Rate the Race and Driver of the Weekend – The Styrian GP, Spielberg, Austria, 2020

Mean Reader Score: 5.31 Ranked 2/2

Well, as this was the first ever Styrian GP, so we don’t have any statistics to compare it to, so we’ll have to make do with comparing it to last week’s Austrian GP (Same country, same track, same tyre compounds, different weather).

As can be seen from the mean reader scores, this week’s race was a bit ‘boring’ compared to last week’s race (8.04 to 5.31).  Qualifying was wet, wet, wet but the race itself was dry.

Apart from the start, where Leclerc took out both Ferraris on the first lap, and the finish, where Perez almost took out Albon in the same spot as Hamilton took him out last week, and a spectacular last couple of laps, it was a pretty uneventful race.

That’s not to say it didn’t have its moments: Perez put up a good scrap against Sainz early on, and again later against teammate Stroll, but came a cropper towards the end when he tangled with Albon, damaging his front wing and had to limp home.

The Bottas /Verstappen battle for P2 kept us entertained for a couple of laps, but the mighty  Mercedes won that battle, making it a 1-2 finish for the German team.

So who, then won our coveted Driver of the Weekend title?

Driver of the Weekend: Lando Norris, 40.69% of Reader Vote

For the second week in a row, it was young Lando Norris who won this coveted title (although Perez won the F1 Driver of the Day award).

Once again, Norris got well up the grid in qualifying (P6) but due to a three-place grid penalty for overtaking during a yellow flag period in FP1, was awarded a three-place grid penalty and started the race from P9. Not quite his best ever qualifying position (that was last week) but pretty good none the less.

Starting from P9, it seemed as if he would finish in the low-points when he had what appeared to be a light-bulb moment. Realising he had only two laps to go, he got his foot down, sped past Ricciardo on the penultimate lap and then on the last lap overtook not one but two Racing Point cars to take P5  and a jolly good haul of points for his team.

Mclaren are now in P2, on 39 points ahead of Red Bull, Racing Point AND Ferrari. Well done Lando!!!

@F1TheaJ.

p.s. I nearly forgot to mention he did all this with what may have been a couple of broken ribs (well probably not broken, but he was pretty bruised and in pain).