Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Silverstone, 2020

Bottas snatches pole from Hamilton as Hulkenberg puts Racing Point third

2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix qualifying

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Valtteri Bottas took pole position from Lewis Hamilton with the final lap of qualifying, securing a front-row lock-out for Mercedes.

Racing Point’s substitute driver Nico Hulkenberg will line up behind them in third place. Max Verstappen will start alongside him and, thanks to his Q2 effort, will do so on a set of hard tyres.

Q1

Most drivers elected to run the soft tyres in Q1. The exceptions were the Haas pair and George Russell, who all selected the medium tyres to begin with. However as their rivals found they were able to coax more than one lap from the softs, the trio all joined them on the red-walled compounds.

Russell lost time being held up by Esteban Ocon, which the stewards announced they would investigate, but nonetheless jumped up to eighth place with his last run. Team mate Nicholas Latifi was six-tenths slower, ensuring his elimination.

Both Alfa Romeo drivers were unable to beat Latifi’s effort. Antonio Giovinazzi, despite scraping his car along the underside of a kerb, out-qualified Kimi Raikkonen again, leaving his world champion team mate last.

Daniil Kvyat wasn’t able to beat Russell’s time – he had a lap time deleted for exceeding the track limits, then headed for the pits reporting “something on the floor broke”. That proved crucial for Russell, as once Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon jumped out of the bottom five with their last efforts, he grabbed the last place in Q2.

One place ahead of him was Sebastian Vettel, the Ferrari driver avoiding elimination in the first round by just two-tenths of a second. Kevin Magnussen was the other driver to drop out, while Romain Grosjean proceeded, quite a bit quicker than his team mate. “Romain got through, 27.5, about 0.7 quicker,” Magnussen was told. “Difficult car, you did what you could.”

Drivers eliminated in Q1

16Daniil KvyatAlphaTauri-Honda1’27.882
17Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’28.236
18Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1’28.430
19Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’28.433
20Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’28.493

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Q2

As the second phase of qualifying began, all the drivers tried to make it through to Q3 on something other than the ultra-fragile soft tyre. For all bar two this meant the medium tyre; for Max Verstappen it meant the hard tyre, while Russell didn’t join the early runners.

Hamilton’s medium tyre lap wasn’t great, and Bottas comfortably led him after their first runs. Daniel Ricciardo used a set of mediums to go third ahead of Verstappen.

With the durable rubber in short supply for the race, spoiling a set with an off-track moment threatened to carry a high penalty. Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly did just that, however, getting greedy with the extended kerb at the exit of Becketts. Tellingly, both pressed on after those mistakes, and Gasly managed to bag 10th place.

Russell decided to chance a set of soft tyres at the end of Q2; he was in little danger of getting into Q3 and therefore being forced to start on them. Sure enough, he set a lap quick enough for 12th, despite a “weird” sensation from his gearbox.

For the final runs, Mercedes and Ferrari selected softs. This was a strange choice for Vettel, whose medium-tyre time had been six-tenths slower than his team mate’s, leaving him out of the top 10. The others, naturally, aborted their soft tyre runs to avoid improving their lap times and having to start on them. Vettel completed his – and failed to make the cut, dropping out in 12th. “It was all that I had,” he said, “all that there is in this car.”

Following his earlier error, Hulkenberg jumped up to second place between the two Mercedes. He was joined by Grosjean and Russell, whose team mates had already been left behind, plus Ocon and Sainz, who were out-qualified by their respective team mates.

“That was disappointing guys,” said Ocon. “Something we didn’t get there because the gap between the two cars is not normal. So let’s have a good look.”

Bravely, Verstappen did not join the final group of runners, and made it through by two-tenths of a second. That spared his tyres further unnecessary punishment, which could stand him in good stead on Sunday.

Drivers eliminated in Q2

11Esteban OconRenault1’27.011
12Sebastian VettelFerrari1’27.078
13Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’27.083
14Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’27.254
15George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’27.455

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Q3

The tenth-of-a-second advantage Hamilton seemed to always have at hand over Bottas was in evidence once more after their first runs. Hamilton lowered the mark to a 1’25.284, though that was still almost a second slower than his pole position time from last week.

Behind the two W11s on soft tyres came Ricciardo on a set of mediums – albeit more than a second slower than Hamilton. Hulkenberg used softs to go fourth – despite getting too familiar with the Becketts kerb again – while Verstappen was only fifth on mediums. He called for softs for his final run: “This is not good at the beginning.”

He wasn’t the only driver who reckoned they would do better on a different set of rubber. The Mercedes drivers both began their final runs on mediums.

Through the first sector of the lap there was nothing to choose between them – their lap times were identical to a thousandth of a second. But at the line Bottas had six-hundredths of a second over Hamilton, securing a vital pole position after the blow he suffered a week ago.

Ricciardo slipped from third to fifth but was still pleased with his afternoon’s work. “We can still do something from there,” he told his team,” and by ‘something’ I mean ‘a lot'”. Verstappen improved to fourth at his expense, while Hulkenberg’s remarkable return to F1 continued with a third place which would have seemed completely improbably only a week and a half ago.

Top ten in Q3

1Valtteri BottasMercedes1’25.154
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’25.217
3Nico HulkenbergRacing Point-Mercedes1’26.082
4Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’26.176
5Daniel RicciardoRenault1’26.297
6Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’26.428
7Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1’26.534
8Charles LeclercFerrari1’26.614
9Alexander AlbonRed Bull-Honda1’26.669
10Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’26.778

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2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

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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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119 comments on “Bottas snatches pole from Hamilton as Hulkenberg puts Racing Point third”

  1. Sergey Martyn
    8th August 2020, 15:08

    Nico is da monsta! Go Hulk, go!

    1. Whoohooo! The increddible Hulk!

      Stellar job. Just wow!

      1. Get that man a car for next year!

      2. Shows what a proper racing driver can show a billionaire son in the same care

      3. As a Max fan I’m thrilled for Nico.

        1. @robbie What does Max have do with anything?

          1. Nico is pretty popular in holland, he speaks dutch and is good mates with max. I would like to see nico next to max in the redbull, as would a lot of dutch fans.

          2. @jeffreyj Oh just that as a Max fan I didn’t mind at all seeing him bumped off the quali podium this time.

  2. Excited to find out how Bottas and Hülkenberg will mess it up tomorrow. :D

    1. I’m so praying that the Hulk will get his first podium tomorrow, get a fast ride for next year, and become an F1 championship before his career ends. I just love a Fairy Tale ending! But I’m new to F1, because I’ve only been watching for the past three seasons, so maybe I’m missing something. Go Hulk!

      1. NeverElectric
        8th August 2020, 22:38

        This sounds like it was translated from German…esp the ‘become an f1 championship’ bit.

        1. Robert Borse
          9th August 2020, 0:20

          Ah yes, Daryl Cook, an extremely German name

      2. I expect Max to beat Hulk in the race, so unless something happens in front, a podium is unlikely.

    2. At first glance i scoffed at your comment. Since I really like Nico. Then I was thinking ”well actually….” about both of them.

    3. I’d say Max to get Hulk off the line with a better start, and Lewis to bid his time, conserve his tires, and beat Bottas at some point in the race.

      I think Lewis had the meassure of Bottas but saw the race tomorrow in terms of the story. Comes from 2nd to win, and add further to the woes of Bottas MK3. Besides with his unforeseen points advantage Lewis can afford to be charitable in the interest of team moral.

  3. What a boss, Nico.

  4. Hulk podium please!

  5. Hulk podium bound

    1. I’ll be cheering for him… It’s his redemption podium

      1. Alfa Romeo letter leaked to the press:

        Dear US lottery prize winner,
        We need $200m to get out of Q1.
        Orlen are not enough, as we need to find 1.5 seconds to get into Q2, you see
        Please give for the sake of God who put you where you are

        Regards, F Vasseur

    2. Podium bound …
      and then in keeping with the rest of his career, the Renault protest appeal will mean RP is disqualified and his career with no podiums will continue. :(

      1. As long as he steps on the podium it’s mission accomplished. What happens later doesn’t matter

  6. A superb effort, and a shame that he is one that does not have a seat in F1. The challenge will be tomorrow, to drive 52 laps at decent pace and to keep 3rd.

    1. They really should just drop Lance when Checo returns. Won’t happen of course, but it should.

      1. Stroll has not been horrible nor spectacular in comparison to Perez. I don’t think a fair comparison could be done with Perez and Stroll given that Stroll retired in the Austrian Gp while Perez was sick during the Hungarian Gp. The thing with Stroll is that he has been decent this year, and has been better than last year. Haas drivers are not yet confirmed for next year. As such, I do put some hopes that Haas consider him at least. I mean Grosjean has considered retiring from the sport right?

        1. @krichelle Yes, but we all know last year Perez was a class above Stroll on a Sunday all season long.

        2. Jose Lopes da Silva
          8th August 2020, 16:52

          “The thing with Stroll is that he has been decent this year, and has been better than last year.”
          It’s the third year in a row we realize this. In 2040 Stroll will become faster than Senna, more consistent than Fangio, more sensitive than Prost, more ruthless than Schumacher. Until there, no one is going to fire him, of course. Unlike Grosjean.

          Or Hulkenberg.

          In the end, Stroll is important for us to be sure that the driver still matters.

        3. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          8th August 2020, 21:36

          @krichelle

          Perez mentioned that he felt suffered dizziness during the 1 hour qualifying session. Nothing on any articles was mentioned at all relating to his poor form relative to Stroll in the race. All I saw was people’s views suggesting it was related I think that weekend was fair to compare.

          This was what he said and looked to be specifically talking about during qualifying rather than how he was currently feeling:

          “I didn’t feel 100% physically during the qualifying. I was getting dizziness throughout the qualifying and that’s not great.”

          Maybe we can admit this didn’t help on Saturday, but he never mentioned anything relating to this since or on the race day, so I think we can conclude that Stroll was simply convincingly better that weekend overall.

  7. I really hope the Hulk can finish well up the front tomorrow.

    1. a podium.. at last.
      Lets hope so..
      fingers crossed!

  8. What gets me is watching Vettel & Albon struggle with their cars while their team-mates don’t seem to have the same problems. Neither are bad, neither have forgotten how to drive. So what’s going on there? It’s so odd.

    1. They may not be bad but they are just not as good as their teammates.

      1. VER and ALB OK. ALB isn’t as good as VER but he is nowhere near as bad as is being shown. Dont know whats happening there? VET and LEC isn’t as clear cut. VET has clearly checked out at Ferrari. IMO he is either being nobbled or is giving some pay back to Ferrari for dumping him. Hope it’s the latter. VET is a VERY good driver…he hasn’t become bad over the last 12 months. LEC is maybe better overall but there is definitely something fishy going on with VET and Ferrari.
        If he goes to RP I think he will show that he is actually a top driver. It is a bit sad to see him going through the motions at Ferrari.

        1. Have you seen 2016-2019, vettel is extremely overrated and made to look better then he is because of always having the second fastest car or fastest car at some tracks. The amount of points Vettel cost ferrari from his mistakes. I honestly feel like vettel fan boys don’t even watch the races

          1. VET fan boy? ? You could not be further from the truth. I have zero invested in VET. I just know he isn’t as bad as is being shown.

        2. Why would Vettel deliberately underperform? It would further diminish his name and stature in F1. The best way he can pay back to Ferrari is by outperforming Leclrec consistently throughout the season and move out.

          1. To drop Ferrari further down the constructors championship? But you’re probably right. Just a possibility I put out there.

        3. This is the first time Vettel is not enjoying No.1 status. Look at how Ferrari stuffed Leclerc last season. They actually took away Leclerc’s victory and gave it to Vettel in Singapore then criticised Leclerc for being angry about that. Not to mention allowing Vettel to be given position in China and Australia.

          Let’s not forget 2010 when Webber lost the world championship due to being deliberately shackled at many races to favour Vettel. What happened to Webber in 2010 remains one of the greatest crimes in F1 history.

          1. In 2010, factually Webber did not have a single reliability issue in contrast to his teammate. But the Australian still blundered in Australia, Europe and Korea which cost him the title.
            After that year, the status of drivers obviously changed and Mark never adapted to the Pirelli tyres.

    2. It’s the same story as has been for a long time, some drivers prefer cars that drive in certain ways… understeer / oversteer, smooth vs snappy, early brake early apex / late brake late apex.

      If the car suits your teammate better there’s not much you can do (though Vettel is another story at the moment, he just seems to have given up).

      1. Yeah but you’d think Red Bull and Ferrari would be good enough to set both cars up to work for both drivers? Given how poor Gasly was compared to how he is in the Alpha Tauri just makes me wonder if Red Bull literally don’t bother with the 2nd car. Vettel… I kinda agree. He just looks like his heart’s not in it anymore.

        1. @rocketpanda Yes, but some characteristics of the handling are ‘baked’ into the car and not really correctable through setup.

          Also, compromising your setup, chasing the car essentially, could then hurt elsewhere which might offset the difference if there is any…

    3. To be honest, I would add Stroll to that @rocketpanda.

      In the last few races Stroll was really on Perez’ heels, even beating him. This week he gets beaten by Hulk with a significant margin in Nico’s second qualifying in the car after almost 8 months without any running in any race car. Is Lance budging under the pressure?

      Sure, it is not the same as with either Vettel (who is feeling what not being the top dog at Ferrari is like currently) or Albon (being the second driver at RBR is a tough spot, makes one revisit how hard it was for Webber when Vettel was the chosen one there), since Lance is clearly the one who is chosen (else, why would we only hear about Perez losing his seat to Vettel).

      1. Stroll was only faster then perez at one race the rest perez has been dominating stroll. What races are you seeing

      2. Jose Lopes da Silva
        8th August 2020, 16:53

        “Is Lance budging under the pressure?”

        What pressure? Is he going to be fired?

      3. 100% right @bascb

        Let’s not forget 2010 when Webber lost the world championship due to being deliberately shackled at many races to favour Vettel. What happened to Webber in 2010 remains one of the greatest crimes in F1 history.

    4. With vettel its simply ferrari isn’t favoring him anymore, and with albon its red bull only favors max and tries to make him look better then he actually is

      1. I’ve heard this theory multiple times, with Danny Ric also, but why would RBR do that? Why would they shoot themselves in the foot? Isnt a closer teammate (at least in the cases of Gasly and Albon, who are pretty inexperienced and wont actually trouble Max) offer a better race strategy against the Mercs?

        1. Jose Lopes da Silva
          8th August 2020, 16:59

          You can’t disprove a conspiracy theory just like that. There’s always a hidden reason for some Ricciardo fans (I love Ricciardo, I’m pleased he got the seat at McLaren and can’t wait to see him next to Norris) to believe Red Bull favors Verstappen. Maybe Jos Verstappen has some compromising photos of Dietrich Mateschitz.

        2. @gechichan

          It’s what Red Bull are known for doing.

          Let’s not forget 2010 when Webber lost the world championship due to being deliberately shackled at many races to favour Vettel. What happened to Webber in 2010 remains one of the greatest crimes in F1 history.

        3. And it’s why Danny left Red Bull – he couldn’t trust the team. And with good reason, he knew that Webber was deliberately shackled with bizarre strategies designed to look innocuous but were there to favour Vettel (numerous examples). Just like Rubens got screwed by Brawn in 2009 to favour Button. (2009 Spain gives an amazing example of this).

      2. @carlosmedrano
        Hey carlosmcfrusto, this is what your namesake said of Max last week:
        “ Max is, was and became one of the strongest, if not the strongest, driver in the field right now. He is very, very, very good.

        “No matter what you would ask me about, he’s extremely competitive or extremely good at it.” “I learned a lot and it made me a better driver today.

        “I have only good things to say about him when it comes to driving. And he’s a really cool guy. I get on well with him,” affirmed Sainz.”

        You were saying?

    5. I think RB should put Hulk in the car for a weekend to see what he can do. Then use that as a way to measure Albon’s performance so you know if Max is just that much better or if Albon is not getting the most out of the car.

      1. @velocityboy
        Max is that much better.

  9. Take a bow, Nico

  10. These painted targets on the Racing Point caps are a bizarre idea. There’s loonies with bows and arrows out there in the stands.
    Hang on, there’s no one in the stands. That’s ok then.

    1. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
      8th August 2020, 15:19

      Hopefully the Mercs collide so Hulk has a fair shot at the podium tomorrow

      1. @asleepatthewheel I have Hamilton winning, Max 2nd and the Hulk in 3rd for my race prediction, as a joke really but now, who knows? . I also had Bottas on pole, but I figured something will go wrong for him.

        I’m rooting hard for Nico to get on the podium.

      2. I hope so too. P4-P10 drivers was scary enough. But I forgot that Max is in Hard.

        1. That means he is going to be a stay in the way for a lot of drivers.

  11. I have to admit … it gives me tremendous pleasure to listen to the F1TV gentlemen, especially when they are looking forward to another Lewis pole and then Valteri is staying with her … very good.
    Congratulations to Valteri, big lap and big Hulk. My Ferrari, with Leclerc did the best possible and Seb, well, come on man.

    1. But were are all the idiots that say merc don’t let their drivers race. Merc is a lot more fair then ferrari and red bull thats for sure

    2. Take your crumbs where you can get them I guess. Enjoy the race

    3. i ip vote the post

  12. I was going to joke about Racing Point; who do they choose now, Hulk or Seb? But on reflection surely Hulk to RB would be a no brainer?

    1. YES, I LOVE IT!

      And Albon back to STR, Kvyat becomes Corona reserve driver for both teams.

      1. @ian dearing
        @jeffreyj
        This is what I also just thought as an outside chance, but unlikely to happen. I don’t think there’s going to be driver changes at RB and AT during the season.

        1. @jerejj Why not? Albon has a new race engineer now and the full backing of the entire team and he still doesn’t get it done. At what point does RBR’s patience with him run out?

          1. @jeffreyj You’ve got a point there. At this point, I don’t expect changes, but you, of course, never know for certain from the outside given that almost anything is possible in F1.

          2. @jerejj I will say that RedBull hasn’t been going outside it’s own program since Webber and Couldthard, but other than Kvyat and Gasly they have nobody with a super license as of now.

            So, if you are Horner and Marko and you see Albon as just not good enough and meanwhile midfield teams are starting to close in, then it might be the best thing for them to use Hulk as a stopgap for the next 1 or 2 years as a sollid nr.2 driver who stays withing a .5s of Max in qually and gets sollid points for them.

          3. @jeffreyj True, the most recent case of a driver joining the team from the outside is Webber back in 2007, and yes, Hulk could be a decent stop-gap choice, although whether he’d be any closer to Max than Albon at present is a different matter.

  13. Mega job Hulk

  14. Sergey Martyn
    8th August 2020, 15:20

    Thank you Nico for something exciting behind the black arrows! How about Nico-Checo dynamic duo next season? Forget about Seb!

  15. All the sour grapes will knock all the doors of FIA and will want RP kicked out, RP has nothing to lose, it’s always been a experimental season for them if not for the covid situation the new regulations will be enforced next season, if the decision gets appealed then it all depends upon how the judges interpret the stupid and confusing FIA rules, which might favour RP, brake ducts non ip on 2018-2019 but becomes ip and not transferable in 2020. I think this will go against the FIA.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      8th August 2020, 15:27

      I don’t think it really matters to be honest – the only difference will be in financial terms. If they get excluded from the Championship, they’ll still be allowed to race and no-one but Mercedes has a shot at the title so the end result is only a reduction in prize money…

      They can’t use a 2020 Merecdes next year due to the changes required (they already had a moan about that a few months ago) and then in 2022, there are even bigger changes to the regs.

  16. Dump Lance, and have hulk and Seb..

  17. petebaldwin (@)
    8th August 2020, 15:23

    Great drive from Hulk – a few practice sessions and he’s already faster than Stroll. It’s incredible that Tracing Point have this one-off opportunity this year to run a 2019 Mercedes and they’re squandering it by not having the best drivers they can have in the car.

    Well done to Bottas as well – mega lap from him at the end.

  18. Hulkenberg really showed he deserves to be on this grid. One week in the car and he’s faster than Stroll.

  19. What a wonderful powerful Valtteri Bottas

  20. Excellent lap by Bottas, was a good lap by Hamilton and it seemed that pole was sealed.

    Excited to see hulkemberg up there, really hoping he can seal that third place tomorrow

    1. Yes, kudos to BOT. Good lap but time was left on the track for both him & Lewis. I didn’t expect the Medium to produce a lap capable of beating the soft but both HAM and BOT improved. Really pleased for BOT. Well done sir. Hulk… get in! We needed someone in the RP to show how good it is. Perez and Stroll do not have the ability to extract the full capability of that car. VET and HULK in the RP next year?? They will definitely get the max out of that car. Stroll Snr is gong to have to accept his boy isn’t yet making the cut.

  21. Hulk qualifies 3rd
    Lance:Dad, hulk is faster than me
    Lawrence: Don’t worry son, I’ll handle it.
    Tomorrow:Hulk car couldn’t start race.

  22. Good result.

    At least we may see Lewis trying to get past Bottas…

    1. Bottas gets a call.. “Valteri its james”

  23. Hamilton had the perfect chance to kick Bottas while he was down but he just hasn’t got the speed in him.

    Great last lap by Bottas to show he’s still in this championship.

    1. Hehehehe you’ve been very quiet for the last 6 weeks Wass! Good to have you back at the opportune time. Take your crumbs where you can get them Wass, enjoy.

    2. Hamilton had the perfect chance to kick Bottas while he was down but he just hasn’t got the speed in him

      Lol nothing like some blatant trolling is there.

  24. For once I reckon Krusty an MB are right, they need to take a serious look at Qualifying before someone gets rear ended, with disastrous results.

  25. As much as I like Hulk and enjoyed his success today, I can’t help but feel something will happen to ruin his race. He’s definitely someone I wouldn’t stand next to in a thunderstorm.

  26. Brilliant to see qualifying for all three of the best sports in the world happening on the same day, within a couple of hours of each other for the first time in over a year. Pole positions for Valtteri Bottas (F1), Jean-Eric Vergne (Formula e) and Rory Butcher (BTCC).

    1. What about MotoGP? The man everybody; including himself, wrote off last year. Pole for Zarco on a satellite bike.

  27. Is Ocon finding it hard coming back to F1 or is Daniel too much for him? It was never clear to me if Ocon is the next big deal or not.

    1. Jose Lopes da Silva
      8th August 2020, 17:04

      If it was never clear, maybe he isn’t… I believed he was, but he is having a very hard time, and he desperately needed to be clearly the number one at “his” French team.
      Ricciardo trashed Vergne, Vettel, Kvyat, was almost at par with Verstappen, trashed Hulkenberg and now is beating Ocon. He is a real Top Driver of the current era.

      1. And the bizarre thing is Danny Ric is too good. If he was slower he would have landed a drive in Mercedes or Ferrari. Both those teams don’t want a too fast and independent driver which could lead to disharmony.

    2. Ocon was also right there with Perez in qualy and we know that Nico was faster than Perez and very close to Ricciardo in qualy. So the qualy trend seen between Ocon and Ricciardo should not be a surprise.

    3. @gechichan it wouldn’t be surprising if he is finding it a little tricky to get back into motorsport as a whole, let alone F1, given that Ocon didn’t compete in any form of motorsport in 2019.

      If you think about it, Ocon hadn’t driven an F1 car for 14 months until he took part in the pre-season tests, and Renault didn’t have the highest mileage either – I believe Ocon was in the middle in terms of mileage covered, at 1750km of test mileage. Now, after that, the delayed start to the season means that it has been another 4 months until Ocon has been able to sit in that car again, and the Austrian GP was the first time that Ocon had taken part in a full race weekend for 18 months.

      By way of comparison, although people praise Hulkenberg for his performances, don’t forget that he’s been out of F1 for less than half the time that Ocon has been and Hulkenberg has been keeping himself active in motorsport too (he was on the way for a test in a GT4 car when Racing Point called him up).

  28. I read a post in another thread that said Mercedes had pulled off a clever trick by allowing RP technical data as it wouldn’t be fast enough to challenge the 2020 Merc but might be fast enough to take the fight to the RB and give them something else to think about. Looks like it’s had the desired effect here.

    1. Jose Lopes da Silva
      8th August 2020, 17:43

      Yeah, but RP still needs a Formula One driver to do it.

  29. Did Hamilton just throw that away? Come off the last corner; go as wide as possible and stick to the outside track limit til you pass the finish line. Ham came over to the pit wall just before the finish line. I wonder with all those wins he was practising his last lap pit wall celebration? :)

    1. Jose Lopes da Silva
      8th August 2020, 17:46

      Maybe. For the history books, he must be sure that his team mates have some success, in order to be placed above Schumacher. Unlike Schumacher’s, Hamilton’s team mates can do pole positions, wins and even get a world title. History will assert that Hamilton multiple-winning squad was not built around him, like Schumacher’s was.

    2. I think he’s getting bored and just wanted to be able to practice his overtaking on Bottas tomorow.

      1. Think it was Peter Windsor who said unless he has issues he pretty much treats friday practice as a nice drive in the country and often forgets to use the DRS.

      2. Jose Lopes da Silva
        9th August 2020, 17:20

        Alex was right about that prediction.

  30. I want Hulky to get his podium.
    He has worked hard in this sport and deserves it far more than some of the “pay to play” racers who have won trophies.

    Yet he seems to carry a curse.
    Break the curse Nico – please – so many of us want to see you up there dude.

  31. Good for Bottas. Hope that he goes on to win tomorrow.
    What on Earth was wrong with MAG’s car?? A fraction from last weeks crash? Any ideas? He’s not 0.7 secs slower than GRO… Rather a couple of tenths faster.

    1. He’s not 0.7 slower than Grosjean, but i think people forget just how fast Grosjean can be when the stars align. He’s as fast as anybody over one lap when everything’s to his liking with the car and he nails it.

      Problem is he rarely does, and when it’s not to his liking, he can’t drive around things as well as someone like KMag can.

    2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      8th August 2020, 21:50

      Well he was 3 tenths up in P2 and P3, so there was a pattern emerging. Damage from a previous race will have been dealt with, so that won’t be related. He looked far more comfortable than Magnussen with the car this time out. Grosjean reported the car being a handful in 2nd practice – and maybe that feedback sorted that issue out for him. Magnussen was also 3 tenths down on Grosjean on their first run in Q1, then Grosjean improves and extends it to 4 tenths while Magnussen didn’t seem to improve on that lap (or even do one?). Then on their final runs, Magnussen got to just over a tenth of Grosjean’s time, but Grosjean was right behind him and beat that time by 7 tenths. Pretty much the whole weekend (other than practice 1), Grosjean has looked far more comfortable. So I’d say 3 – 4 tenths was more realistic and Magnussen just had a very poor last lap when the track was at it’s best.

  32. As a true Hamilton fan, for once I want the Mercedes to take each other out at the start… only if it means a Hulk victory, of course.

    1. Something tells me you’re a true Hulk fan ;-)

      1. Ham fan since Turkey 2006.
        Hulk is just another midfield driver to me. But sometimes luck is hugely in debt with people that has tried real hard.

  33. Think we can all agree this proves beyond all doubt just how average Stroll actually is.

    He’s a tidy enough racer, regularly proves in the wet that he does have talent, but doesn’t have that real turn of speed to ever get the best out of a good car.

    If a driver who has never driven the car can come right in last weekend and not really be all that far off him, then despite not even racing, a week later sticks the car in 3rd place on the grid and be almost 4 tenths ahead of Stroll, that’s pretty damn embarrassing.

    If Lawrence Stroll was serious about making that team a front runner, maximising this years points return and not just a play thing to give his son a career, Perez would get his seat back when he’s recovered and Hulk would step over to the other side of the garage and take the other seat (where he’d be reunited with many of his old engineers etc that work on Strolls car to this day).

    1. I wholeheartedly agree with you but nepotism dear boy, nepotism.

  34. Three mercs at the front.
    What a surprise…

    1. Suck it up erik. Appreciate brilliance when you see it.

  35. Great job Nico, well done. I think that pretty much universally made F1 fans happy.

  36. Great job by Hulkenberg and Ricciardo, but a second between Mercedes and the rest puts a damper on things.

  37. And the bizarre thing is Danny Ric is too good. If he was slower he would have landed a drive in Mercedes or Ferrari. Both those teams don’t want a too fast and independent driver which could lead to disharmony.

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