FORMULA 1

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We haven't seen the full potential of Mercedes or Red Bull yet, says Wolff

Mercedes made it two from two in 2020 as Lewis Hamilton clinched victory at the Red Bull Ring for the Styrian Grand Prix, a week after his team mate Valtteri Bottas achieved the feat at the same venue. It is an impressive start from the reigning world champions, but boss Toto Wolff reckons there’s plenty more to come from them – and rivals Red Bull.

Red Bull have emerged as Mercedes’ strongest threat in the opening two races, Verstappen going toe-to-toe with Hamilton for pole in soaking wet conditions on Saturday before the Mercedes driver pulled out an electric lap. In the race, Verstappen kept pace in the opening stint, but couldn’t get close enough to genuinely threaten.

Meanwhile, Mercedes admitted Hamilton was managing his pace at the front, given they were comfortable with their performance and they were keen not too push the limits too hard after they struggled with gearbox issues from the kerbs at the previous race at the same track. Red Bull hit back from a double non-points finish in round one, to finish third and fourth with Verstappen and Albon respectively.

“Lewis managed the gap,” said Wolff. “There was probably more in there, but it is always a bit easier to lead than to follow in the dirty air. We saw Max commenting on how difficult it was to follow. Lewis had the same to say when lapping cars.

“Therefore, we may have seen everything from Max following, but maybe leading, we haven’t seen the full potential of the Red Bull and we haven’t seen the full potential of the Mercedes either.”

It was an all-round impressive reaction from Mercedes, after they encountered gearbox problems in the first race, to the extent it was “critical” both drivers avoided the kerbs, and another example of how the team continue to find the motivation to push the boundaries despite the unbeaten success in terms of championships stretching back to 2014.

“I don’t want to bore you with repeating the mindset that we have just mentioned, we’re always sceptical about our own performance, we just always think it’s not good enough,” said Wolff.

“We’re almost like hunting ourselves down and that is the mindset of this team, never to be satisfied with a result. When you are listening in the debrief on Monday morning after winning a race, you would think this is a team that has lost out badly. It’s just a culture we have developed over the last years that we never blame a person, we always blame the problem.

“Last weekend was another proof. We won the race with Valtteri, we didn’t finish in a satisfactory position with Lewis, we were worried to DNF with both cars and then the next weekend we came back very strong, reliability woes solved and a very competitive car and a very competitive driver line up.

“We just want to take session by session, weekend by weekend, learning from the bad days and collecting the points on good day.”

Mercedes lead the constructors’ standings with 80 points, 41 clear of McLaren in second, with Red Bull in third, 12 points further back.

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'We got it wrong when it counted' – Sainz regrets loss of ‘easy P5’ in Styrian Grand Prix

Despite starting in the same P3 position as his team mate did seven days previously, Carlos Sainz was unable to replicate Lando Norris’ podium from last weekend in the Styrian Grand Prix, with the Spaniard winding up a frustrated ninth by the flag.

Sainz had shown strong pace in the early part of the race, passed by the faster cars of Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes and Alex Albon in the Red Bull, but able to comfortably head the ‘best of the rest’ pack in fifth.

But his race came undone thanks to a sticking left-rear wheel nut during his pit stop, the delay seeing him re-join in traffic, as he enjoyed a brief but fruitless fight with the Racing Point of Sergio Perez before eventually finishing ninth, as Norris once again grabbed the headlines with a late surge to fifth, ahead of Perez and his Racing Point team mate Lance Stroll.

And even a bonus point for fastest lap – thanks to a late second stop for softs – couldn’t lighten Sainz’s mood at the end of the Styrian Grand Prix. “I’m not interested in fastest lap, although I got it in the end,” said Sainz on Sunday evening.

“It shows that the pace in the car today was there. It was just unfortunate that we got it wrong when it counted… I guess we just didn’t have our day in terms of strategy, pit stops and everything.

“We exited after the pit stop in a lot of traffic; trying to overtake all that traffic and trying to overtake the Racing Points I destroyed my tyres. It was a very long race form there, and I could not really do much.”

McLaren had spoken ahead of the race of how difficult they expected it to be to fight with the Racing Points. But Sainz felt that, with his superior starting position – the best of his career – and with Stroll beginning the race in P12 and Perez in 17th, he should have claimed the fifth place that Norris eventually did.

“The Racing Points today, with a normal race we should have been able to stay ahead the whole race with a good pit stop and well-executed race,” said Sainz. “We just didn’t do it, so it meant they got ahead of us after the pit stops and then we couldn’t really fight them.

“It is what it is, I can’t really say much but it should have been an easy P5 today for me after controlling the midfield in the first stint.”

Sainz’s performances from the first two races of the season (he finished fifth at last week’s Austrian Grand Prix) mean he sits seventh in the drivers’ standings on 13 points, with Norris riding high in third on 26.

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Hamilton Wins, A Frantic Last Lap And The Best Team Radio | 2020 Styrian Grand Prix

 

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Fernando Alonso On His F1 Return

 

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How one key Red Bull-Honda deficit blunted Verstappen’s challenge to Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton’s Styrian Grand Prix victory was based around his resounding wet weather pole position and his dominant pace advantage on race day. It was one of those rare victories that didn’t really need the pre-race strategy to be adjusted for the actual circumstances of the race.

He pitted a little earlier than planned because he was about to begin lapping traffic which would have delayed him and allowed the vaguely in touch Max Verstappen behind to reduce the gap. But such was his margin, that was a luxury comfortably afforded.

This was purely about a pace advantage, Hamilton acknowledging that he was taking only as much from his tyres as was necessary. It could have been a more dominant victory even than the half-minute winning margin over Verstappen’s third-place Red Bull suggested.

Furthermore, Mercedes used their greater pace to allow Valtteri Bottas to apply undercut pressure on the Red Bull, forcing it to stop earlier than ideal, with Bottas then running 10 laps longer so as to have a big tyre advantage over the Red Bull in the second stint. He would use this grip advantage to pass the by-then struggling Verstappen, further handicapped by front wing and barge board damage inflicted over the Turn 7 kerbing.

How was this Mercedes advantage derived? It was partly circuit-specific. The Red Bull Ring is very demanding of the ERS system over its short lap. There are three flat-out sections and not many corners in which to capture braking energy. So it is one of the few tracks on the calendar (along with Baku and Spa) where the ERS cannot deploy on demand for the full lap. At some point it will begin clipping its deployment and the car will be denied the extra 160bhp boost.

But the Honda system is less efficient than that of Mercedes. So the Merc will keep accelerating even as the Red Bull hits that brick wall as the power is clipped. As they crossed the start/finish line, the Merc was hitting 180mph, the Red Bull not far behind at 178mph.

But between there and the speed trap further up the road, the Honda’s deployment would cut – and the Merc passed the timing beam there at 198mph, the Red Bull just 191. This ERS difference will not be a factor at most of the other circuits we visit.

But that one issue had further ramifications here. The high-rake Red Bull, which derives a particularly high proportion of its downforce from the underbody, habitually runs less wing than the low-rake Mercedes. That was so again here, but by a greater degree than usual as Red Bull tried to mitigate against the effects of that ERS shortfall.

Running less downforce, the Red Bull’s tyre degradation was greater – and this (together with Verstappen’s aero damage) played its part in how easily Bottas was able to catch him even after being delayed by backmarkers.

Mercedes’ engine advantage here was such that it could carry more wing and still be faster on the straights. The only place the Red Bull was slightly faster was through the low-speed Turns 3 and 4, though it was only slightly slower through the fast sweeps of the middle sector.

Red Bull might have been able to compete with the Merc had the weather been as hot as during Friday practice when the track temperature, at 53 degrees, was around 20 degrees C higher than it would be on race day. Then, the Merc was saturating the soft compound tyre and overheating it. Verstappen lapped quicker than either of the Mercs in Friday’s second practice session and was having no such problems.

But the weather gods, having had their fun with the rain of qualifying, didn’t do anything too extreme on Sunday, allowing the inherent advantage of the Mercedes, amplified by the circuit traits, to play out in the natural order.

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2020 Styrian Grand Prix: Race Highlights

 

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Mercedes had one day to make black livery call

Toto Wolff has revealed that Mercedes had just 24 hours to make a call on changing its Formula 1 livery for the 2020 season due to time constraints in readying the new scheme.

Mercedes ran a silver scheme since it returned to Formula 1 at the start of 2010, as per its corporate identity, and was set to use an evolution of that livery for the 2020 campaign.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas ran with the customary silver livery – along with turquoise for title sponsor Petronas and a shade of burgundy for new partner INEOS – during testing in February.

But ahead of the start of the delayed 2020 campaign Mercedes revealed a revised black livery for its W11 as part of its push to end racism and promote greater diversity and inclusivity.

“Lewis and I had a telephone conversation three weeks prior to the start of the season about the whole Black Lives Matter and End Racism movement and what we could do more than just an Instagram post,” said Wolff.

“And everybody in the team feels that you need to act rather than just talk and then in the conversation the idea of the black livery was born.

“I had to say to him that I was not sure if we could make it logistically because we needed to paint the whole car, and I needed to convince all the partners and [Mercedes parent company] Daimler to back us on that.

“Obviously you have contractual obligations and we had worked on the silver livery for many months and changing it overnight would have always been difficult, especially as we had 24 hours to react because the paint shop wouldn’t have made it for Spielberg.

“All our partners were great and [Daimler Chairman] Ola [Källenius] gave me a response within 12 hours, having checked back with marketing, so the whole team and all our partners just backed us.”

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Renault confirms Ocon exit a repeat issue

Renault described Esteban Ocon’s Styrian Grand Prix retirement as ‘painful’ after confirming that it was a repeat of the issue that halted Daniel Ricciardo’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Ocon finished eighth at Formula 1’s season-opener while Ricciardo was forced to retire due to a cooling issue in the R.S.20.

Renault thought it had remedied the problem between the grands prix but on Sunday endured a repeat, only this time it was Ocon with the cooling issue, while Ricciardo classified eighth.

“We had good emotions after qualifying with both cars reaching Q3 and Esteban who showed a very strong pace in extreme conditions,” said Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul.

“[After the race] the emotions were much more painful after another retirement for one of our cars caused by exactly the same issue as last weekend.

“We had put lots of effort to return, examine the parts in Enstone, and send it back to the track, but clearly there is something that we missed.

“This poor level of reliability is, obviously, not acceptable in a field that is so tight.

“The race also showed that we need a bit more pace against our direct competitors. Daniel had a good race and he did well to defend for so long.

“Overall, the prevailing feeling is one of disappointment, however, we should not deter from the fact we’ve improved massively at this track compared to previous years.

“The car has made huge steps forwards but so have the other teams.”

Renault holds sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship but those results remain subject to its protest of Racing Point’s brake ducts.

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Mercedes: Red Bull will fight back in Hungary

Mercedes says it is braced for a strong fightback from Red Bull Racing at this weekend’s Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, despite its own imperious start to the delayed 2020 campaign.

Mercedes won both grands prix held at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and also took the respective pole positions, comfortably ahead of the pack, led by Red Bull.

Red Bull suffered a double retirement at the Austrian Grand Prix but recovered to finish 3-4 at the second round, with Max Verstappen in front of team-mate Alexander Albon.

The Hungaroring was the scene of Verstappen’s maiden pole position, and the first for the Red Bull-Honda partnership, in 2019 while in race trim Mercedes switched Lewis Hamilton to a two-stop strategy as he overhauled the Dutchman in the closing laps.

“I’m 100 per cent convinced they will come very strong in Hungary,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “It’s a track they have shown historically great performance.

“We have improved there too in the last few years but it’s always a difficult weekend. Hot temperatures are still a bit of an Achilles Heel for us, and as far as I have seen on our weather forecast, it could be up to 30C on Sunday. We need to prepare well, put all the focus on Budapest and hopefully do the best out of it.

“Where we lost to Red Bull [in Austria] was the slow speed, particularly Turn 3 and Turn 4, seem to be our vulnerabilities.

“Everywhere else on the straights and in the fast corners, we are quicker. So we just need to continue to develop and push and understand the car. Budapest is a properly different ballgame, lots of downforce, lots of slow and medium speed corners, so we’ll see how it works there.”

Hamilton has won at the Hungaroring on seven occasions and claimed six pole positions but he remains wary of the threat posted by Red Bull.

“We’re not rock-solid just yet, there’s areas for example [in Austria], at Turn 3 the Red Bull kept killing us through there, Turn 4, so there were areas we can improve on,” said Hamilton.

“I think they were better with their strategy last week, we were solid this weekend, they are a fantastic team and they do a really great job. I don’t know where they are weaker than us, whether it is engine power or downforce, but I see them as our main competitors through the year.”

Red Bull has only won the Hungarian Grand Prix twice, in 2010 and at the rain-hit 2014 affair, and it remains hopeful but cautious heading into round three.

“I hope that we’ll be more competitive in Hungary, it’s a different type of venue,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

“Mercedes are very strong and just the distance that the three guys were ahead of the rest [in Austria] was enormous. Max did well to keep up as well as he did.”

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Racing Point warns rivals its car can be even stronger

Racing Point thinks there is even more potential to unlock from its Formula 1 car, despite rivals already being wary about the pace of it so far this season.
Sergio Perez's charge through the field at the Styrian Grand Prix from 17th on the grid to fight for fourth left Red Bull team boss Christian Horner suggesting all teams should be 'worried' about his competitor's form.

But, with the outfit's first two weekends of the season having been impacted by poor qualifying performances, Racing Point believes that it has not shown its full speed yet.

Team principal Otmar Szafnauer thinks that increased understanding of its 2020 car, allied to when F1 visits high speed tracks, could be key to it fighting even further forwards in the future.

"There might be some circuits that suit us a little bit better than this one did, and we will be closer," said Szafnauer.

"But how much? I don't know. It's really hard to tell. I'm just happy that the race pace is good. But there is still some learning to do and we still haven't optimised the race weekend."

With the team having adopted the Mercedes design concept for this year it has had to learn from scratch about how best to setup the car.

And that is why Szafnauer has faith that his team has not unlocked the best from its RP20 yet.

"It does take time," he said. "You've got to do experiments and I remember years back when I was at Honda, there came a point in time in the latter half of the season, where suddenly you turned your focus on the following year and you were bringing no updates to the car.

"Eventually, with four, five or six races in a row with no updates, you learn more and you still went quicker, so that even happens in a mature car when you're not changing.

"With us, you know, there's still a lot more to learn and do. It's just, you do it through experience and experiments. The more Fridays we get in, the more we'll learn about the setup."

Szafnauer says the team especially learned a lot on Saturday, when its first wet outing with the car resulted in it not getting its tyres up to the right temperature window – with Perez being dumped out in Q1.

"If you don't get the wet tyres working because they're not in the window, you're going to struggle," he said.

"It's what happened to us for a variety of reasons and we know what those reasons are. Were we to go into a wet qualifying tomorrow with the knowledge that we gained on Saturday it will be a different story."

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Vettel considering Aston Martin F1 offer for 2021

Sebastian Vettel is understood to be in discussions over a deal to join the Aston Martin Formula 1 team in 2021, sources have indicated.
The four-time F1 world champion is believed to have been offered a contract by team owner Lawrence Stroll, who is keen to build the strongest possible package for the rebranding of the current Racing Point team next season. Germany’s Bild newspaper, which is usually well-informed on Vettel’s plans, has indicated that a deal could be agreed soon.

The Silverstone-based team already has a multi-year contract with Sergio Perez, who also brings sponsorship, while the seat of Lawrence Stroll’s son Lance is clearly secure for the long term.

Since Vettel came onto the market after being dropped by Ferrari from the end of this season, Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer has continually denied that the team will have a place for him.

When asked by Motorsport.com on Friday in Austria about the contract situation, Szafnauer said: “It is flattering that everyone thinks a four-time world champion should come to our team, but maybe that's because the car is a bit quicker now. You’re absolutely right, we have long contracts with both our drivers, so it would only be logical that we don’t have space.”

Perez was thought to have been well set at Racing Point because it was his legal action that triggered the administration process that saw Stroll take over the team then-named Force India. Stroll also has a relationship with the Mexican’s manager Julian Jakobi that dates back over two decades.

However, sources have indicated that Perez’s contract may have an exit clause that allows the team to make a change early. Intriguingly, Red Bull boss Christian Horner hinted at such a possibility when asked about Vettel’s future last weekend.

“I guess he’s got a couple of choices available to him – I assume either Racing Point, or a year out and re-evaluate the options in a year’s time,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“I don’t think Lance is going to get fired! Of course, drivers’ contracts between the teams, you never know what’s within them, it’s only the Contract Recognition Board that has full sight of them.

“I’m sure that perhaps they have options, or break points, or whatever. But that’s really none of our business.”

Stroll may have decided that in the bigger picture of rebranding the team as Aston Martin, and rebuilding the struggling sportscar manufacturer, the opportunity to take Vettel is too good to pass up. Vettel would also be very acceptable to Mercedes, supplier of power units and gearboxes to the team.

The DNAs of the two companies are combined somewhat, with Toto Wolff recently acquiring shares in Aston Martin, and former AMG man Tobias Moers coming in as its new boss.

Another intriguing aspect is that, should he moved to Aston, Vettel would be within the Mercedes camp and thus potentially available to switch to the Brackley team if a seat became available in future.

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Bottas: Verstappen pass easier than I expected

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas says that passing Max Verstappen for second place in the Styrian GP ultimately proved to be easier than expected.
From fourth on the grid, Bottas spent the latter part of the race chasing down Verstappen and, having stopped 10 laps later, his tyres were in better shape.

Although he couldn't make his first attempt to pass stick, Bottas successfully got by the Red Bull driver on lap 67 to claim runner-up spot.

Bottas admitted that he had anticipated that Verstappen would be harder to pass, but the tyre advantage worked in his favour.

"He's always gonna make it hard, there's no doubt about that," said Bottas. "I did enjoy it the first time around. I thought I had it.

"But yeah, he definitely tried to do everything he could to stay ahead. So he was on outside in Turn 3, which I kind of didn't expect. So that's why, second time around, I tried to make sure that it doesn't happen again. It was good.

"We were going through Turn 5 and 6 side by side. But I realised in Turn 6 by the first time around, there's not going to be a space anymore for two cars. So I decided to back off and try again. But yes, as you said, I did have momentum, I had tyre advantage.

"So in the end It was actually easier than what I thought it could be, if I would think about that situation 10 to 15 laps earlier. I thought it was gonna be close and tricky, but in the end I think his tyres fell off."

Bottas conceded that his extended opening stint on soft tyres put him in a strong position with younger mediums for the second half of the race. However, he conceded that he lost some of his momentum lapping backmarkers.

"I was not too worried about the tyres because we did a pretty long stint with the soft, the soft was holding on well, so I had really no big doubts about the medium.

"But of course didn't want to go crazy with the back markers. I think I was a bit unlucky as well that there was some guys racing properly in front of me sometimes, more than one lap. And it really cost me quite a few seconds.

"So it was not as smooth as I wanted in terms of how to clear them. But then I saw and felt immediately once I got into clean air that everything is still pretty good. Tyre temperatures feel fine and I felt the pace.

"Pace was there. It was about calculating how much I want to push, do I want to catch him very quick, or do I want to catch him progressively and try to be fast at the end of my stint? I think that worked pretty well in the end."

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Hungarian GP: Hamilton cruises to eighth Hungaroring win

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton crushed the opposition in the Hungarian Grand Prix to take his eighth victory at the Hungaroring.
The Mercedes driver dominated the race from pole position and was never under threat, finishing well clear of second-placed Max Verstappen.

Verstappen made a two-stop strategy work after the early running on a wet track, which followed the Dutchman crashing on his way to the grid and need urgent repair work in the minutes before the lights went out.

At the start, Bottas appeared to move before the lights went out and he and Sergio Perez were then slow away from second and fourth, while Hamilton and Stroll leapt clear, with the fast-starting Verstappen and Ferrari drivers charging up the order.

Hamilton pulled away from Stroll through the opening corners while Verstappen sealed third going into Turn 2 after Vettel slid on the exit of the first turn, losing momentum.

At the front, Hamilton raced to a 3.1s lead at the end of the opening tour, with the frontrunners starting to shed their intermediates for slicks at the end of lap two of 71, led by Leclerc and Bottas, who took the softs and mediums respectively.

Hamilton and Stroll came in for their own mediums at the end of the following tour, with Hamilton rejoining in the net lead, while Verstappen stayed out for one more lap and used his time in the lead to jump past Stroll when he took his own mediums at the end of lap four.

While Hamilton quickly retook the lead ahead of Verstappen, Stroll found himself running behind both Haas cars after Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean pitted at the end of the formation lap to take mediums.

By lap six and the end of the early pitstop chaos, Hamilton led Verstappen by 7.8s, which he set about extending with a series of fastest laps.

Stroll dispatched Grosjean with a bold move aided by DRS into Turn 1 and the set about catching and passing Magnussen, which he did after a brief pause to take third at the same spot at the start of lap 16.

As the drivers were regularly told of the threat of more rain, Hamilton continued to extend his lead over Verstappen – while Stroll did not immediately close up on the Red Bull, instead coming under increasing pressure from Bottas.

The second Mercedes driver had followed Stroll through the field after a brief off-track excursion at Turn 2 when he slide wide while fighting Leclerc, who quickly began to struggle for grip on his softs.

As the promised rain failed to appear, Bottas pitted first of the leaders for a second time on lap 33 and used the clear air to clear Stroll, who came in two laps later and rejoined well adrift of the Mercedes in fourth.

Verstappen and Hamilton came in on lap 36 and 37 respectively, going for the hard and medium tyres in turn, and while they stayed in the same order, Verstappen was immediately in danger from Bottas's rapid pace on fresh mediums.

While Hamilton was busy extending his lead up above 20 seconds, Bottas homed in on Verstappen with his softer rubber with a series of fastest laps.

By lap 45 he was within striking distance, but after falling back in traffic Mercedes opted to bring Bottas in for a third time and switch him to the hards, with a 22-second gap to close to take second.

Although the Finn tore chunks from Verstappen's lead in the early stages of his final stint, he did not close in as quickly as might have been expected despite his tyre advantage.

After they had dodged their way through traffic it all came down to the final lap, but although Bottas was finally within DRS range he was not close enough into Turn 1 and could not find away by, coming up 0.7s short.

At the front, after some confusion with his engineer about a late stop and which tyre to take, Hamilton swapped his massive lead over Verstappen to come in a take fresh softs at the end, which he used to break the fastest lap twice – for the second time on the final tour.

He won by 8.7s at the flag to take his eighth win at the Hungaroring. 

With his win, Hamilton becomes the second driver to triumph in the same grand prix eight times alongside Michael Schumacher, who also took eight victories in the French GP.

Behind the top three, Stroll finished 57.5s behind Hamilton.

Alex Albon went from 13th on the grid to take fifth ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who, shortly after teammate Charles Leclerc made an early second stop despite the possibility of rain.

It looked like it had worked a treat for Vettel, but running deep into Turn 2 late on cost him against the Red Bull.

Perez recovered to seventh at the finish ahead of the long-middle-stint running Daniel Ricciardo.

Magnussen scored a magnificent ninth to take Haas's first points of 2020 after sliding down the order as the quicker cars eased by across the race.

But the Dane nevertheless held on to take ninth ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr, who survived contact in the pitlane with Williams's Nicholas Latifi (who finished 19th and last after two spins, one with a puncture immediately after the clash with the McLaren, for which he was given a five-second time penalty).

Sainz prevailed in a tight late scrap with Leclerc to take the final point.

Latifi ended up as the final runner, with Pierre Gasly the only non-finisher as he retired after 25 laps with smoke pouring from his AlphaTauri in the pitlane.

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Verstappen: "Second like a victory" after pre-race crash

Max Verstappen felt second place in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix was “like a victory” after fearing he would miss the Formula 1 race following a crash on his way to the grid.
Verstappen crashed his car in damp conditions on the reconnaissance lap ahead of the race, causing damage to the front-end of the Red Bull RB16.

The Red Bull mechanics were forced to hurriedly fix Verstappen’s car in the build-up to lights out, but managed to complete the repairs to the front wing, nose and suspension with seconds to spare before the five-minute warning cut-off.

Verstappen led after four laps before pitting for dry tyres, and spent the remainder of the race running second behind Lewis Hamilton, fending off a late challenge from Valtteri Bottas.

“It was not how I wanted it in the beginning of course, ending up in the barriers on the laps to the grid,” Verstappen said.

“But the mechanics did amazing job to fix the car. I don't know how they did it, but incredible. To pay them back with the second place, I was very pleased with that.

“The first half was very crucial and from there on, I think we had the right calls, and we had good pace. We just kept doing our own thing and of course to be able to split the two Mercedes cars is good for us.”

Verstappen had feared his suspension was damaged in the immediate aftermath of the crash, but said it felt “good” and “like new” once the fixes were completed.

Verstappen added: “I thought I was not going to race, so to be second is like a victory today.”

A late pit stop from Bottas with 20 laps to go saw him close up on Verstappen at a rate of almost two seconds per lap at points, only for the Finn to fall 0.750 seconds shy of P2 at the flag.

“I was just trying to do my own pace, and of course I could see he was catching at like a second lap,” Verstappen said.

“Following here is quite tricky, so as soon as he was within 1.5 seconds, it was a bit more difficult for him.

“On the last lap we had also traffic in front, which didn't make it easier for me on all those old tyres. But we managed to hang on and I am very happy with second.”

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Bottas explains Hungarian GP start incident

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas says he reacted to a light on his car's dashboard in his failed start in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Bottas edged forward slightly at the start before bogging down, leading rival Sebastian Vettel to tell his Ferrari team that the Finn had jumped the lights.

However, he did not receive a penalty as he did not trigger the FIA detection system.

After dropping to an initial sixth place he recovered to second place behind Lewis Hamilton.

He was pushing Max Verstappen for second place when the team decided to pit him for fresh tyres with just over 20 laps to go in an attempt to find him extra pace.

He just failed to oust the Dutchman, crossing the line immediately behind him.

"It was a pretty bad race for me, to be honest," said Bottas. "Starting second obviously, you aim to win the race. I lost it at the start.

"I reacted to a light on my dash that went off, I don't know what it was, but something changed on my dash, so I reacted to that instead of the start lights, so I got anti-stall, so then I had to do the start again.

"I lost it there. No problem but obviously I lost many places, and made the race difficult for me. Fighting to the end, it was pretty close with Max, but still good points.

Bottas said the extra stop was worth doing.

"I think it was worth the gamble yes, I think it really gave me that difference in the tyre life. It didn't quite pay off today.

"I look forward to Silverstone, but plenty again to learn from this weekend."

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Mercedes explains Hamilton pitstop "confusion"

Toto Wolff says Mercedes can learn from the "confusion" in planning a late pitstop for Lewis Hamilton en route to victory in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Hamilton dominated proceedings at the Hungaroring to score his eighth win at the circuit, enjoying an advantage of more than 20 seconds over Max Verstappen entering the closing stages of the race.

Mercedes told Hamilton with 10 laps to go it was planning a third and final pitstop thanks to his buffer to Verstappen that would allow him to retain the lead.

An initial plan to stop for hard compound tyres was scrapped before a switch to softs was also called off, with Hamilton being told to "standby" for a decision by race engineer Pete Bonnington.

Hamilton ultimately pitted at the end of Lap 66 to take a fresh set of soft tyres, allowing him to set the fastest lap of the race and score the additional bonus point.

Asked by Motorsport.com about the indecision on the pit wall, Wolff explained the team had changed plan about taking a late stop since the morning.

"Our communication was not great around that," Wolff conceded. "In the morning we agreed that we wouldn't pit for a quickest lap, that it was bearing too much risk.

"The call to pit around Lap 60 to protect against the safety car certainly would have been the right call, but then the gap was never quite comfortable enough. It was a second or two, then 2.5, then we hit backmarker traffic.

"Then obviously we communicated with Lewis, so at the end it was a bit of confusion, and four laps to the end he pitted to score the fastest lap.

"I think there's a lot to learn from the intercom conversation that we had in the garage, and the communication to the driver. [It was] certainly not 1A, but at the end the result counts."

Hamilton was grateful for the opportunity to try and claim the fastest lap bonus point, saying he had earned the chance to go for it by building such a gap.

"We have to weigh up the risks. I didn't push so much that I was going to make a mistake and go off, so it was a fully controlled lap," Hamilton said.

"I've lost a world championship in the past by one point, so I know how crucial it is to maximise on every moment.

"We're in a year where we don't know what reliability is going to be like, we don't know how long the season is going to be.

"Valtteri [Bottas] had a great first race. At the time he had the fastest lap, I had the gap, and felt that it was necessary to get that point, particularly as I felt like I'd earned the gap that I had.

"Things like the extra pit stop, coming in, all these things do add to the risk factors. But we're a professional team.

"I believe it was the right decision to make."

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Magnussen, Grosjean penalised for formation lap infraction

Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen have both been hit with a 10-second time penalty for instructions received on the formation lap ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Haas called both Grosjean and Magnussen into the pits at the end of the formation lap to make the switch to slick tyres after initially planning to start on intermediates and wets respectively.

The strategy call lifted the Haas drivers as high as third and fourth once the rest of the field had made the switch to slicks, laying the foundations for Magnussen's run to ninth place.

But the team's first points haul of the season was thrown into doubt after the race when the stewards announced they were investigating both drivers over a rule breach on driver aids.

The investigation centred on Article 27.1 of the sporting regulations, which states that the "driver must drive the car alone and unaided", and limits the radio instructions drivers can receive.

After meeting with Haas representatives, the stewards deemed the team had been in breach of the regulations surrounding driver aids.

"Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that the team instructed the driver to pit," the FIA bulletin reads.

"The team could not prove that one of the exemptions made under paragraph A. 2. a) to g) of the Technical Directive 011-17 was applicable.

"Therefore, the Stewards consider there is breach of Art. 27.1 of the Sporting Regulations, that the driver must drive the car alone and unaided."

The 10-second penalty drops Magnussen from ninth to 10th in the final classification, handing one position to McLaren's Carlos Sainz.

Grosjean falls from 15th to 16th as a result of the penalty, dropping behind Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen.

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Renault protests Racing Point again in Hungary

Renault has once more lodged a protest against the Racing Point team following the Hungarian Grand Prix, citing a breach of Formula 1's sporting regulations over listed parts.
Having already protested Racing Point's brake duct design following last weekend's Styrian Grand Prix in Austria, Renault has done so once more despite already having been told its case was admissible last weekend.

The original outcome of the protest is expected to be heard during the break between the Hungarian Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

The official documents make mention, once more, of Articles 2.1, 3.2, and three sub-sections of Appendix 6 in F1's sporting regulations, protesting the results of both drivers.

Both Racing Point drivers scored points once more this weekend, with Lance Stroll taking a season-best fourth place while Sergio Perez battled to seventh after a poor start.

The team is now fourth in the constructors' championship, level on 40 points with McLaren, and 28 points clear of Renault.

The stated articles relate to "listed" parts, otherwise defined as parts that teams must design and build themselves, and is specifically levelled at Racing Point's brake ducts upon its RP20 car.

Renault believes that Racing Point has used brake ducts not of its own design, and says that any internal similarities between the Silverstone team's design and those on the Mercedes suggest a transfer of information.

Brake ducts are a new addition to the listed parts category, having been added at the end of 2019 for the new season.

Racing Point had already contended that Renault's protest was "ill-informed" following last week's protest.

A Renault statement read: "We confirm that Renault DP World F1 Team has submitted a request to the Stewards of the Event for clarification on the legality of the Racing Point RP20.

"We have no further comment on this matter until the Stewards have arrived at a decision."

Racing Point has been adamant that its car, noted for its similarity to last year's Mercedes, had been built with the FIA's blessing, although it later emerged that the FIA had not inspected the brake duct design.

The FIA released a statement explaining that, as Renault's protest was levelled at the Racing Point's brake ducts as last time, parts used in the Hungarian Grand Prix will not be impounded for further investigation.

Having initially impounded Racing Point's brake ducts during the last protest, and retaining a sample of the front and rear ducts, the FIA explained that the team had used the same parts in the previous two races.

The Racing Point parts protested against by Renault following the Hungary race will therefore remain in Racing Point's possession ahead of the official protest hearing.

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Perez: It’s ‘obvious’ who would leave to make room for Vettel

Sergio Perez has said it is “obvious” who would have to leave Racing Point if the team opts to sign Sebastian Vettel for the 2021 Formula 1 season.

Four-time World Champion Vettel has been left without a seat after Ferrari dumped him without offering a new deal.

Several other doors have closed including at McLaren and Renault, whilst Red Bull insists it is happy with Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon, which is the same story at Mercedes, though it has yet to agree new deals with both Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

That’s left Vettel with very few options, but as Racing Point will become a full works team next year under the Aston Martin banner and is enjoying improved form at present, it could be an attractive opportunity.

Discussions are known to have taken place between the two parties, leading to questions over who would make way for Vettel, but Perez says it’s a question with an easy answer given his team-mate is the son of the team’s boss.

“I think it [who leaves] is obvious if someone has to go,” Perez told Movistar+ F1.

“I’m a dad, I wouldn’t kick my son out, but there’s not much I can say.

“There are many [rumours] around. From me, nothing. Everything remains the same. I have a contract with the team.”

Perez is hopeful of remaining but admitted his contract does contain a break clause: “In all contracts, there are always clauses,” added the Mexican.

“It is a bit related to sponsorship. That can open that clause. But we’re working hard with all our sponsors so that this does not happen.”

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Vettel: Mercedes lapping Ferrari is no surprise

Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari being lapped at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix was no surprise, as its difficult start to the 2020 continued.

Vettel qualified in fifth spot at the Hungaroring and came home sixth, having relinquished a position to Red Bull’s Alexander Albon late on, though held off Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Vettel was lapped by Hamilton after 58 laps of the 70-lap grand prix and, after the leader made a late pit stop, was issued with the blue flags once again with two laps left.

When asked whether being lapped was a surprise Vettel replied: “No. You are surprised? I mean it was already clear that he will lap us before the race so it was not a surprise.

[The pace] was back to normal, obviously Austria 1 was the outlier, Austria 2 didn’t happen, I think probably this was where we could finish, fifth or sixth, but probably not further up.”

Vettel’s result brought Ferrari’s points tally up to 27 but team-mate Charles Leclerc did not add to the score after finishing only 11th.

Leclerc’s race was compromised by Ferrari fitting Softs to his car early on and he tumbled down the order, briefly recovering to the top 10, before slipping behind future team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.

Leclerc suggested he lost performance in his SF1000 compared to earlier stages of the weekend – mirroring comments made by Vettel in Austria.

“It is disappointing but at the end we just need to work now,” he said.

“To be honest I think there was something wrong. It just doesn’t match with the car I had in qualifying and on Friday and we haven’t changed much, the car was extremely hard to drive on my side.

“I always try to motivate myself and I don’t think we are so far off the Racing Point, so we need to work and try and do the best we can with what we have for now.”

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Andretti: “Militant” Hamilton creating “problem that doesn’t exist”

Racing icon Mario Andretti says he dislikes politics getting mixed up with sports and questions the need for Lewis Hamilton to use Formula 1 as a protest platform when he’s “always been accepted.”
The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on May 25 was recorded and transmitted around the world, and coming just eight weeks after Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in Louisville, KY, outraged citizens in every continent took to the streets in protest, many behind the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Six-time and reigning F1 champion Hamilton, the only Black driver in top-line open-wheel racing, and Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, NASCAR’s only Black driver, have become prominent in their backing of the movement and have found support not only from the governing bodies of their respective series, but also many of their peers and fans.

However, what appeared to be a noose hanging in Wallace’s garage at Talladega in June was investigated by the FBI and discovered to be a garage door-pull, while Hamilton’s urging his rivals to take a knee – emulating NFL star Colin Kaepernick’s protest in 2016 – before the start of Formula 1 races is still causing some controversy.

Speaking to Chilean newspaper El Mercurio last week, Andretti said: “I wish politics didn't get mixed up with sport. There's a time and a place to express your opinions. What happened in NASCAR with Bubba Wallace became bigger than it should be.

“What seemed to be a terrible situation was finally not. It was disproportionate and without reason. That happens when you think about politics before anything else.”

Asked about Hamilton’s efforts to bring attention to the issue, which have included public calls for the FIA to increase racial diversity within the sport, Andretti replied: "It's the same thing. I have a lot of respect for Lewis, but why become a militant? He's always been accepted and he's earned everyone's respect.

“I think the whole point of this is pretentious. I feel that way. And it's creating a problem that doesn't exist.

“Painting the car black [as Mercedes-Benz AMG F1 has done this year, ditching its traditional ‘Silver Arrows’ livery]… I don't know what good it will do.

“I've met drivers from different backgrounds, races, and I've always welcomed them with open arms. In motor racing it doesn't matter what color you are; you have to earn your place with results, and that's the same for everyone.”

On the matter of the dearth of black drivers in racing, Andretti said: “Yes, they are a minority, but it's not that they're not welcome.

“I don't know how to explain it, but there have already been black drivers in Indy, NASCAR and they have always been welcome, I'm even friends with some of them to this day.

“I don't know what's wrong. Yes, maybe there is little diversity, but it's not because they are discriminated against. That's the point.”

Hamilton responded to Andretti's comments via social media.

“This is disappointing but unfortunately a reality that some of the older generation who still have a voice today cannot get out of their own way and acknowledge there is a problem. Again, this is plain ignorance but that will not stop me from continuing to push for change. It is never too late to learn and I hope that this man who I’ve always had respect for can take the time to educate himself.”

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Ocon: Renault’s F1 season “not over yet”, updates awaited

Esteban Ocon says the prospect of a strong 2020 Formula 1 season for Renault “is not over” after a “weekend to forget" in Hungary, with a package of upgrades expected to improve the car’s form at Silverstone.
Ocon qualified and finished in 14th place in Hungary, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo took eighth – matching the result achieved by Renault in the two Austrian races, when the Enstone-based team suffered two retirements with radiator leaks.

The Frenchman’s Saturday was compromised by an ambitious attempt to get out of Q2 on medium tyres, which meant that when the drivers switched to softs for their second runs, they lacked the feel for them that other drivers had.

“It was not a good weekend to start with,” said Ocon. “I think overall we didn’t gain anything from the conditions and we didn’t treat the [qualifying] session right in the end with the strategy or anything, so we have to review how we could have done better.

"And clearly, we just made it difficult. So it’s a weekend to forget clearly on our side.

“And hopefully we are going to work on that to come back stronger. That’s clear. The first pit stop, stacking early on in that race made me lose ground, made me lose precious seconds, and from there on, because the pace is so close between the cars it’s just difficult to come back.”

Ocon admitted that the RS.20 generally lacks consistency, but believes the car is capable of performing better than the results may suggest.

“I would say we have a little bit of work to do on that, on the consistency of it. Run by run we seem to struggle sometimes with just putting in the lap, and just how the performance is with set up. So, yes, this is also an area we have to work on.

“I mean, it's not because we didn't qualify well that the car is not capable of performing.

"I think if we did exploit everything from the car and did give it hundred percent I think there was a chance of going into Q3 definitely, that's my opinion, and there is going to be some stuff coming in the next races as well.

“So the development race is still on. It's still early days – it’s late days but it's still early days in the season – so I think definitely there's still more stuff that we can do, and it's far from over.”

Asked about the upgrade package he added: “I just hope it's going to bring overall performance. I don't know exactly what's coming.

"I haven't been so much aware of the stuff coming, but I know it should bring some more performance on tracks like the ones that are coming, where it is going to be very important to have those bits.

“We have a clear area that we need to work on. I'm not going to go into details on it, but we know where to improve the car. Hopefully it's going to help those problems with those issues that we have. We’ll see.”

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Wolff: Pitting Bottas only chance to pass Verstappen

Toto Wolff has explained Mercedes’ decision to pit Valtteri Bottas late on in the Hungarian Grand Prix, saying it was the only way he could have snatched second place from Max Verstappen.
After dropping to sixth on the opening lap following a near-jump start, Bottas managed to fight his way back up to third nearing the final 20 laps of the race.

Bottas put pressure on Red Bull driver Verstappen in second after closing up a seven-second gap, only to be called into the pits for a third stop at the end of Lap 49.

The decision to pit Bottas dropped him more than 20 seconds back from Verstappen, and while he was able to close the gap with a fresh set of tyres, he fell 0.750 seconds short of the Red Bull at the line.

Mercedes team principal Wolff explained after the race that Bottas was struggling with graining on his tyres in the second stint as a result of his pursuit of Verstappen, meaning the only chance to pass the Red Bull came by changing strategy.

“No, it would have been wrong [to keep him out] because Valtteri’s tyre started to grain on the left-front quite heavily because he was pushing so hard,” Wolff explained.

“We think he would have run out of tyre anyway, and putting him onto a new hard, [in] a similar way like last year with Lewis [Hamilton], was actually the only chance of trying to snatch P2.

“At the end it wasn’t sufficient. There was quite a lot of traffic in-between that we didn’t clear fast enough, and I think it was a recovery drive.”

Bottas was initially able to gain close to two seconds per lap on Verstappen after pitting, only for his pace to drop off as he struggled in traffic.

The Finn said he initially thought it was the right decision to pit and enjoy the huge tyre delta that allowed teammate Hamilton to beat Verstappen to victory in Hungary last year.

“At that time it felt like a good thing to do because the tyre difference between me and Max was quite minimal,” Bottas said.

“If I would not stop, everyone knows how difficult it is to overtake on this track, so I was quite happy at that point to stop, because I knew there was a bigger tyre difference at the end and it nearly worked.

“Obviously there were quite a few backmarkers I had to go through. lost a bit of time during that and in the end it was a matter of one extra lap or two laps.

“You can see the big picture. It was obvious in the end I was quite a bit quicker, obviously thanks also to fresher tyres, but that was not quite enough.”

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Brawn: Racing Point F1 protest "tricky problem" to resolve

Formula 1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn believes the current protest against Racing Point will be a “tricky problem” for the FIA to resolve.
Racing Point is currently facing scrutiny over the legality over its RP20 car following protests by Renault at each of the last two races.

Racing Point has openly admitted it based the design of its car on the 2019 Mercedes W10 by using photographs, but stresses it remains within the regulations.

Writing in his post-race column, Brawn explained how copying other teams was “standard” in F1, having previously done so himself in his time as a team technical chief.

“My view is copying in Formula 1 is standard,” Brawn said.

“Every team has, in normal times, digital photographers in the pit lane out there taking thousands of photos of every car for analysis, with a view of copying the best ideas. We used to give our photographers a shopping list.

“Racing Point have just taken it to the next stage and done a more thorough job. There is not a single team in this paddock which has not copied something from another.

“I’d ask every Technical Director in the paddock to raise their hand if they haven’t copied someone else. You won’t see any hands. I have certainly copied others.”

Renault’s protest against Racing Point has focussed on the brake ducts used on the RP20 car, which it argues has copied the Mercedes design.

Racing Point was permitted to use the 2019 Mercedes brake ducts last year when they were a listed part, but then had to design its own version for this year after a change in the rules.

Team principal Otmar Szafnauer said over the weekend it was “impossible” for the brake ducts to be illegal, and that he has “no concerns whatsoever” over their legality.

Brawn said that it could be difficult for the Racing Point designers to dismiss any knowledge they had of the Mercedes part when making their own version.

“Last year, Racing Point had access to, and could use, 2019-spec Mercedes brake ducts because they were not a listed part. This year, brake ducts are listed parts, so you have to design your own,” Brawn explained.

“However, Racing Point cannot forget the knowledge they acquired using the 2019 Mercedes brake ducts.

“I think it is illogical to think they can wipe their memory banks. It is a tricky problem and one for the FIA experts to resolve.”

The FIA is set to rule on the matter ahead of next week’s British Grand Prix.

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Binotto: Ferrari will consider organisational changes

Ferrari is ready to consider organisational changes as part of efforts to turn around its disappointing start to the Formula 1 season.
The Italian outfit has fallen away from the pace-setting Mercedes team this year, and needs to make a step forward if it is to start regularly challenging for even podium finishes.

After a difficult Hungarian Grand Prix, team principal Mattia Binotto confessed that the start of the year had been worse than the team had feared after testing, and was clear that everything was on the table in terms of what needed to be done differently.

“I think we saw in Barcelona [testing] that we were not fast enough, but we were not expecting such a difficult situation,” said Binotto after the Hungarian Grand Prix. “So it is certainly worse compared to expectations.

“With three races in a row, there are a couple of weeks before Silverstone and it will be important at Maranello to consider all the aspects of the car and the organisation: whatever it is we need to improve.”

Motorsport.com reported last weekend that Ferrari’s senior management is open to the idea of infrastructure changes, perhaps with the addition of a senior figure such as a new technical director in a bid to help support Binotto better.

Binotto said that the priority for Ferrari was to understand where it had gone wrong with its SF1000. While an upgrade it introduced at the second Austria race had improved the car, it was still not enough.

“I think that the updates we brought in Austria improved the correlation between windtunnel and track,” added Binotto.

“At least we address those points. But the deficit in terms of performance is still there. We are lacking speed on the straights, and we are lacking speed in cornering. Overall the car has to be improved in all areas. It is as simple as that.”

Binotto admitted Ferrari’s hopes of making progress were hampered by the effective car freeze imposed for the next two years, but felt it too early to judge just how much that will hold it back.

“Certainly not having full freedom will make our job more difficult,” he said. “I think we can only understand how much we can close the gap when we have fully understood the reason why we are so slow.

“I think it is simply too early a stage to know. So, we first will focus on trying to understand the car and where we can progress very soon. And I will answer to your question later in the season.”

Pushed on how long he felt it would take for Ferrari to return to competitiveness, he said: “It will take a long time because it is not something that is addressed in a few weeks. So I think patience will be required.

“As I said before, when you need to improve all the areas, because we are lacking speed in all the areas, it is not something that a simple trick will address or simple solution or simple package. It will take time. How long? I do not have the answer yet.”