2020 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Result – The Great and Grape Review

Need a quick catch up of the latest F1 race? Our 2020 Austrian F1 Grand Prix result review is here.

In the big review, we include a quick summary of the on track action, and there was plenty this week. 

We also work out who the best and worst of the race was, so we can assign points to our overall 2020 Driver of the year.

Enjoy our 2020 Austrian Grand Prix results review.

2020 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Result – THE TEN LAPS THAT MATTERED

Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top ten laps where stuff happened. Normally it is five, so you know it was a good race if there’s ten.

Lap 1 – The 2020 season eventually gets underway, and all the drivers behave themselves at various potential hotspots for overly ambitious overtaking moves. At the front Bottas skips clear and Verstappen is pressured by Norris, and the rest of the top ten is reasonably static.

Lap 11 – Max Verstappen moving slowly down the second straight, losing second place and many more. Issue started just before first corner. Makes it to the pits but retires eventually. Order now BOT. HAM, ALB, NOR, PER.

Lap 18 – Daniel Ricciardo slowing halfway around Lap 18 losing 10th place and continuing a fine Australian tradition of retiring at the A1 Ring. Not a big one overall, but a 

Lap 26 – First Safety Car of the season brought out after the season’s first race spin of the season from Kevin Magnussen into turn three after a battle with Esteban Ocon for 11th. The spin was caused by brake failure, instead of the usual brain failure. This leads to pit stop for all the front runners. Order remains BOT. HAM, ALB, NOR, PER. Safety Car eventually leaves at the end of lap 30.

Lap 31 – Sebastian Vettel makes a half-hearted move up the inside of Carlos Sainz into turn three for 7th place and spins.

Lap 54 – Kimi Raikkonen’s front right wheel fails heading flat out into the final turn, in what appears to be suspension failure. Safety Car comes out again and leaves on Lap 60. Order BOT, HAM, ALB, PER, NOR.

Lap 61 – Alex Albon spins trying to overtake Lewis Hamilton around the outside of turn five. Albon drops to last, Hamilton remains 2nd. Looks like the British driver is at fault as it is left front of the Mercedes into right rear of the Red Bull. Advice from stewards that the incident is under review on lap 64.

Lap 65 – Leclerc overtakes Norris for 4th, after setting the race’s fastest lap to that point the lap before.

Lap 66 – Leclerc pulls a great move on Sergio Perez for third into turn three. Stewards confirm 5 second penalty for Lewis Hamilton. A combination of these means Leclerc is now second overall.

Laps 69 – 71 – Norris overtakes Perez for 4th in turn three, despite a clash of wheels, then sets two fastest laps to close the gap to Lewis Hamilton to under 5 seconds, and snatch a podium for McLaren in the last seconds of the race.

2020 Austrian F1 Grand Prix – RACE RATING

The end result may have been a Mercedes victory, but it was no run of the mill domination for champions first up in 2020. There were unexpected failure like the good old days. A few incidents and accidents. And a first time podium, snatched in the final seconds of the race.

We rate the 2020 Austrian F1 Grand Prix so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season. One that will hopefully be shorter than this one.

SEASON IMPORTANCE – 10/10

The first race of a season which has been delayed by four months due to a worldwide pandemic. Yeah, it’s pretty important. And some season long stories look to be unfolding too. Ferrari down on pace, mistakes from Lewis Hamilton, unreliability.

ON TRACK ACTION – 9/10

Might be a little harsh to be only an nine, but there wasn’t a battle for the lead, and overtaking seemed as hard as ever at times. But thankfully between there was enough collisions, penalties and broken down cars to make it a classic.

ENDING 9 / 10

It was hard to keep up at the end, between the penalties, overtakes, and hard charging drivers. Lando Norris nailing the five second gap at the end provided one last piece of entertainment. And a return for the canny punter with a bet on a Norris podium.

OVERALL RATING 28 / 30

A real good one to start the 2020 F1 Season

2020 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Result – Great & Grape

Here we go through the field and highlight the three drivers we think deserve a little extra love, and one driver whose had the weekend of all.

These points get added to our Driver of the Season.

It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now.

THE GREAT  – 1. Lando Norris

First ever podium, sealed in exciting style as he attempted to get within five seconds of Lewis Hamilton. Best of the rest in qualifying, and didn’t drop his head when he lost places early in the race.

THE GREAT – 2. Valtteri Bottas

Can’t do much more than take pole and lead most of the race. But he does have a Mercedes, unlike 18 others, so life can be that little bit easier out in front with the Mercedes. Still, he took pole and won the race.

THE GREAT – 3. Charles Leclerc

The Ferrari looks so much slower than last year’s car (with FIA spec engine), so Leclerc’s effort in finishing second after qualifying is a really solid effort. Sorting out his team mate in both race and qualifying helps too.

THE GRAPE – Sebastian Vettel

Missed out on Q3 through sheer lack of pace, and his race was eventful again. Can see 2020 being the last season on current form.

2020 Austrian F1 Grand Prix – 2020 Driver of the Year – The Martini Trophy

A feature on this website is determining the driver of the year. 

This recognises not just the driver with the most amount of points at the end of the year, but factoring performance against their team mate, possibly outperforming the car, and a nod to our Great and Grape above. A full explanation is below the results.

The Martini Trophy is named after one of our favourite F1 drivers of all time, the underrated Pierluigi Martini.

2020 Austrian Grand Prix Results

Top qualifiers are awarded 3-2-1
Top finishes are awarded 5-4-3-2-1
Out-Race team mate only applies if they both cars finish
Best of Rest is the top driver not from Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari in race and qualifying
FirstLap is 0.2 / -0.2 for every position gained / lost on the first lap.
Good and Grape points are award 3-2-1 and -1 for drivers.

2020 Driver of the Year Points so far

2020 Austrian F1 Grand Prix Result Stats

Here’s a few of our favourite graphs from the first race of the season that we will update throughout the year.