Max Verstappen won, Sunday 9 August 2020, the Grand Prize of the 70th anniversary of the F1 in front of Lewis Hamilton thanks to a better strategy of tyre management, putting an end to the domination exercised by Mercedes since the beginning of the season. If this is the first time in five races in 2020 that Mercedes will be beaten, Lewis Hamilton retains the lead of the world Championship with 30 points ahead. But his team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who finished 3rd on Sunday, was passed by Verstappen for the 2nd place in the provisional rankings.
“I didn’t see it coming,” said the pilot Dutch 22-year-old won his 9th victory in Formula 1. He finished with more than 11 seconds ahead of six-time world champion and has controlled the race through a better choice of tires, hers is less worn during the race than those of Mercedes. Proof of the best tactics followed by the stable austrian powered by Honda, the race engineer of Max Verstappen is mounted on the podium in its sides to receive the trophy for the constructor winner.
Lewis Hamilton, for its part, indicated that the degradation of its own tires had been surprised and that he knew not the cause. He had won the Grand Prix of Great Britain last week, played on the same track of Silverstone, on three wheels after a puncture in the last lap. Bottas also had a puncture, and these setbacks have no doubt prompted Mercedes to observe this Sunday, be a little more cautious. Lewis Hamilton, however, is congratulated Sunday the fact that the victory of Verstappen and Red Bull will bring more uncertainties in the championship. It aims this year to a 7th title which would make it the equal of the legendary German driver Michael Schumacher.
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Leclerc 4th
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) has won the 4th place, the Monegasque making only a single pit stop to change tires while the first three have done both. This has allowed him to compensate for the lack of competitiveness of current Ferrari, illustrated by a 12th-place finish of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who has not settled its affairs by performing a head-to-tail during the race. Contested under hot and pretty windy, the race was punctuated by pit stops. Bottas, who started in pole position, took the lead of the race in the early laps, but had to leave it to Verstappen, stopping before him to change the tires. Then, it is Hamilton who has tried to play the young Dutch victory, but without success because of the wear and tear of his most important gums.
Mercedes has opted from the outset for the tires to be more tender, which should in principle allow for a better grip, but might wear out more quickly. Red Bull has chosen her to do the race with tires that are more hard, in principle, less rapidly, but which, thanks to their greater resistance, have allowed Verstappen to turn faster than the Mercedes on the entire race. “We have managed our tyres from the very beginning” of the race, has stressed Valtteri Bottas, but this has not prevented them from blister. “At the beginning of the race, I was trying to keep in contact with Valtteri and then I tried to conserve my tires, but there was nothing to be done” to prevent blisters from forming and reduce their performance, for its part, has said Lewis Hamilton.
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a Sign of his relaxed, Verstappen has allowed in the last laps of the race joking around with his engineer reminding him to drink and wash hands. Like all those played previously, this 5th Grand Prix of the season was held behind closed doors due to the pandemic of sars coronavirus. The next planned race is the Spanish Grand Prix, which will take place in Barcelona next weekend, also without spectators.
