2020 Styrian Grand Prix grid

2020 Styrian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton leads the provisional grid for the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.

Row 11. Lewis Hamilton 1’19.273
Mercedes
2. Max Verstappen 1’20.489
Red Bull
Row 23. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’20.671
McLaren
4. Valtteri Bottas 1’20.701
Mercedes
Row 35. Esteban Ocon 1’20.922
Renault
6. Alexander Albon 1’21.011
Red Bull
Row 47. Pierre Gasly 1’21.028
AlphaTauri
8. Daniel Ricciardo 1’21.192
Renault
Row 59. Lando Norris 1’20.925
McLaren
10. Sebastian Vettel 1’21.651
Ferrari
Row 611. George Russell 1’19.636
Williams
12. Lance Stroll 1’19.645
Racing Point
Row 713. Daniil Kvyat 1’19.717
AlphaTauri
14. Charles Leclerc 1’19.628
Ferrari
Row 815. Kevin Magnussen 1’20.211
Haas
16. Kimi Raikkonen 1’21.372
Alfa Romeo
Row 917. Sergio Perez 1’21.607
Racing Point
18. Nicholas Latifi 1’21.759
Williams
Row 1019. Antonio Giovinazzi 1’21.831
Alfa Romeo
20. Romain Grosjean No time
Haas

Penalties

Lando Norris: Three-place grid penalty for overtaking under yellow flags
Charles Leclerc: Three-place grid penalty for impeding Daniil Kvyat during qualifying
Antonio Giovinazzi: Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
Romain Grosjean: Pit lane start due to breach of parc ferme rules

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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64 comments on “2020 Styrian Grand Prix grid”

  1. GOAT.

    1. Reports of Lewis’ demise are always greatly exaggerated. If anyone is in any doubt who the best driver on the grid is… this should be put bed very quickly.
      Max is fantastic in the wet but he was handed a tough lesson today. Over a second quicker…That’s got to hurt. Was a fantastic Qualy today. Thank God they let them out on track.
      Still…points awarded tomorrow . Get in there Lewis.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        11th July 2020, 16:07

        Max isn’t blinded by Hamilton fandom so he’ll look at it in context and be reasonably happy with his session. The track was improving rapidly and if Max didn’t have to go wide onto the kerb to avoid Vettel, he would have been a lot closer.

        1. Peter… max was wounded today. 1.2 seconds is an age in F1. Isnt rain the great equaliser? He may take Lewis mantel one day but not while Lewis is still around. Let’s here no more about Max being the “Rain Master”.

          1. If rain is equaliser then seb is the true rain master 2014 just 0.055+/- and 2015 0.067+/- almost snatching pole from Lewis back when Mercedes had the biggest advantage and was infinitely superior to the rest :)

          2. petebaldwin (@)
            11th July 2020, 16:40

            I don’t refer to Max as “the rain master” because I don’t really do the whole fandom thing. I enjoy watching F1 and look forward to exciting racing rather than loving one driver and hating their competition. All the talk of “the GOAT” and “the Rain Master” is meaningless to me.

            Max wasn’t “wounded” today because he would have never expected to out-pace a Mercedes. As it stands, he starts 2nd on the grid tomorrow which means he’s already in front of one faster car and he’ll see if he can keep it that way tomorrow – maybe even find a strategy to beat the other.

          3. Peter. .. must be utopian up there on the high ground. What, pray tell, is wrong with “fandom”, as you so arrogantly put it?
            Having a vested, emotional interaction with sport is very common and the reason why the majority follow their given sport. Why the snobbery?
            My comment about Max being the “rain master” wasn’t aimed at you per se. Just a comment to address the popular myth that has arisen over the last few years.
            Mercedes had their pace advantage wiped out by the rain today so no… max won’t be happy as he knows he came up short today and the machinery was much less of an influence had it been dry. It will have hurt as he fully believes he has the edge over the whole field. Hopefully that motivates him to perform better.

        2. LH’s lap was the best, no doubt, but there’s too much hype about it. MV’s was not so far behind until the last corner where SV (when are you retiring, Seb??????) ruined it, by the way I’m still impressed by how MV regained just enough control to avoid the walls.

          No way to know for sure exactly MV’s lap time without the incident but I reckond that the difference with LH would have been at least divided by half.

          And had LH been the one who found Seb at the last corner, probably MV would be sitting in the pole position now. So it goes.

          1. Had the gap been reduced by half (for arguments sake) then that’s still a massive 6 tenths.
            Maybe (for arguments sake) lewis’ lap wasn’t “out of this world” but it was head and shoulders above anything else produced. Why do people feel the need to denigrate great performances? (Think I know the answer)

          2. Max said everyone that Lewis was the best today even the expected 4-6 tens in the last lap would be not enough to beat Lewis. (his own words) Ha also said Q3 there was to much rain for the Red Bull to coop with and was glad he took second antway.

          3. denigrate

            A revealing word choice, your true colors are showing

  2. 1.2 seconds, baby!
    Truly a Master of the Rain!

  3. Great qualifying and driving all around.
    But Bottas 1.5 seconds off pole. An F1 champion should be good in all conditions.

    1. But he is not a champion.
      He is a race winner tho

    2. Look for the Qualy in china 2014 then.

    3. Prost wasn’t great in the wet though. Neither was Mika.

  4. Some of the gaps between teammates are HUGE! Russel is the real deal for sure. He deserves better than that Williams!

  5. Ferrari Austria GP1: Our engine is the problem. We can improve our aero by bringing updates.

    Ferrari Austria GP2: We brought an update. Even though it is wet and aero matters more, we are still crap.

    Ferrari sucking at so many different levels.

    1. hopefully the upgrades will work in dry conditions.

      1. @naylamp hopefully the seasons flies by quickly. There is no other hope for Ferrari this season.

    2. Question are you forced to use the same set up in qualy as the race, if so makes sense if some teams set their cars up for the dry race and not the wet qualy

      1. @carlosmedrano you are allowed to make some modifications to the set up of the car if there is a change in the weather conditions between qualifying and the race.

  6. petebaldwin (@)
    11th July 2020, 15:54

    I love wet qualifying sessions! Really enjoyable to watch and the two best drivers on the grid in the wet unsurprisingly line up 1st and 2nd.

    Awesome drives from Sainz, Ocon and Gasley

  7. Lewis Hamilton

    GOAT!

    1. Beating everybody by over a second. A WHOLE SECOND!

      1. Spa 2018 in wet qualifying Lewis was over .7 faster than Vettel in second, when the Ferraris were generally quicker. But this was something else again.

  8. Albon should’ve managed to achieve a better position.

  9. LEC & VET can’t do anymore with that tractor. What a shame.

    1. Each passing year, it sucks exponentially more to be a Ferrari fan buddy.

  10. Hamilton 1.2 seconds clear of the field! Incredible lap. Wasn’t really much doubt he’d bounce back.

  11. Great seeing George Russel in Q2, great driving! Glad Williams seem to be heading in right direction

  12. This pole reminds me of Hamilton’s 2008 win at Silverstone in the wet. Gots to love these sessions- rain is the great equaliser.

    1. China 2014, italy 2017, belgium 2018.

      This trick is old already!

      1. @ Edvaldo – what trick?

        Do you have a problem with me referencing a great pole lap to another great drive?

  13. Grid top 3 as they would pose for a pics.
    Cars 33, 44, 55.

    1. even Better
      44, 33, 55 and 77

  14. Brilliant from Lewis Hamilton.
    Leclerc, hmm, still that wet weather question. All down to the Ferrari or is it his Achilles heel?

    1. @david-br considering that Vettel’s best Q2 time was only 0.08s faster than Leclerc’s time was, that might suggest that there might not have been a lot more to get out of the car in those circumstances.

      To some extent, you wonder if Ferrari did make a strategic mistake in switching tyres in the latter part of Q2 when Q1 suggested it took some time to build temperature in the tyres. Still, I think that there is an argument that the car itself also played its part and that it is also a pretty poor car in both wet and dry conditions.

      1. @ anon, definitely a car issue involved, but there’s the fact that exceptional drivers tend to outperform in the wet. I can’t remember any outstanding session from Leclerc, which is actually quite strange since he seems a very subtle driver. Vettel has shown he’s pretty good in the rain in the past, so maybe they balance out somewhat. Like I said, I’m still unsure. Maybe in a better car and the right conditions, Leclerc will shine. But someone like Verstappen is very obviously fantastic in terms of reflexes and handling in wet weather and has shown that consistently. Hamilton, goes without saying.

        1. Well, if you consider Vettel a rain master, and he just beat Leclerc by 0.08s, you have your answer, @david-br. he may not have had his coming of age in the rain performance, but it is definitely too early to discount it. He’s just starting his 3rd season in F1 after all.

          No argument regarding Verstappen and Hamilton in particular, brilliant as usual in such conditions, absolutely thrashed Bottas.

          1. @toiago I know I kind of answered my own question :)
            The thing is, Vettel has been fantastic in wet weather in the past, that early Monza drive in 2008 comes to mind. But more recently? I don’t think he qualifies as a ‘rain master’. Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton, maybe Verstappen (definitely capable but needs to build up the CV). If Vettel isn’t that level, then the fact he seems to better Leclerc in the rain does, I think, suggest that wet weather racing isn’t a standout feature of Leclerc’s talent. Which does puzzle me a bit.
            Russell on the other hand did show what he can do in such conditions. Great session given the car. Gasly too.

        2. Alain Prost is an example of an excepcional driver who was however subpar in the wet, while his nemesis Ayrton Senna, while arguably inferior to Prost in the dry, was a true rainmaster.

        3. Not always though. There’s no debate that Prost is one of the greatest of all time but he didn’t really shine in the rain.

  15. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    11th July 2020, 16:00

    Welp, there goes Bottas’s hopes of a championship. At least 2nd downward might be fun to watch.

    Ferrari proving again that it doesn’t matter who drives for them, it sucks anyway. Russell and Gasly seemed to enjoy those conditions, Albon & Racing Point much less so. Can’t help but wonder if McLaren might come to regret changing their engine supplier as much as Sainz might be uncomfortable with his future team.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      11th July 2020, 16:03

      Really? Did we not already know that Lewis is miles faster than Bottas in the wet? More than likely, Bottas will be ahead in the Championship when tomorrow’s race finishes.

      1. Seems you’re a bit upset Pete.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          11th July 2020, 16:44

          Maybe – I always liked this site when we had grown up conversations about F1 rather than loads of hyperbole. This place used to be full of really interesting comments rather than “GOAT” or “hahahaha MAX SPUN LOL” or “Bottas’ season is over” during qualifying of the 2nd race….

          1. I totally concur, @petebaldwin. I have been visiting this site for the past 10 years and notice it too.

            You always got the feel this was some sort of niche place, where knowledgeable, informed people would exchange points of view and publish their interesting comments and views, like you say. I guess it is the downside of the growth of the site — more people gain access, even if they’re not really interested in actually discussing stuff, only in displaying their fandom or whatever, to the detriment of others’ opinions.

            But perhaps could it be the time to implement some sort of “upvote/downvote” system to enhance the quality of the comment section, @keithcollantine? I believe it’s been suggested before. Either way, keep up the good work, we appreciate it. :)

          2. @petebaldwin – sensible input that deserves more appreciation. Here it is!

          3. Personally, and it’s just my opinion, I think this is a really arrogant point of view. Just because some people support a driver and/or team above all else does not mean they aren’t knowledgeable or able to discuss F1 in an articulate and considerate manner. I understand why some hyperbolic comments may annoy you but this is the way some people express themselves. Some people are emotionally invested in their given team/driver and it manifests itself in a slightly abrasive way sometimes. This isnt a new phenomena. The Tifosi have had the monopoly on this for decades.
            So I’m sorry “we” have spoiled your boys club (of which I am a paid up member) but this is how some enjoy the sport. As long as it isn’t “offensive” what is the problem?

    2. there goes Bottas’s hopes of a championship. At least 2nd downward might be fun to watch

      @rocketpanda reliability of the Mercedes is still in question for this race. If Hamilton’s car fails and Bottas has a good score, he could have an approximate 30 point advantage, in a reduced season. Seeing Hamilton and Verstappen trying to catch him would definitely be interesting. Everything definitely to play for.

  16. That was the best qualy session I’ve ever seen

    1. It certainly was gripping @carlosmedrano
      Constant action from start to finish, not knowing what the conditions were going to do. Positions constantly changing

  17. Bottas stuck in traffic, bad track position.

    He has amazing pace in the dry and will surely be favourite should he get a good start.

  18. Definitely leclerc don’t perform too good in wet.. since Alfa Romeo it appears that’s a weakness he has

  19. Hamilton said that he was prepared for any condition regardless…when asked by DIresta at the post quali interview..i think Hamilton is out to prove something after all the abuse hes gotten over the knee taking thing..i should just say Hamilton just concentrate on driving and leave the knees to other occasions..

    1. @spiderman Abuse over the knee taking thing? What abuse? He’s only gotten support.

      1. @robbie may I suggest that you go onto the other gutter mediums such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Not quite as balanced as you might think.

    2. Even if he hasn’t liked the reaction of some to the kneeling gesture, if I were in Lewis’ shoes, I would be much more interested in bouncing back from the relatively quiet performance of last weekend (where his lack of pace was notorious, as well as his clumsy contact with Albon), and show everyone else that I’m still the champion and favorite to repeat, especially to Bottas.

      1. @toiago

        where his lack of pace was notorious

        Did you watch the race? Prior to the 1st safety car and pit stop, Hamilton was catching Bottas at a rate of knots. Even when both Mercs were on the hard tyres, Hamilton was all over Bottas. We know in this version of F1 catching is one thing and passing is another, but certainly Hamilton wasn’t off the pace compared to other races in previous seasons.

        Re the Albon incident. Leclerc was raced harder with HAM in Monza and actually pushed him off track and didn’t get a penalty. At the start of the race Albon did the same move and didn’t receive a penalty. Both incidents- HAM took avoiding action and the stewards didn’t issue a penalty unlike Rosberg/Verstappen in Austria for eg. So it seems- run your opponent out of room and make contact- slam dunk penalty. Run your opponent out of room and they take avoiding action- they get away scotts free. Either way, that contact definitely wasn’t “clumsy” as you put it. IMO it was a racing incident.

        Albon had such an advantage all he had to do was play his percentages better. On the contrary the stewards once again proved their inconsistency in applying the rules.

  20. Which he did today in EMPHATIC fashion. Which he does every time he has a below par performance. We should all know by now that when Lewis doesn’t reach his incredibly high standards of racing, he always bounces back emphatically and demoralises his Competitors The mark of a true Champion.

  21. This is one of those rare occasions where all the teams get to start on any tire compound they want.
    It will be interesting to see how the strategies play out and if the somewhat artificial current tire rules actually do or do-not improve the racing (and The Show).
    If it turns out well, one can hope that those in control will toss out the current two compound and start on your Q2 tire regs and open things up.

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