2020 Formula 1 World Championship Archives

F1 (Round 10): Preview & Starting Grid For 2020 Russian Grand Prix

Race starts at 2:10 pm in Russian/7:10 pm in Malaysia

Nine races in 11 weeks with three triple-headers – it’s been tough on the teams since the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship had its delayed start in July. Both the drivers and the people who support them are feeling the strain and saying so, and this sort of calendar will not be acceptable in 2021.

Anyway, after the initial 9 rounds in Austria, the UK, Spain, Belgium and Italy, the tenth round is much further east for the first season’s standalone event – the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Autodrom.

The 5.8-km circuit within a complex originally constructed for the 2014 Winter Olympics. In that year, the F1 Russian Grand Prix was held for the first time (although there had been Russian Grands Prix back in 1913 and 1914).

Street circuit character
Known as the Sochi Autodrom, it has the character of a street circuit. It is characterised by two long straights – the long, high-speed arc of Turn 3 and by a proliferation of 90-degree, medium-speed corners. The race distance of 309.745 kms is the longest of any race this season, the next longest being at Mugello (309.497 kms).

The engineers have data from 6 years of racing at the circuit, so they know that it is something of a ‘balancing act’. The long straights would suggest reducing downforce levels in pursuit of outright pace, that would compromise balance, grip and traction on exit in the slower speed corners.

Fuel consumption is said to be particularly high at the Sochi Autodrom because there are several long straights. The frequency of short, 90-degree corners means drivers apply full-throttle much earlier than at a track with many hairpins and chicanes. If it’s a clean and uninterrupted race, more fuel management is required through lift and coasting than at many other tracks, according to Toto Wolff, Team Principal of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Racing Team.

Gentle on tyres
The smooth tarmac at the Sochi Autodrom is very gentle on the tyres, with some drivers in the past pitting on the first lap one and making it to the chequered flag on the same set. So we won’t be seeing the tyre issues that have added drama to earlier rounds.

As Sochi has low tyre degradation, Pirelli has opted for the softer end of its tyre range for this round. The Italian tyremaker brings its C3 compound as the white-banded hard compound, the C4 as the yellow medium and the C5 as the red-banded soft tyre. It is the first time this season that the combination has been offered and a step softer than at last year’s Russian Grand Prix.

Championship positions
A sixth win in 9 races for Lewis Hamilton last time out at Mugello puts the British driver in a commanding 55-point lead for the Drivers’ Championship. In second place is his team-mate Valtteri Bottas with 135 points, while third-ranked Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen still has 110 points after the last round.

McLaren’s Lando Norris is fourth with 65 points, two ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Alex Albon, who at the Tuscan Grand Prix became this season’s ninth podium finisher.

In the Constructors’ Championship battle, a third 1-2 finish of the season two weeks ago in Mugello saw the Mercedes-AMG Team pull even further away at the top of the standings. The defending champions now have 325 points, 152 more than closest rivals Red Bull Racing. Behind the top two, the contest is still tight, however: McLaren, with 106 points, is 14 points ahead of BWT Racing Point, while Renault is just 9 points further back.

If Hamilton wins again at Sochi, he will be equal with Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91 F1 wins. Schumacher reached the total at his 246th race, while Hamilton is set to take part in his 260th F1 race tomorrow.

As the Russian Grand Prix is a relatively recent addition to the championship calendar, it’s not surprising that the Mercedes-AMG team has won at this circuit every year. Hamilton has been victorious on 4 occasions (2014, 2015, 2018 and last year), while Nico Rosberg won in 2016 and Valtteri Bottas in 2017. Should the team win again this year, it will establish a new record for most consecutive wins at the same Grand Prix.

F1 (Round 9): Results And Highlights Of 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix

♦ This was the first race of the season which had spectators watching from the stands. A maximum of 2,880 spectators (including Ferrari Club members who had a special allocation) were permitted into Mugello on each day of the event.

♦ Scuderia Ferrari, celebrating its 1,000^th F1 race, had its two racing cars in the original burgundy colour on the cars of its first race in 1950, and Mick Schumacher drove his father’s 2004 title-winning car on a special lap around Mugello (which is owned by Ferrari).

♦ 15 minutes before the start, Max Verstappen’s car developed a problem. His mechanics fixed it in time for him to start the race. A collision between Pierre Gasly and Kimi Raikkonen had the latter bumping into the Red Bull car and sending it into the gravel at the second turn. End of race for the Dutchman.

♦ Gasly, last Sunday’s winner, also went into the gravel and had to retire, bringing the Safety Car out for the mashalls to clear the debris and cars.

♦ As the Safety Car prepared to enter the pits, another three cars collided on the 7^th lap – Carlos Sainz, Antonio Giovinazzi, Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen. Track conditions were so bad with broken bits all over the pit straight that the red flags came out. That means the race comes to a stop and the cars must return to the pits and shut down, until allowed to restart.

♦ With the four drivers, plus Gasly and Verstappen, that saw six cars out of the race within the first six laps.

*A multi-car collision in the 6th lap saw red flags coming out, bringing the race to a stop and the car had to remain in the pits.*

♦ From the time the red flags appeared until the cars were released for a restart, some 23 minutes had elapsed. Valtteri Bottas was the lead car in the pack of 13 remaining (Esteban Ocon did not join the restart as the brakes on his car had problems) but by the second turn, Lewis Hamilton shot past him and pulled away.

♦ With a quarter of the race done, Hamilton’s lead from his team mate was around 2 seconds, but Bottas had a strong 9-second lead over Charles Leclerc. Lance Stroll powered by on lap 16 to take third and set his sights on Bottas.

♦ On a day when Ferrari was to be celebrating a milestone, things were certainly disappointing for the tifosi as they saw Sebastian Vettel struggling aong the end-runners and Leclerc also facing difficulties regaining his upper position after his third visit to the pits.

♦ Lap 43 saw Stroll’s race come to an end as he slipped into the gravel, seemingly due to a puncture. For the third time in the day, the Safety Car sped out and red flags appeared to stop the session again.

♦ With 15 laps remaining, only Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari still had both their cars running while the other teams lost one car.

♦ When the race finally restarted, Hamilton managed to stay in the lead while Bottas had to just maintain his pace. Behind him a determined Red Bull,, Alexander Albon, closed in on Daniel Ricciardo, the surviving Renault driver, and got past to a podium position.

♦ Hamilton won again, with Bottas crossing the finish line almost 5 seconds behind. Albon held on to the end, with the reward of his first ever presence on the Formula 1 podium.

*The Mercedes-AMG f1 Safety Car was in action on three separate occasions, right from the first lap. The Ferrari Red colour pays tribute to the 1,000th GP of the Italian team at Mugello.*l

Scuderia Ferrari starts its 1,000th F1 race today

F1 (Round 9): Preview & Starting Grid For 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix


Race starts at 3:10 pm in Italy/9:10 pm in Malaysia

COVID-19 has caused loss of lives, hardship, disrupted life and businesses and impacted economies. It has also disrupted motorsports all over the world and as conditions eased, the Formula 1 organisers have rushed to try to run as many rounds as possible before the end of the year. And COVID-19 can also be ‘blamed’ for bringing the 9^th round of the 2020 championship to a completely new venue – Mugello.

First new circuit for F1 since 2016
Located near the city of Florence in Italy’s Tuscan countryside, the Mugello circuit was opened in 1974 and while it has never had a F1 race, it has had at least 30 rounds of the Italian Motorcycle Grand Prix. It is the 72^nd venue to host a F1 round and the first new one in four years, the last being the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan.

Mugello is not entirely new to F1 veterans though, as it was a testing venue until 2012, used mostly by Ferrari which also owns it (since 1988). However, where actual racing is concerned, it will be new to every driver and the teams have had only since last Sunday’s race at Monza to get to know and understand the circuit.

The circuit has a number of steep ascents and descents, long full-throttle sections and some extremely fast corners. Situated in a valley, it subjects drivers to quite a rollercoaster ride, especially at the start of the second sector. There are absolutely no slow corners (even the slowest can be taken in 4^th gear at 140 km/h), and the cornering speeds will subject the drivers to higher g-forces than usual.

Needless to say, the cars and the tyres will also be under tremendous stress but comments from the drivers after practices has been enthusiastic as they welcome the challenges of a new circuit.

“Driving an F1 car around this circuit is unbelievable. In all the fast sections, it’s pretty impressive. I think it’s going to be quite a tough race, physically, as already in the long run we’ve done in FP2 the neck starts to feel it! The lack of run-off areas will also make it difficult, but I guess this is what we like as well,” said Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Unusual layout and abrasive surface
Mugello’s unusual track layout has fairly old, abrasive tarmac and bears some resemblance to Suzuka in Japan. The engineers at the Mercedes-AMG team will therefore use the venue of the Japanese Grand Prix as a reference point for their predictions about tyre life and degradation. Both tracks generate a very high sliding energy and put a lot of stress on the tyres.

To cope with a combination of fast corners and abrasive asphalt, Pirelli is sending their hardest compounds to Mugello, with the C1, C2 and C3 on offer. This is also to shield against the potential for thermal degradation exacerbated by very hot weather. The narrowness of the track and the technical nature of the layout are likely to make overtaking difficult, putting an extra onus on strategy decisions.

*Some spectators allowed in for a change!*

The Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Della Toscana Ferrari 1000 2020 – which most will refer to as just the Tuscan Grand Prix – will be the 1000th F1 race for Scuderia Ferrari. Last weekend was a blot in the marque’s history book but that’s past and to celebrate this milestone, the two SF1000s took to the track in their special Burgundy livery, the deep red originally seen on the 125 S, the very first Ferrari ever built.

*The F1 Safety Car painted in Ferrari Red as a tribute to Scuderia Ferrari’s 1000th race achievement this weekend.*

“We will honour the achievement with the Mercedes-AMG Safety Car in Ferrari red – our nod to a racing history that brought us some of the greatest moments in Formula One. The men and women of Maranello have a proud history to celebrate and we’re paying respect to those celebrations this weekend,” said Toto Wolff, CEO and Team Principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.

Championship positions after Monza
Despite registering his worst result of the season at Monza last Sunday, Lewis Hamilton’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship holds steady at 47 points, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas moving into second position after Max Verstappen recorded his second DNF of the season.

Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, expanded their lead at the top of the Constructors’ Championship as Red Bull Racing’s failed to score. Their lead is now up to 123 points. Behind them, the battle is rather more intense: McLaren’s best result since 2014 saw them extend their lead in the race for third place, pulling out a gap of 16 points ahead of Racing Point, who in turn have an 11-point advantage over Renault.

F1 (Round 8): Preview & Starting Grid For 2020 Italian Grand Prix

Race starts at 3:10 pm in Italy/9:10 pm in Malaysia

The compressed schedule means that just a week has been separating many of the first seven rounds of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship. Last week, the drivers raced at Spa in Belgium and after that, the teams travelled 800 kms southeast to Monza in Italy for this weekend’s 2020 Italian Grand Prix. The eighth round is at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, a 98-year old circuit that has hosted F1 rounds 70 times.

Monza – nicknamed ‘The Temple of Speed’ – is all about pace, and some of the highest speeds of each season are reached as the cars race along the long straights and high speeds are possible at many of the 11 corners. The maximum speed cars will reach at Monza is around 336 km/h, the third highest in F1 – behind Paul Ricard (340 km/h) and Mexico City (350 km/h).

Just over 77% of the lap time and 84% of the lap distance are taken at full throttle. Because a large chunk of driving at Monza is spent in eighth gear, very few gear changes take place over the course of the lap compared to other tracks. Despite the focus on outright speed, cornering velocities are also important to getting good lap times. Traction out of the three chicanes is also vital.

Low downforce often features as a talking point every year at Monza and set-ups aim at getting it as low as possible to minimize drag on the straights. For this reason, good mechanical grip is very important.

For this round, Pirelli has brought to Monza a selection from the middle of its range of tyres. The C2 compound will feature as the white-banded hard tyres, while the C3 will be the mediums and C4 will be the red-banded soft tyres.

The championship positions
Having won 5 out of the 7 races run so far, Lewis Hamilton has a strong lead which is 47 points ahead of the closest rival, Max Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas is just 3 points behind Verstappen so expect him to be pushing hard to get past the Dutch Red Bull Racing driver. Sixth place in Belgium has moved Alexander Albon to fourth place, ahead of Charles Leclerc who was the winner of last year’s Italian GP.

Among the Constructors, Mercedes-AMG continues to extend its lead with each round. Its two drivers have already contributed a total of 264 points, comfortably ahead of Reb Bull racing which has 158 points. After that, there’s close contention between the next two constructors – McLaren and BWT Racing Point – with a separation of just 2 points.

On the historical side, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton have won the most times at Monza, each having 5 wins to his name. Schumacher’s victories were all with Ferrari which is also the team with the most number of victories (19), followed by McLaren and Mercedes.

*Since 1996, Mercedes-AMG has supplied the Official F1 Safety Car as well as other cars for official use at each round.*

Departure of the Williams family
The Italian Grand Prix will be a sad one for the Williams team and its fans. Having been sold to Dorilton Capital, a private investment firm in the USA, the Williams family will cease to be involved in the team that was established by Sir Frank Williams in 1977. The team has been managed by Williams’ daughter, Claire, since 2013.

The Williams team has had an impressive history with 7 Drivers’ titles and 9 Constructors’ championships. It’s the end of an era for the family-owned team and the decision to sell it off has been a difficult one, but necessary to ensure its survival. Under new ownership, it is expected that the team will have a secure long-term future in the sport.

F1 (Round 7): Results And Highlights Of 2020 Belgium Grand Prix

♦ McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. didn’t get to race as exhaust failure while driving for the grid line-up forced him to instead return to the pits just before the start.

♦ Rain was headed towards the circuit but the start of the race was in dry conditions.

♦ The first crash took place during lap 11, bringing out the Safety Car. Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo was starting to spin and Russell (Williams) tried to avoid him but could not and crashed into the wall, with Giovanazzi doing the same a second later.

♦ Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez chose not to head for the pits to get fresh tyres while the rest of the cars came in while the Mercedes-AMG Safety Car was out for about 3 laps. Gasly would only bring his Scuderia Alphatauri Honda in on the 27th lap, the last driver to do so.

♦ Charles Leclerc was required to meet the Stewards after the race as he was seen to be ‘driving unnecessarily slowly’ during the reconnaissance lap.

♦ At the halfway mark, Lewis Hamilton had a 3-second lead over team mater Valtteri Bottas, and was about 7.5 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. The top three were essentially on their own as the gap after the Dutch Red Bull driver was about 16 seconds to Daniel Ricciardo.

♦ On lap 28, Hamilton’s car was spotted having a damaged wing and at the same time, the team sent a message to Bottas which suggested he was to push as hard as he could.At that point, Hamilton was still 3.7 seconds ahead.

♦ In the last few laps of the race, Hamilton expressed concerns about the front tyres, fearing a repeat of Silverstone – which wasn’t good at a track with such a long lap. But he managed the tyres as best as he could and crossed the finish line for his fourth win at Spa.

F1 (Round 7): Preview & Starting Grid For 2020 Belgium Grand Prix

Race starts at 3:10 pm in Belgium/9:10 pm in Malaysia

After one weekend break, the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship begins its second three-in-a-row rounds with Round 7 at the historical Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgium Grand Prix. The event is the 65^th F1 World Championship round hosted by Belgium and is one of the original races from the 1950s season. However, the F1 races were not always held at Spa-Francorchamps and on 11 occasions, they were held at two other circuits.

The 7-km track with 19 turns is therefore familiar to the drivers and teams, with its outstanding features and characteristics leading to some interesting set-up decisions. The two long full-throttle sections of the first and third sectors require low drag – but the longer intricate middle sector, where much of the lap time is made or lost, makes for a complicated choice of downforce levels. If too high, the car cannot attack or defend on the long straights; too low and too much time is lost in the middle of the lap. Each team will therefore have different strategies and it is always interesting see which one proves suitable.

Spa-Francorchamps is F1’s longest track with a lap distance of 7.004 kilometres. This tops the second circuit on the list, Baku (6.003 kms), by just over one kilometre. Because of its long lap distance, the Belgium GP has the lowest number of race laps in F1 with only 44 – making for a race distance of 308.05 kms. Also at this track, the drivers experience up to 5.2g (at Turn 10), which is the highest lateral g-force of the season.

Longest lap, few gear changes
Interestingly, despite having the longest lap in F1, the drivers only change gear 38 times for each circulation of Spa, one of the lowest figures in F1. This is particularly low when compared to the busy laps of Monaco where drivers will change gears around 50 times per lap – and that street track is less than half the length of Spa.

The main reason for the relatively low number of gear changes per lap is that a large portion of the lap at Spa is covered in top gear. Additionally, most of the corners that require gear changes come in groups – for example, Turn 5 to Turn 7. Over the length of the entire 7.004 kilometres of lap distance, there are only 6 sets of gear changes required.

Prompted by a 2019 race in which no driver used the C1 tyre and seven of the ten points-scoring cars ran a one-stop strategy, Pirelli has brought a compound one notch down for this weekend’s racing, with the C2, C3 and C4 available to the teams.

Fresh engines installed
Another potential factor at this race is the use of fresh engines. The announcement of an extended calendar earlier this week takes the projected number of races up to 17 (originally 22) which is above the threshold that allowed competitors to use a third ICE, TC or MGU-H. Spa has traditionally been a race where teams install a new power unit anyway, and so this weekend may see a slight shift in running, especially in the ultra-tight midfield.

The championship positions
Lewis Hamilton continues to enjoy a commanding lead at the top of the Driver’ Championship table with 132 points. Behind him is Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who has 95 points after having taken 5 5 consecutive podium finishes. He is ahead of Valtteri Bottas who started the season well but now finds himself slipping and has so far collected only 89 points.

Once again, Mercedes-AMG is in a strong leading position in the Constructors’ Championship with 221 points. That’s 86 points ahead of Red Bull Racing. The teams to watch are Racing Point, McLaren and Ferrari: Racing Point has 63 points, just one point ahead of McLaren and two ahead of Ferrari.

Past winners
Michael Schumacher has had the most number of wins at the Belgium GP -2 with Benetton and 4 with Ferrari. The Ferrari team has had the most victories, 18 in all, which is 4 ahead of McLaren.

4 more rounds added to F1 calendar, making it a total of 17 for 2020

The 2020 Formula 1 World Championship, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic just as the opening round was to take place in Australia in March, will end the season with a toral of 17 races. Following the announcements regarding the initial thirteen races of the revised 2020 calendar, 4 additional races have been confirmed which will take place in the months of November and December.

While it was already expected that Bahrain and Abu Dhabi will host the last rounds (the former running two races), a newcomer is Turkey which will have the Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020. The race will be held at the Istanbul Park Circuit which was opened in 2005 when the first Turkish F1 GP was held. The venue was included on the F1 calendar up to 2011 and then left out over the past 8 years.

*The Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit last had a F1 race in 2011.*

Familiar circuit to top drivers
The circuit, also designed by Hermann Tilke, the F1 track specialist, has a length of 5.34 kms and 14 turns. Past races have been run for 58 laps with the lap record still held by of 1:24.770 still held by Juan Pablo Montoya when he was driving a McLaren in 2005. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel would be familiar with the circuit as they have raced and won there before.

“We can confirm that a number of races in the revised 2020 season will be open to a limited number of fans, including hospitality, and we are working with each promoter to finalise the details. While we want to see as many fans as possible return as soon as it is safe to do so, our priority remains the safety of the Formula 1 community and the communities we visit, and we review fan access on this basis,” said Chase Carey, Chairman & CEO of the Formula 1 organisation.

Strict SOPs still applied
This means that the races will continue to be held without spectators and with a minimum number of participants allowed into the circuit. So far, the strict measures taken have ensured that there are no COVID-19 infections spreading and when the health authorities are more comfortable with the situation, perhaps there will be an opportunity for spectators in the stands.

“Sadly, we will not be racing in China this season and want to thank our partner Juss Sports for their support and engagement in recent months and hugely look forward to returning to Shanghai next year,” Carey said.

F1 (Round 6): Preview & Starting Grid for 2020 Spanish Grand Prix

Race starts at 3:10 pm in Spain/9:10 pm in Malaysia

The compressed revised schedule of 2020 Formula 1 World Championship continues this weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The circuit is a familiar one to the F1 teams as it is where they go for pre-season testing. Located in the Barcelona area, the circuit has been in operation since 1991.

The 4.655-km circuit has 16 turns and though many drivers have driven around it a lot, it is still challenging with its broad mix of corner types. There are swift changes in direction and a long start-finish straight that tests both the car’s strength and weaknesses. Each year, teams search for the best set-up to enable their drivers to extract the maximum from the machines.

To get that right set-up can be elusive; there are strong winds blowing at the circuit and they change not just in direction but also speed. So aerodynamics are very important although they are important everywhere else too.

Hotter than usual
For this weekend, there is concern about high temperatures. This has not been a major issue in the past as the Spanish Grand Prix usually runs in May when it is still cool. However, it is now mid-August and the engineers are preparing the cars to cope with temperatures of around 30 degrees C.

Pirelli is bringing its most durable compounds to cope with the heat and high loads of fast corners such as Turn 3. The C1 is nominated as the hard tyre with C2 and C3 and medium and soft tyres, respectively.

The hot conditions can be a problem for the Mercedes-AMG cars, as evident at Silverstone last weekend. It’s possible that similarly high temperatures could give Red Bull Racing a chance to claim a second victory of the season after Max Verstappen’s success.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been to Spain when it’s been this hot. The weather is beautiful, but it’s tricky for the car and very tough on the tyres as well. We didn’t see any blistering, the tyres felt OK and the long runs didn’t look too bad, but we also didn’t see any blistering last Friday, so we’ll have to remain careful,” said Lewis Hamilton, who will start from pole position at tomorrow’s race.

The Ferrari drivers also find conditions challenging but have been doing well in practices. “I am confident we can extract the maximum out of the car in quali and if I manage to get the balance where I want it to be, we can have a pretty good result. With regards to the heat, out on track is not that hard because at least there’s some air, but when you are in the garage… it’s like being in a sauna!” said Charles Leclerc.

Max Verstappen is now second
After winning last weekend, Verstappen is now second in the Driver’s Championship, 30 points behind leader Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas is, however, not far behind with a gap of just 4 points.

The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team has a good lead with 180 points after 5 rounds, 67 points ahead of Red Bull Racing and 125 points ahead of Ferrari. The Italian team has had the most wins here, having won 12 times, of which 5 were won by Michael Schumacher who has also won the event the most times.

F1 (Round 5): Results And Highlights Of Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020

♦ A spin in Turn 1 for Sebastian Vettel saw the 4-time World Champion drop from 11th to last in the pack as the cars headed away.

♦ After 10 laps, tyre issues began to start as temperatures rose and the cars came in for tyre changes. Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel stayed out up to 23 laps but Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen chose to hang for 27 laps before pitting and giving up his leading position momentarily.

♦ Tyre management became increasingly critical for the two Mercedes-AMG cars as the hard compounds blistered.

♦ With 15 laps to go, Hamilton captured the lead but was very concerned about his tyre condition and the blistering.

♦ Understanding that the Mercedes-AMG driver could only do so much with his well worn tyres, Verstappen was told to put the pressure on and close the gap which was about 11 seconds.

♦ With 10 laps to go, Hamilton came in to get fresh tyres and Verstappen took over the lead, with Bottas 4 seconds behind. Charging confidently ahead and setting a new lap record, he got past Charles Leclerc and closed in on Bottas.

♦ In the closing laps, Hamilton got past his team mate but ran out of time to close in on Verstappen who was 9 seconds ahead.

♦ The win today at Silverstone makes it 9 for the Red Bull Racing DutchmanThe 25 points don’t advance his position in the standings but narrow the gap with Bottas.

F1 (Round 5): Preview & Starting Grid for Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020

Race starts at 2:10 pm British time/9:10 pm Malaysian time

Following the British Grand Prix a week ago, F1 extends its stay at Silverstone this weekend with Round 5 of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship – the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. The event has been named in celebration of the inaugural World Championship, the first event of which was the British (and honorary European) Grand Prix which took place at Silverstone on May 13th, 1950.

The circuit is noted for its fast, flowing corners but the intricacies of the lower-speed ‘Arena’ section between Abbey and the Wellington Straight are often where time is to be gained or lost. Silverstone is a difficult circuit on which to overtake and qualifying position is frequently paramount: thus, these sections receive just as much attention in set-up discussions as the famed high-speed turns at Copse, Stowe and the Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel complex.

Whereas last weekend’s British Grand Prix used the three hardest compounds in Pirelli’s range, a change in allocation this weekend alters the complexion of the race. For the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, the allocation moves a step softer with C2, C3 and C4 tyres available.

While every team converged on a one-stop strategy last Sunday, the use of softer tyres on a fast, high-energy circuit makes a similar plan inherently risky this weekend. With a two-stop race more likely, greater strategic options come into play on the fast Silverstone layout.

“This weekend at Silverstone will be a real challenge with higher temperatures and softer compounds. The hotter conditions brought the field closer together last week and the softer tyres will mean more pit stops and more variability with strategy, so we can expect a good fight,” said Toto Wolff, Mercedes-AMG team boss.

After 4 rounds, Mercedes-AMG driver Lewis Hamilton already has a commanding lead of 30 points in the race for the Drivers’ Championship. His closest rival is team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a further 6 points back.

With the contribution made by Hamilton’s victories, the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team has an equally daunting advantage in the Constructors’ Championship table, enjoying a 68-point lead. The controversy over the brake ducts on the BWT Racing Point car, which were the subject of a protect by the Renault team, reached a conclusion yesterday as the FIA decided to deduct 15 championship points from the team’s current standing. They have also been fined €400,000 (about RM1.97 million).

BWT Racing Point will be appealing but Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have also issued statement that declare an intention to appeal against that decision. There are other issues which have come to light which the teams now want the FIA to clarify.

Piston.my