Are you still trying to make sense of a dramatic Austrian Grand Prix?
Yeah, we thought you might be. So let’s take you through some of the key stats and strategy calls that meant our 2020 Formula 1 season got underway in fine style with a great race at the Red Bull Ring, albeit one heavily influenced by the three Safety Car periods.
The first Safety Car, at around one-third distance, possibly lessened the drama; the second pair redressed the balance, setting up a thrilling finale. It wasn't quite the race we’d expected but shrewd strategy calls and good pit-stops – including a vital double shuffle – ensured we departed the circuit with our best season-opening result since 2014. Lando took his first F1 podium in third and the fastest lap of the race, and Carlos backed that up with an excellent fifth, leaving McLaren F1 Team Principal Andreas Seidl to conclude that the result was “a great reward for all the hard work everyone has put in.”
The race in numbers
| Carlos Sainz | Lando Norris | |
| Starting position | P8 | P3 |
| End of lap one | P8 | P3 |
| Finishing position | P5 | P3 |
| Speed trap | 326.5km/h (5th) | 313.2km/h (17th) |
| First pit-stop | Lap 26: 21.928s (26th quickest) | Lap 26: 22.974s (24th quickest) |
| Second pit-stop | Lap 52: 21.805s (6th quickest) | Lap 51: 21.921s (11th quickest) |
| Fastest lap | Lap 63: 1:07.749 (5th quickest) | Lap 71: 1:07.475 (1st) |
The tyres
The strategy… in theory
Based on the long-run data from Friday, Pirelli predicted the Austrian Grand Prix would be a one-stop race. It suggested the quickest race would be a starting stint on the Soft tyre for 24-28 laps, followed by Hard to the flag, or – just as quick – 27-32 laps on the Medium tyre followed by the Hard. Starting on Softs and then going on to Medium was slightly slower and any permutation of two stops was slower still.
“We thought it would be a one-stop race and, without the Safety Cars, it looked like it would have played out that way,” confirms McLaren F1 Head of Strategy and Sporting Randy Singh. “The tyres behaved roughly as expected and you could tell most teams were thinking of adopting a one-stop strategy based on how they were using their tyres earlier during the weekend.”
What actually happened…
Carlos and Lando ran near-identical two-stop races, with the timing of both sets of stops dictated by Safety Cars. Both drivers started on their used Soft from Q2 and pitted on lap 26 under the Safety Car to take on a new Hard tyre. The Safety Car appeared again on lap 51 and we immediately pitted Lando for New Medium. Carlos came in a lap later and also swapped to the Medium, with both drivers able to run aggressively to the flag on those tyres.
The strategy… explained
Lando’s rival for most of the race was Sergio Pérez. Once the early order shook out, Lando held a gap of around three seconds over the Racing Point driver in the first stint. While they were pulling away from the Medium-tyre starters in the midfield, they and the cars around them were content to extend their opening stint, building the pit-gap which would ensure they didn’t emerge into slower traffic. Once they had a pit-gap, strategy games may have ensued – but that game of chicken was rendered moot when the Safety Car appeared, and every remaining top-10 starter dived into the pits while the stricken Haas of Kevin Magnussen was cleared.
While Lando took the Hard tyre, Pérez opted for the Medium, and soon after used the extra grip to get a good exit out of Turn Three, and breeze past Lando on the run down to Turn Four. Lando’s best chance of taking the place back was to look after his tyres and take advantage of the more durable rubber at the end of the race.
However, this wasn’t the only motive for choosing the most durable compound says Randy: “Prior to the race we simulate many millions of races and plan for all kinds of scenarios. We always consider the impact of safety car deployments and one of the advantages of fitting the Hard tyre at the first pit-stop was that, for a later Safety Car deployment, there was a new Medium set available.
"There are also upsides to fitting the Medium tyre of course and balancing these to come to a decision is the tricky part. The race never plays out exactly as you expect, even after millions of simulations – so it's always important to be flexible and be willing to change your plans.”
When the Safety Car returned to the track on lap 51, Pérez had an advantage of around four seconds. He, like the leading Mercedes, opted to stay out; Lando pitted for a set of New Mediums, and a good pitstop ensured he retained P5.
The short pause to clear George Russell’s Williams was followed by a longer halt for Kimi Räikkönen’s detached wheel. Lando moved up to P4 when Alex Albon spun out, then lost the place to Leclerc but regained it when making a straightforward pass on the struggling Pérez four laps from home. With clean air, he began to chase down Lewis Hamilton’s virtual position (Hamilton had received a five-second time penalty and we were racing to get into that gap), and when he crossed the line at the end of lap 70, he was 5.530s behind. A stunning final lap of 1:07.475, seven-tenths quicker than Hamilton, gave Lando a net advantage of 0.198s, third place and an extra point for fastest lap.
Last year, Carlos showed the value of patience at the Red Bull Ring, rising from the back of the grid to P8 after conserving his tyres in his first stint before scything his way through the field in a short, late burst on the Hard compound. We’ll never know exactly how deep he could have run this year, as the Safety Car compelled him to pit from P7 on lap 26. Until that point, he was running two seconds behind Leclerc with a steady 10-second gap over Vettel. After a collision with Vettel at the restart took the latter out of the picture, Carlos continued to shadow Leclerc with a gap of around two to three-seconds, pulling away from Pierre Gasly behind, while keeping life in his tyres for a final push.
The second Safety Car changed the equation. We pitted with Carlos for Medium tyres whereas Gasly and Esteban Ocon elected to stay out, dropping Carlos to P9. He made short work of both at the restart, and then used his 25-lap younger tyres to pass Pérez on track for P5 on the final lap.
“Deciding whether to pit on the first or second lap of a Safety Car, which tyres to fit and whether to double shuffle, is not a simple decision in a very short space of time,” reveals Randy.
“There’s a lot of time pressure. Although you are always well prepared, much of that preparation can become less useful depending on the circumstances of the Safety Car. You don’t have long to decide what to do and once you have decided, it’s essential you communicate the decision very clearly so that it’s executed well.”
The first Safety Car was, in effect, a reset for the front runners, turning the Austrian Grand Prix into a 45-lap non-stop race – but the later Safety Cars changed the complexion completely. We don’t know if Lando would have made the Hard tyre advantage work against Pérez, or if Carlos would have been able to attack Leclerc at the end – but the quirky thing about this season is that everyone gets to do it all over again this weekend. There was a concern going to Austria that too much information might take the guesswork out of Round Two and make it dull. There’s certainly a lot more information going into the Styrian Grand Prix, though no-one’s expecting it to be predictable – especially with a large risk of rain forecast during the weekend.
Austrian GP race report
"To finish the first race of the new season with P3 and P5 is simply a great reward"
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