Max drops out in Austrian Grand Prix with technical issues: 'It's a pity'

Published on 05 July 2020 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen has retired from the first race of the season with technical issues on his car. Max got well off the line from P2 and kept his position. On lap 11, his RB16 started acting up and Max was beginning to lose pace. Verstappen managed to make it to the pits, but the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing mechanics were not able to fix the issue. Valtteri Bottas took the victory, just like he did also with last year’s season’s opener. Mercedes team mate Hamilton finished behind him but was handed a five-second penalty due to an incident with Alexander Albon. This ensured that Charles Leclerc was able to claim second place finish while Lando Norris, in his McLaren, came in third and snatched his first ever Formula 1-career podium.

After the race Max explains what happened: ‘It’s a pity, because it’s of course not how you want to start the season. I suddenly lost drive. The car went into anti-stall. I don’t know what the problem is yet but we’ll find out. In the end it doesn’t make any difference. We dropped out and that is just not good.’

On the question whether he thought he would be able to win the race after the start, Max says: ‘You could quite quickly see that Valtteri was very quick. I was doing my own pace. It could have been a podium at least, but now there is nothing you can do about it.’

Prior to the race, it is announced that Lewis Hamilton has been dropped to P5 on the grid because of driving too fast under a yellow-flag situation during qualifying. This means that Max moves up one spot, to second.

Max gets well off the line and keeps his position entering the first corner. On the first lap, Max is forced to defend heavily against Lando Norris, but he manages to fend off the McLaren-driver. Starting from pole, Bottas remains in the lead while Alexander Albon and Lewis Hamilton stay fourth and fifth. They move up one spot because on lap four they overtake Norris. Hamilton then starts mounting pressure on Albon after which he then overtakes the Red Bull-driver on lap nine.

On lap eleven, Max’ RB16 suddenly starts acting up. The Dutchman then slowly heads back to the pits. Once back at his mechanics, it seems that the problem cannot be helped on a very short notice which makes Max Verstappen the very first drop out of the year. It’s not long before others follow. Stroll and Ricciardo are also forced to park their cars in the pits with technical issues.

On lap 26, at Turn one, Magnussen’s brakes fail and he ends up coming to a halt back-to-front against the guard rail. The Dane is unable to continue on and the situation brings the safety car out on track.

When the race is resumed, Vettel spins at Turn three trying to overtake Carlos Sainz. The German drops back to the fourteenth spot. Romain Grosjean and George Russell end up also joining the club of dropouts. As a result of Russell having to park his car in the grass, the safety car heads back out again.

This enables a great many drivers to change their tyres. Albon gets his softs strapped on to his car and drops back to P4. At the re-start, Kimi Raikkonen loses his right front wheel of his Alfa Romeo. The Finn has no choice than to park his car trackside and becomes dropout number seven of the race.

Once again the safety car is required on track. With still eleven laps left, the safety car heads back in. At the re-start Albon immediately engages Hamilton, who is running second. Albon tries to overtake Hamilton in Turn four on the outside, but the drivers come into contact with each other. The Redbull-driver spins in the gravel trap and drops back to the back of the field. Hamilton is able to continue on unscathed but is slapped with a five-second time penalty for the incident. The weekend goes from bad to worse for Red Bull when Albon is also forced to park his car trackside due to technical issues.

Leclerc and Norris work their way up to third and fourth in the final laps, which eventually becomes second and third respectively as a result of Hamilton’s penalty. This earns Norris his first ever podium. Apart from that, the Briton earns an extra point for the fastest lap. Bottas takes the flag unchallenged, while team mate Hamilton is ranked fourth fastest because of his penalty. Carlos Sainz rounds out the party for McLaren by taking the flag in fifth. Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Antonio Giovinazzi and Sebastian Vettel complete the top ten. The last man in, is first timer Nicolas Latifi who finished eleventh fastest in his Williams. In total there were nine dropouts in this race.

Results Grand Prix Austria: