Champion Hamilton chases down Schumacher record

F1 2020 TEAM LINE-UP		www.formula1.com	Age	GPs	Pole	Wins	Titles
Alfa Romeo Racing- Ferrari	(7) (99)	Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) Antonio Giovinazzi (ITA)	40 26	312 23	18 -	21 -	1 -
AlphaTauri-Honda	(10) (26)	Pierre Gasly (FRA) Daniil Kvyat (RUS)	24 26	47 93	- -	- -	- -
Ferrari	(5) (16)	Sebastian Vettel (GER) Charles Leclerc (MON)	33 22	240 42	57 7	53 2	4 -
Haas-Ferrari	(8) (20)	Romain Grosjean (FRA) Kevin Magnussen (DEN)	34 27	164 102	- -	- -	- -
McLaren-Renault	(4) (55)	Lando Norris (GBR) Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP)	20 25	21 102	- -	- -	- -
Mercedes	(44) (77)	Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Valtteri Bottas (FIN)	35 30	250 139	88 11	84 7	6 -
Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	(11) (18)	Sergio Pérez (MEX) Lance Stroll (CAN)	30 21	176 62	- -	- -	- -
Red Bull Racing-Honda	(23) (33)	Alexander Albon (THA) Max Verstappen (NED)	24 22	21 102	- 2	- 8	- -
Renault	(3) (31)	Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Esteban Ocon (FRA)	31 23	171 50	3 -	7 -	- -
Williams-Mercedes	(6) (63)	Nicholas Latifi (CAN) George Russell (GBR)	25 22	0 21	- -	- -	- -

SIX-TIME champion Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second place in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix as the 2020 Formula One season finally got under way.

Hamilton was surprisingly beaten by Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas - but will nevertheless be pleased by his team's dominance over closest rivals Red Bull this afternoon.

Max Verstappen has won the Austrian Grand Prix in both of the last two years - so was no doubt hopeful of a quick start to the Championship with both of the opening races being held in Spielberg. 

However, Dutchman Verstappen could only qualify third - and was split from his team-mate Alexander Albon, though they at least start on the clean start of the track. 

Instead, McLaren youngster Lando Norris took a career-best fourth place on the grid with a phenomenal lap in a session which will have provided much hope to the Woking-based outfit.

By contrast, Ferrari suffered from a tiresomely familiar early-season story of failure. 

It is now 12 years since the proud Prancing Horse team were Constructors champions and 13 years since the Drivers' title made its way to Maranello.

And things do not look like improving any time soon.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel struggled badly with his set-up and could not even make it into the final round of qualifying. 

Meanwhile, Vettel's young Monégasque team-mate Charles Leclerc recovered from scraping 10th place in the second session to a grid placing of seventh.

That outcome carried on a trend from last season when, despite starting the year as Ferrari's designated number one, Vettel was beaten on every measure by the 22-year-old.

It would be fair to say that Vettel's well-publicised difficulties at Ferrari have already been badly exposed on this opening weekend.

Indeed, at this stage, it is difficult to envisage the 33-year-old German staying until the end of the season with a non-competitive Ferrari team, having been told his services will not be required for 2021.

The shake-up in next year's driver line-up sees Carlos Sainz Jr move to Ferrari with Australian Daniel Ricciardo heading from Renault to the vacant McLaren seat.

Mercedes have Hamilton of course, while Red Bull have retained Verstappen - and surely neither team would take on the troublesome Vettel as a second driver.

The German, therefore, appears to have nowhere to go in 2021 - and the early signs from this season are that he will depart F1 with a whimper rather than a bang.

Instead, it is Hamilton who - having won the Drivers' Championship for five of the last six years - remains the undisputed king of the race-track.

Indeed, there is an air of inevitability that the 35-year-old from Stevenage will win a record-equalling seventh Drivers' title this year and climb to the summit alongside Michael Schumacher. 

But, even if Hamilton blows all of his rivals out of the water as usual, there is still plenty for F1 fans to get their teeth into. 

The midfield battle - behind the big three of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari - has been given an extra element of intrigue by the so-called Pink Mercedes of Racing Point.

Having based the design of the RP20 around that of last year’s title winner, strong pre-season testing and practice runs have raised hopes of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll challenging for podium finishes.

But, while Perez and Stroll qualified in highly respectable positions of sixth and ninth, it was undoubtedly Norris who deserved the early plaudits for steering his McLaren onto the second row.

Elsewhere, the back-markers look set to be Haas, Alfa Romeo and - somewhat depressingly - Williams, with the cars from those three teams filling each of the bottom six places in qualifying in Austria.

Certainly, it seems a long time ago since Williams' halcyon days of the 1980s and 1990s when they dominated the sport with seven Drivers' championships and nine Constructors' championships in an 18-year period. 

By contrast, recent times have been pretty grim for the Grove-based team, with last-placed finishes in both of the last two years matched by off-track financial worries. 

In May, Williams announced they were seeking buyers for a portion of the team and that they had terminated the contract of title sponsor ROKiT.

But the coronavirus pandemic makes this an even more difficult time than usual to look for investment - and so a future for Williams beyond 2020 remains troublingly uncertain.

CALENDAR
July
 5 Austrian GP ▪️ Red Bull Ring, Spielberg
12 Styrian GP ▪️ Red Bull Ring, Spielberg
19 Hungarian GP ▪️ Hungaroring, Mogyoród
August
2 British GP ▪️ Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone
9 70th Anniversary GP ▪️ Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone
16 Spanish GP ▪️ Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
30 Belgian GP ▪️ Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
September 
6 Italian GP ▪️ Autodromo Nazionale di Monza