F1 | Mercedes aliens returned on planet F1 in Styria
A perfect drive from Lewis Hamilton and a good recovery for Valtteri Bottas marked the first 1-2 of the 2020 for the 'Silver Arrows'
Not a single shot has been offered of Lewis Hamilton during race: his increasing lead kept him so much ahead from what happened behind for the entire 71 laps around the old Osterreichring.
And the journey started back on last Sunday: Briton wasn't nearly satisfied about his P4 at the end of the first race; without coming back as other drivers did, Lewis stayed in the Alps managing to understand what could have been done for improving that result.
A happy smiley face was seen in front of Martin Brundle at the post race interview:
I have to say a big thank You to my team: this has been a weird year but it's great to be back up here, to be driving at this stunning performance. I tried to get the fastest lap of course, but it's okay: I'm so grateful to be back in first place. I love back-to-back races, I would back-to-back all year long
H A M 💫 @LewisHamilton has won a Grand Prix in all 14 seasons he’s raced in! pic.twitter.com/sUU24EGXgU
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) July 12, 2020
Teammate Bottas needed to find every chance possible starting from 4th slot in the grid: the Finn managed to overtake Carlos Sainz on lap 6 for the last spot on the podium. He then obtained the second place at the expenses of Max Verstappen when the Dutch pitted: Valtteri took the third position back when he switched to the Medium compound too. The charge to the Red Bull begun at 30 laps to go, with the Mercedes much faster than the homeland car. Verstappen tried to hold on but the inevitable overtake was made with 3 laps to the chequered flag:
Obviously Lewis started from the pole, he had a good start: he controlled the race and there wasn't much happening to my side. I'm still leading the championship so it's not to bad. It was a good battle with him (Verstappen): I had quite a bit more pace than him as we extended the first stint