F1 Racing UK – August 2019

RESULTS ROUND 9

SPIELBERG / 30.06.19 / 71 LAPS

F1 RACING AUGUST 2019 105

TYRECOMPOUNDS USED

DRIVERS’ STANDINGS

1 Hamilton 197pts

2 Bottas 166pts

3 Verstappen 126pts

4 Vettel 123pts

5 Leclerc 105pts

6 Gasly 43pts

7 Sain z 30pts

8 Norris 22pts

9 Räikkönen 21pts

10 Ricciardo 16pts

11 Hülkenberg 16pts

12 Magnussen 14pts

13 Pérez 13pts

14 Kvyat 10pts

15 Albon 7pts

16 Stroll 6pts

17 Grosjean 2pts

18 Giovinazzi 1pts

19 Russell 0pts

20 Kubica 0pts

CLIMATE AIR TEMP TRACK TEMP

1st MaxVerstappenRed Bull 1h 22m 01.822s

2nd CharlesLeclercFerrari +2.724s

3rd Valtteri BottasMercedes +18.960s

4th SebastianVettelFerrari +19.610s

5th Lewis HamiltonMercedes +22.805s

6th Lando NorrisMcLaren +1 lap

7th Pierre GaslyRed Bull +1 lap

8th Carlos SainzMcLaren +1 lap

9th Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo +1 lap

10th Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo +1 lap

11th SergioPérezRacingPoint +1 lap

12th Daniel RicciardoRenault +1 lap

13th Nico HülkenbergRenault +1 lap

14th LanceStrollRacingPoint +1 lap

15th Alexander AlbonToro Rosso +1 lap

16th Romain GrosjeanHaas +1 lap

17th DaniilKvyatToro Rosso +1 lap

18th George RussellWilliams +2 laps

19th Kevin MagnussenHaas +2 laps

20th RobertKubicaWilliams +3 laps

Hard(C2) Medium(C3)Soft(C4) Inter Wet

Sunny

33 °C 51 °C

Having gone unbeatenfor eight races in a row,
Mercedesfi nally cracked in the high heat of the
Austrian summer. Bottas was relegatedto thirdby
the Verstappen/Leclerc show, whileLewis Hamilton
was fi fth – his worstfi nish sinceCanada last year.
Mercedes was compromisedby altitude and hot
temperatures,exposing “fundamental”problems
with the W10’s cooling system. Withambient air
reaching 35°C,both drivers wereforced to lift and
coastto control enginetemperatures. AsSpie lberg
is 600m above sea level, the thinner atmosphere
also compromised their abilityto cool the car.

After dominating the season up until this

point, both Mercedes drivers hit trouble early in

the weekend. On Friday Bottas suffered a large

accident, while in qualifying Hamilton was hit with

a grid penaltyfor impeding Kimi Räikkönen.

In the race Hamilton was soon upto third, but

damaged the leftfl ap on the front wingover a

kerb, which cost him downforce. Thatforced the

team to change his wing at his pitstop and he

slipped behindVettel’sFerrari.After a late stop

for new tyresVettel fell behind, but re-passed

Hamilton two laps from thefi nish.

3 Mercedes struggles in the heat Fastest lap

Max Verstappen: 1min 07.475s on lap 60

harmless, but worse befell the German inthe Ferrari
pits on Saturday and Sunday.
He failedto emerge from his garagefor the
fi nal partof qualifying after a problem withthe
pneumatic pressure lineto his power unit, and he
was forced to start the racenint h.
He madeexcellent progress in the early laps and
was runningfourth, behind Hamilton, whenVettel
followed Bottas infor a tyre stop onlap 21.Ferrari
had decidedto start bothcars on the softest tyre,
while Mercedes andVerstappen optedfor the
medium compound in Q2. There were concerns
this could compromiseFerrari strategically. That
Vettel managed afi rst stint length equalto Bottas

was fi ne, but perhapsLeclerc wouldn’t have lost

out to Verstappen in thefi ght for victory had

Ferrari givenhim a more durable tyrefor the

fi rst part of his race...

The Ferrari crew were waitingfor Vettel in the

pits, but his tyres weren’t readyin time. Mechanics

dashed out fromthe garage, removingtyres from

their blankets asVettel entered the box. He was

stationary nearly three times longer than is usual–

over six seconds – which scuppered his chances of

a podiumfi nish.

“We could have had a better race,”admitted

Vettel, “andthis track was morein our favour than

other tracks...”

Leclerc claimed pole on his favourite circuit

and so nearly secured his maiden F1 win

The heat was the main cause of Mercedes’

problems and Hamilton finished a lowly fifth