As the 2020 Formula 1 season is just a matter of days away, let’s rewind ourselves to a classic race at this year’s season-opening track.
So, the date is Sunday, July 3, 2016, and we are now in the middle of a sizzling Mercedes rivalry as the Formula 1 circus hits Austria. After multiple mishaps in qualifying the day before, including an impressive shunt for returning Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat, the grid had a mixture of surprises for race day.
Shock horror, Lewis Hamilton started on pole. Now that that’s out the way, the surprises come in. Nico Hulkenberg started alongside him on the front row for Force India. Could he get his first Formula 1 podium?
The less we mention that, the better. Jenson Button in the lackluster McLaren-Honda started third on the grid, Honda’s best grid position since their return to Formula One in 2015. Could Honda get back to their winning ways? Back in these times, nobody could have predicted what would happen for Honda, and if you could, you’re lying.
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More surprises included the poor showings by both Red Bull Racing drivers, as they lined up with Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place and “new boy” Max Verstappen in eighth, one position ahead of the struggling Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. “Struggling Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel” — why does that ring a bell?
Entertainment had already struck before the lights even went out as the Manor — remember them? — of Pascal Wehrlein — remember him? — had parked himself two grid slots too many. The German proceeded to prove to everyone he knew the rules better than most, as he reversed into his correct grid slot before the lights beamed, ultimately avoiding a penalty.
The lights went out and Hulkenberg, frankly, did a Hulkenberg as he dropped to fifth place coming out of turn one. Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Ricciardo all made their way around his outside. However, “The Hulk” snapped back at Ricciardo with a slipstream up the hill and retook fourth at the famous turn three. More about that corner later on.
After the usual opening lap shenanigans, the drivers all followed suit as tire management became a priority. McLaren-Honda’s airtime decreased as Raikkonen made his way past Button into second place at turn four. Lap 11 introduced the first round of pit stops, with Nico Rosberg being the first driver to make his.
It is easy to forget the awful tire compounds that were used back then. The ultra-softs were particularly popular this round, and Formula 1 then introduced the hyper-softs with the hyper-hards or whatever they were called. It was just awful.
Anyway, back to the race. It wasn’t until lap 22 when Hamilton decided to stop and have the soft compounds put onto his car, the same as his teammate. However, a mistake in the pits allowed Rosberg to jump his teammate, reviving the much loved “angry Hamilton”.
But away from the front, Kevin Magnussen was being Kevin Magnussen and annoying the drivers around him. This time it was Wehrlein. A run up the hill for Wehrlein allowed him to make a move into turn three, but multiple direction changes from Magnussen in the banana-like Renault prompted an angry radio message, creating another addition to Magnussen’s impressive list of drivers who don’t like him.
Ah, lap 27, where Ferrari’s dreams faded. The camera suddenly cut to the main straight to see Sebastian Vettel rebounding off the inside wall, sliding across the track, nearly collecting another car and ending up next to the outside wall.
A right rear tire failure put an end to his afternoon. Did Ferrari cause their own undoing once again by leaving Vettel out too long? It was another bump in the road for what was a troubled 2016 campaign for Ferrari.
However, it did bring the Safety Car out. So it wasn’t all bad. Normal service was resumed afterward, with Mercedes leading with a one-two while the Red Bulls fought with Raikkonen for the final place on the podium.
Button was still putting on a strong show, fighting with the Sauber of Felipe Nasr and the Haas of Romain Grosjean for seventh position. The move didn’t work out, but it was a nice effort from him.
Strategy again was key as both Mercedes made their second stops with Rosberg maintaining the lead on new super softs while Hamilton could only use a scrubbed pair of softs.
It is so much easier having just softs, mediums and hards; we should not take the current compounds for granted.
Back to the Red Bull vs. Ferrari battle again. Verstappen had a quiet day, finding himself in third place with a handful of laps left, but his teammate had anything but. A nice ding dong with Raikkonen left Ricciardo taking a risk by making a late pit stop for a fresh set of tires in an attempt to chase down the Ferrari. Long story short, the risk didn’t pay off.
Then came the time we were all waiting for. The final lap struck and Hamilton got a stunning exit from turn one and sat in the slipstream of his teammate. Rosberg took the defensive route but forgot one thing — to turn into the corner.
“The Mercedes touch again!” cried David Croft as Hamilton was forced wide. Many forget the fact that Rosberg tried his hardest not to allow Hamilton back onto the track, hugging the left side of the track, but it was to no avail.
Hamilton took the lead as the camera did a quick jump to Toto Wolff’s table punch — one of many. As they raced into turn four, the yellow flags were being waved for what most people thought was the debris coming from Rosberg’s front wing.
But then the camera panned to the sad sight of Sergio Perez’s Force India sinking into the gravel after a brake failure. Speaking of Force India, Hulkenberg started on the front row, right? Where was he now? Oh, he retired in 19th place. Didn’t even notice.
Verstappen and Raikkonen walked into second and third place as they passed the limping Mercedes of Rosberg.
There was good news for Manor, however. A strong showing all weekend from Wehrlein saw him bring home a point, his first career point and the last point Manor would score in Formula 1. No one knew they were going to fold at the end of the year.
More good news was that Button managed to bring his McLaren-Honda home to sixth place, scoring eight crucial points for them at the time.
Let’s just hope that the 2020 season opener can live up to the name of the Austrian Grand Prix and provide everyone with what is some much needed entertainment while adding some drama into the mix as well.