The Styrian Grand Prix 2020 was the 2nd round of the 2020 F1 season, and took place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, on July 12th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Max Verstappen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 21 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 31-39: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 20.937 seconds during his pit stop on lap 24, while the slowest one was was Charles Leclerc's, who stopped the clock at 39.715 seconds, 18.778 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 1.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
5Charles Leclerc
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
3Kevin Magnussen
-
1Nicholas Latifi
-
5Lance Stroll
-
2Valtteri Bottas
-
5George Russell
-
2Alexander Albon
-
3Daniil Kvyat
-
13Romain Grosjean
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
-
11Sergio Pérez
-
5Antonio Giovinazzi
-
4Lando Norris
-
5Kimi Räikkönen
2 stops
-
1Max Verstappen
-
8Pierre Gasly
-
6Carlos Sainz
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.64 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 5 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Red Bull Ring, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Esteban Ocon, who suffered from an overall car overhating on lap 25, and Charles Leclerc, and Sebastian Vettel, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Overheating
-
Esteban OconLap 25
Collision damage
-
Charles LeclercLap 4
-
Sebastian VettelLap 1
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 1.216 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:19.273. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 14 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. However, the conditions of the track worsened from Q2 to Q3, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q2 times.