The two Mercedes, with Valtteri
Bottas in the pole and Lewis
Hamilton At their side, they have prepared the ground to premiere the 2020 World Cup of the coronavirus with a doublet at the Austrian GP (15.10h). The Finn defeated his English neighbor by just 12 thousandths in the first classification of the year, despite making a mistake in the last attempt. Carlos Sainz (McLaren) comes out 8th with good options.
Crushing Mastery
The star’s two racing cars left their immediate pursuer, Verstappen’s Red Bull, within half a second.
He dominance of the Mercedes, reflected in the three free practice sessions, was reflected again in all three qualifying rounds. In the final Q3The only question that remained to be resolved was which of the two silver pilots (now in black) would take the pole. It was for Bottas thanks to a sensational first attempt, in which he excelled in 122 thousandths your partner. It was enough, despite the fact that in the second attempt he suffered a departure from the track, and Hamilton cut him 110 thousandths. He was saved by 12. The departure promise emotions
powerful between the two Mercedes.
The superiority of the star’s fireballs was evident in the half second with which they surpassed the immediate pursuer, the Red Bull the Max Verstappen, winner at Spielberg the past two years. The Dutchman was the only one to ride a medium tire in Q2 (yellow), allowing him a different tactic in the race to try to surprise the Mercedes.
Carlos Sainz, who had been 7th and 6th in the first two rounds, in the final one he took a small step back, due to lower performance of his tires. It will come out of 8th place, but with good expectations. “It is a good day, we have options to get into the fight with the teams that beat us last year. even though I did an 8th in Q3 with a used set of tires, it’s a good place for the race, let’s see if we can attack. It has been a relief to see that we can fight with those teams, ”said Carlos Sainz at the Movistar F1 microphone.
Red disappointment
The two Ferraris opened the course far behind, with Leclerc starting 7th and Vettel 11th, unable to enter Q3
The classification was monochromatic, of black color of the Mercedes (a painting that they say weighs less and makes their cars more light). With the usual surplus of those who look superior, the Mercedes they were booked in the Q1 until the last minute to run a single lap, with which Bottas went up to second place and Hamilton to third, very close to the benchmark, Max
Verstappen. Stroll and Pérez confirmed the good shape of the Racing
Point, 4th and 7th, and Sainz signed the 6th best time, 0.5s from the Dutch. The Ferrari, very discreet, Leclerc 5th and Vettel, 8.º.
In the second sleevewithout both Williams and the two Alfa
Romeo –The red lanterns of this beginning of the course–, the two racing cars of the star took off their masks and already attacked the first two places, with Bottas first and Hamilton behind. Then, very far, at 7 tenths, a surprising Stroll and Lando Norris (McLaren), third and Sainz, 7th.
The bad moment of Ferrari, with the elimination of Sebastian Vettel, 11th, and the troubles of Leclerc to get into the final phase (10th). Monegasque, the great hope of Maranello, signed 7th place in the final Q3, almost 1 second (984 thousandths) from Bottas. A shame for Ferrari.
At 3.10pm
The starting grid
1. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), 1m02s939
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 1m02s951
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 1m03s477
4. Lando Norris (McLaren), 1m03s626
5. Alexander Albon (Red Bull), 1m03s868
6. Sergio Pérez (Racing Point), 1m03s868
7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 1m03s923
8. Carlos Sainz (McLaren), 1m03s971
9. Lance Stroll (Racing Point), 1m04s029
10. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault), 1m04s239
11. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), 1m04s206
12. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri), 1m04s305
13. Daniil Kvyat (Alpha Tauri), 1m04s431
14. Esteban Ocon (Renault), 1m04s643
15. Romain Grosjean (Haas), 1m04s691
16. Kevin Magnussen (Haas), 1m05s164
17. George Russell (Williams), 1m05s167
18. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), 1m05s175
19. Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo), 1m05s224
20. Nicholas Latifi (Williams), 1m05s757
