F1 Talk: Bottas gunning for two in a row as Red Bull looks for redemption

After the third longest break between Formula 1 Grand Prix, the 2020 Austrian GP delivered the fire-cracker race that every fan hoped and prayed for with great wheel-to-wheel action, drama and a big dose of controversy along the way.

But it was Valtteri Bottas who won his eighth Grand Prix, beating Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris to kick off the 2020 season.

Despite the result, the reality is that Mercedes have a big pace advantage over the rest of the field in qualifying at least, with Bottas over half a second clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at last week’s event.

This is a big opportunity for Bottas who after playing second fiddle to Lewis Hamilton throughout his time at the silver arrows, now has a 13-point lead over his world champion team-mate in what will be a shortened season.

With the Finn feeling and looking confident and never really looking under threat for Hamilton throughout the Grand Prix, you wouldn’t bet against Bottas making it two in a row this weekend.

As for the defending champion himself, it was a scrappy Saturday and Sunday. After dominating practice, he made a crucial error in Q3 when he did not lift through the yellow flags when Bottas went off circuit, thus demoting him to fifth on the grid.

And whatever you think of the Albon-Hamilton incident, it was avoidable for both parties and ultimately this is the second time that Hamilton has been blamed for a wheel-to-wheel crash between himself and Alex Albon.

This has also meant that the defending champion has seven penalty points and if he collects 12 within a season, he will receive an automatic race ban.

Having said that, now Hamilton has got his eye in, he will be even faster and even more focused this weekend and still probably favourite for race victory.

Red Bull will be ruing a race that should have been theirs’ for the taking; Verstappen started on the medium tires and was keeping Bottas relatively honest until he had a systems failure on lap 11.

As Mercedes were having to look after their cars with sensor issues, this race would have been his for the taking.

This was shown by the fact that with the way the race panned out, Albon was in contention for the victory after the final safety car. But contact between himself and Hamilton meant neither Red Bull saw the chequered flag.

With a new weekend around a track they have won at before, Red Bull will hope that Mercedes have not had time to fix their gearbox issues and that they can find themselves ahead once everything is said and done.

Behind the top two, the midfield will be as chaotic as ever with McLaren, Racing Point, Ferrari and even Renault covered by the smallest of margins.

After lapping nine tenths slower than last year, Ferrari have fallen into the midst of the F1 midfield and while Leclerc secured a podium after a champions drive, Ferrari know that 2020 will be their toughest in a long while.

The Scuderia have brought some of their upgrades originally intended for next weekend’s race at Budapest to Austria, but for Ferrari to clearly be the third fastest team will still be a long shot.

McLaren were the surprise package of the Austrian GP with their best team result since the 2014 Australian GP with Norris in third and Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz Jr finishing fifth.

Ahead of the weekend, all eyes were on whether Racing Point could beat Ferrari, but no one expected that McLaren would beat both Ferrari’s in qualifying and one prancing horse in the Grand Prix. If they can repeat that sort of pace, they could well improve on their fourth place in the constructors championship from last year.

Racing Point started the season well with a sixth place finish for Sergio Perez, showing that they have made a big step forward. The similarities to last year’s Mercedes are obvious and it is reaping big rewards for them, but with the pace McLaren showed last week, they know they have a fight on their hands this season.

After confirming that Fernando Alonso will drive for them in 2021, Renault had a promising start to 2020 but were not quite able to show their true potential.

In Q3, Daniel Ricciardo was compromised by yellow flags due to Bottas’s off and the Australian retired while battling Sebastian Vettel in the early part of the race.

His team-mate Esteban Ocon had a better event overall with four points and a strong drive from fourteenth on the grid, but he knows that there is much more in the car on Saturday that he hopes to extract this week.

Newly-re-branded outfit Alpha Tauri showed promise throughout the weekend and Pierre Gasly was rewarded for his efforts with six points courtesy of a seventh place finish, with Kvyat looking on course for points until a structural tire failure three laps from the flag. As shown by their qualifying, their pure pace is still a bit down on those ahead.

Alfa Romeo will be feeling chirpy to have collected points from the first event of the season with Antonio Giovinazzi finishing ninth, ahead of four-time world champion and Ferrari driver Vettel.

While Vettel’s poor performance is another story, Alfa will be pleased that they have started the year with points after both cars failed to get out of Q1. So while they know it will be another weekend ahead, the final result will give them cause for optimism.

Williams have started 2020 on a more positive note than they ended 2019 with the car looking quick enough to challenge for Q2 and with rookie racer Nicholas Latifi finishing his first race in eleventh. This is a solid enough start for a team that had a dreadful 2019 and are currently on the lookout for a new buyer to sustain their future in F1 beyond this season.

Haas had a weekend to forget with incidents and accidents galore and showing little promising pace throughout the weekend. Kevin Magnussen retired with brake failure on lap 24 while Romain Grosjean’s race ended on lap 49. If they get both cars to the chequered flag this weekend, it would be a marked improvement.

After the excitement of last weekend’s Austrian GP is beginning to settle down, the F1 circus is about to do it all over again at the Red Bull Ring for the re-titled Styrian GP.

With such a big opportunity to challenge for the world championship, can Bottas make it two in a row here in Austria and will Red Bull put in a performance to silence the critics at their home venue?