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Max Verstappen beats Mercedes at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix!

9 August 2020 at 15:26
Last update 9 August 2020 at 15:39
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  • Louis Shaw
  • Editor

Max Verstappen drove a near-perfect race to end Mercedes’ dominance of the 2020 Formula 1 season. The Red Bull Racing driver started the race on the hard rubber and put on a masterclass of strategy and tyre management to win the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. 

Having started P4, Verstappen immediately passed the Racing Point of Nico Hulkenberg and was able to catch up to the two Mercedes before too long.

The Silver Arrows struggled with their tyres for the whole race and couldn’t keep the Red Bull of Verstappen behind them for long. Bottas and Hamilton went wheel to wheel off the start but it was the Finn who managed to stay in front after starting on pole. However, it was not for long as the Red Bull was seemingly able to look after the tyres much more than their rivals were. 

Hamilton tried to make the one-stop strategy work but his tyres were gone and he was forced to pit with 10 laps to go. He put on a fresh set of the hard rubber and made a dash to catch up with Bottas and Verstappen. The two Mercedes went wheel to wheel with two laps to go with the six-time world champion getting past the Finn but he was unable to catch the Red Bull. Hamilton finished P2 with Bottas in P3. 

The two Racing Points had a solid race. Lance Stroll made up a place on the start by overtaking Daniel Ricciardo and despite being overtaken by Verstappen, Nico Hulkenberg spent much of the race running in P4 and P5. Sergio Perez’s replacement ended the race under pressure from Alex Albon so pitted for the soft tyre to try and catch him at the end. Stroll ended the race P6 with Hulkenberg coming in P7. 

It was a disaster at the beginning for Sebastian Vettel who slid off the track and dropped down to 20th on the opening lap. He hit the curb and failed to control his car before narrowly missing colliding with the McLaren of Carlos Sainz. The German failed to score any points as his final year at Ferrari continues to go from bad to worse. Charles Leclerc put in a great shift to put his Ferrari P4 and he continues to outclass his world champion teammate.  

Alex Albon stopped extraordinarily early on lap 7 for the hard tyre which led to a handful of other cars following and coming in for fresh rubber. After a poor qualifying, the second Red Bull driver had another great recovery race to finish P5.

More to follow...