirrors.
Lap 54: Perez is currently fifth and in for an extra point for the fastest lap. Mercedes tell Bottas he is on for a last-lap pass on Verstappen.
Lap 51: Binotto admits Ferrari’s demise in this race is ‘painful’. The focus is on progressing. Where do Ferrari go from here?
Styrian Grand Prix 2020: Lewis Hamilton is flying at the front and on course for the win (Image: GETTY)
Lap 50: Perez fights past Ricciardo and the Racing Points are now split. Albon may have a fight on for fourth.
Lap 47: Hamilton remains 5 seconds clear. Bottas is now three seconds adrift of second-place Verstappen.
Lap 46: Perez and Stroll battle it out and the Mexican gets the better of his team-mate. Wow. That was superb.
Lap 44: Bottas is gaining on Verstappen and within 10 laps of striking distance. A Mercedes one-two is looking distinctly possible.
Lap 42: Russell and Latifi remain at the back, with the two Haas just in front of them.
Lap 40: Hamilton is now 5 seconds clear of Verstappen at the front.
Lap 38: Sainz passes Giovinazzi to go ninth. Perez pits and comes back out in eighth, just ahead of the rampaging Sainz.
Lap 37: Stroll up into eighth after passing both Alfa Romeos. Sainz is in 10th now.
Lap 36: Albon pits and drops to seventh. Norris is just ahead of the Thai-Brit Red Bull driver.
Lap 35: Bottas loses second to Verstappen, but remains in front of Albon. Sainz is 12th after that nightmare pit stop.
Lap 34: Ricciardo up to fifth. Bottas now coming in, which will allow Hamilton to re-take the lead.
Lap 32: Sainz pits for McLaren. A sticky left-rear wheel proves a problem and delays the Spaniard. Far from ideal.
Lap 31: Ocon’s retirement means Stroll and Perez are now seventh and eighth. Perez is closing on his team-mate. There’s a decision to make for Racing Point.
Lap 29: It’s Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen, Albon and Sainz at the front. Gasly brings up the rear after pitting.
Lap 27: Race leader Hamilton pits. Bottas takes the lead but Hamilton remains in front of Verstappen. Verstappen is fuming.
Lap 26: Ocon forced to retire due to a suspected cooling issue. Hamilton and Bottas out in front for Mercedes. Hamilton is 25 seconds clear of Verstappen.
Lap 25: Verstappen puts as Red Bull attempt to under cut Mercedes. The Dutchman is on the mediums. Hamilton and Bottas are going long.
Lap 24: Just as was the case in qualifying, Hamilton has posted the fastest lap time today. Bottas is closing on Verstappen. An overtake may be on the cards.
Styrian Grand Prix 2020: Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc are out in a nightmare for Ferrari (Image: GETTY)
Lap 22: Stroll and Perez together in eighth and ninth now. Meanwhile, Vettel and Leclerc have exchanged words in the paddock. Leclerc says he apologised.
Lap 19: Hamilton 3.8 seconds clear in front now. Ricciardo has passed Ocon to go sixth.
Lap 17: Ocon and Ricciardo are battling it out here. A few nervy moments for Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul to come.
Lap 14: Perez is past Norris and up into 10th. Hamilton still out in front from Verstappen. Bottas third with Albon fourth.
Lap 13: A familiar sight at the back, with Russell chasing Williams team-mate Latifi.
Lap 12: Gasly is still running in eighth. He’s bounced back so well from being dropped by Red Bull last year. Could he return there next season?
Lap 11: Lance Stroll is up to ninth from 13th. His Racing Point team-mate is fighting Norris for 10th.
Lap 10: We’re Mercedes, Red Bull, Mercedes, Red Bull at the front with Hamilton leading from Verstappen. Ocon and Ricciardo are together in sixth and seventh for Renault.
Lap 9: Binotto has left the pit wall and is in the Ferrari garage with nothing to watch on the track. Oh to be a fly on the wall.
Lap 8: We spoke too soon on Russell. The Williams man ran wide as he got a head of steam and is now dead last. Albon has passed Sainz to go fourth.
Lap 7: Hamilton 1.6 seconds clear of Verstappen. Bottas up to third and Sainz has Albon reeling him in. Perez is up to 11th from 17th.
Lap 5: Leclerc is out! That clash with Vettel proves costly. Ferrari’s horror start to the season continues.
Lap 4: We’re racing again and Hamilton is off to a flyer after the restart. Russell is really impressing here.
Lap 2: Vettel retires following his clash with Leclerc and we’re behind the safety car. A penny for Mattia Binotto’s thoughts.
Lap 1: Terrific start from leader Hamilton as Sainz tries to scrap it out with Verstappen. Vettel has lost his rear wing after colliding with team-mate Leclerc. Nightmare for Ferrari!
Styrian Grand Prix 2020: F1 drivers made a stand against racism on the starting grid (Image: GETTY)
2.13pm: LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO!
2.11pm: The tyre blankets are off and the formation lap is underway. Lights out is moments away.
2.07pm: We’re just minutes out from the start of the Styrian Grand Prix and the all-important formation lap is next. Will it be another Mercedes win? Or will Verstappen succeed here again for Red Bull?
2.05pm: Hamilton admits he had to check yesterday’s stunning pole lap really happened. “I actually woke up and watched the on-boards, sometimes you pinch yourself,” Hamilton said. “It’s a special moment. That confirmed it was real.
“Last week I wasn’t able to deliver 100 per cent. There’s no points for yesterday and today is going to be tough – I think the Red Bulls are going to be quick.”
1.55pm: Hamilton leads the way as the F1 grid take a stand against racism on the starting grid ahead of the Austrian national anthem being played. Most drivers take a knee, but others decide to support the anti-discrimination movement in their own way and remain standing.
1.50pm: The starting grid is starting to take shape at the Red Bull Ring. A fast start – as ever – will be crucial here with the midfield teams looking even more competitive this season.
It’s unusual to see Vettel starting in 10th. Can he make up for yesterday’s disappointing qualifying and secure a shock podium this afternoon?
1.45pm: Sainz secured his first podium at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix and will be eager for a repeat this weekend. The McLaren man starts on third but admits his destiny is not entirely in his hands.
“We are going to need the help of some others to get the podium, like Bottas, Albon starting behind me,” Sainz said. “But if the opportunities come I would love to be there to grab them, we know on pure pace we need things to happen to help us.”
1.40pm: And, just like that, we’re only 30 minutes away from the start of the Styrian Grand Prix! Excitement is building.
1.35pm: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Verstappen and Albon are raring to go following last Sunday’s double-retirement horror show.
“They want to go racing,” Horner told Sky Sports F1. “They are disappointed after last weekend not having any points on the board. There’s very much an attitude of ‘we’ve got to attack this race’ and ‘we’ve got to go for it’ and see what comes out the other side.
“We feel we have got a reasonable race car. We have got to be sharp on strategy as we were last week and we’ll see how it pans out. In a normal race it looks like a pretty standard one-stop, but that’s not how it panned out last week.”
READ MORE: How to watch the Styrian Grand Prix live
Styrian Grand Prix 2020: Racing Point are ready and eager to impress in Spielberg (Image: GETTY)
Styrian Grand Prix 2020: Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has hailed Lewis Hamilton (Image: GETTY)
1.30pm: With nine retirements during last week’s Austrian Grand Prix, the safety car had a busy day. Let’s hope there’s not the same problems today – even if they did provide us with some great drama during the restarts.
1.25pm: Daniel Ricciardo wrecked his Renault in Free Practice 2 on Friday but bounced back to qualify in eighth – thanks in part to Norris’ penalty. Ricciardo said: “It’s great for the team to have both cars inside the top ten.
“Again, I’d like to say thanks to my mechanics for fixing the car overnight and having it ready for qualifying. Tomorrow will be fun. The weather looks like it will be the opposite from today, so we’ll see what happens.”
1.20pm: Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi will start his second Grand Prix from 18th. The Canadian showed decent pace on Saturday, but was disappointed not to make it to Q2.
“The conditions out there were tricky, but I was surprised with how comfortable I felt as it was the first real wet session that I have been given the green light to push fully in,” Latifi said. “I am disappointed as we could have easily made it into Q2.
“My pace on the first set of tyres was in the top fifteen but I just didn’t get a clear lap on the second set. Every lap was either traffic or a yellow flag and then the red flag. I think there was much more in there, so I am just a bit frustrated.”
1.15pm: Pole-sitter Hamilton turned plenty of heads in qualifying yesterday and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was stunned by his star man. “What a qualifying session,” said Wolff. “It was an absolutely stunning lap from Lewis and an incredible performance in very challenging conditions. I don’t remember the last time somebody had a gap of 1.2 seconds to second place in qualifying.”
Wolff was, though, at a loss to explain Bottas qualifying down in fourth. “For Valtteri, the sessions all went pretty well, and he was competing for the front row throughout qualifying,” Wolff added. “But at the end, it didn’t come together so we need to analyse why, because it certainly wasn’t due to a lack of pace in him or the car.”
Styrian Grand Prix 2020: The weather is much-improved following qualifying in the rain on Saturday (Image: GETTY)
1.10pm: Haas were in a bit of hot water this morning after it emerged work had been done on Romain Grosjean’s car while it was in parc ferme conditions. Stewards have looked into the matter and decided the Frenchman must start from the pit lane today.
Haas experienced a nightmare start to the season last week, with both Grosjean and team-mate Kevin Magnussen retiring from the Austrian Grand Prix. Magnussen starts from 15th today, with Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen just by him in 16th.
1.05pm: Leclerc starts in an unfamiliar 14th and will be sat alongside Daniil Kvyat on the seventh row. The Ferrari man was penalised for impeding the AlphaTauri ace in qualifying, so we might be in for a tasty first lap battle.
George Russell will be just in front of Leclerc and Kvyat having enjoyed his best-ever F1 qualifying session on Saturday. Fingers crossed his Williams has the reliability it was lacking last week and he gets over the finish line.
1pm: Watch out for Racing Point’s Sergio Perez today. The Mexican topped the standings in Free Practice 1 on Friday but then failed to make it out of Q1 yesterday. Perez is a master over-taker and will be desperate to move up the field as soon as possible.
“It’s going to be difficult to make any progress to overtake, but certainly we have a good car underneath us, so we will try everything,” said Perez after qualifying. “I think we’ve done it before, so hopefully we can do it again tomorrow.”
12.45pm: Welcome to Express Sport‘s live coverage of the Styrian Grand Prix! We’re in for what’s set to be a thrilling race as F1 makes history by hosting back-to-back meets at the same circuit for the first time.
Lewis Hamilton stars on pole after blowing away the competition during an extremely wet qualifying session on Saturday. The Mercedes driver was more than a second faster than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who joins him on the front row.
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Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas start third and fourth respectively on what’s a much better day weather-wise at the Red Bull Ring. Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon make up the third row, with Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris and Sebastian Vettel completing the top 10.
Norris, Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi have dropped down the starting grid after qualifying due to penalties, with the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo drivers in 14th and last place respectively. Stick with us as we get set to go racing from 2.10pm (BST).
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