Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Silverstone, 2020

2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix grid

2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Valtteri Bottas has taken pole position for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg.

Row 11. Valtteri Bottas 1’25.154
Mercedes
2. Lewis Hamilton 1’25.217
Mercedes
Row 23. Nico Hulkenberg 1’26.082
Racing Point
4. Max Verstappen 1’26.176
Red Bull
Row 35. Daniel Ricciardo 1’26.297
Renault
6. Lance Stroll 1’26.428
Racing Point
Row 47. Pierre Gasly 1’26.534
AlphaTauri
8. Charles Leclerc 1’26.614
Ferrari
Row 59. Alexander Albon 1’26.669
Red Bull
10. Lando Norris 1’26.778
McLaren
Row 611. Sebastian Vettel 1’27.078
Ferrari
12. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’27.083
McLaren
Row 713. Romain Grosjean 1’27.254
Haas
14. Esteban Ocon 1’27.011
Renault
Row 815. George Russell 1’27.455
Williams
16. Daniil Kvyat 1’27.882
AlphaTauri
Row 917. Kevin Magnussen 1’28.236
Haas
18. Nicholas Latifi 1’28.430
Williams
Row 1019. Antonio Giovinazzi 1’28.433
Alfa Romeo
20. Kimi Raikkonen 1’28.493
Alfa Romeo

Penalties

Esteban Ocon: Five-place penalty for impeding George Russell

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

42 comments on “2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix grid”

  1. Happy for Hulk. Embarrassing for Stroll. Not surprised one bit!

    1. It took one race for Hulk to be able to drive the car better than Stroll. Embarrassing.

      1. Not even ‘one race’ strictly speaking but yeah, doesn’t look good on Stroll

      2. This grid is more embarrassing for Vettel and maybe even Sainz than it is for Stroll.
        And I don’t think Kvyat will be too proud of himself, nor would Kimi be if he cared.

    2. Wow well done Hulk.

      Making me wonder what the last 6 seasons would have been like if we had had:

      – cars Other than Williams and FI using Merc engines
      – other drivers in those cars…

    3. Guess it’s even more embarrassing for Perez since Stroll has our qualified him & been faster more than once this year.

      The hate Stroll gets is crazy. He’s been driving really well this year & showing some very good pace/performances yet still nobody gives him credit. He could win a race on pace & people would still be calling for his head.

      Glad the fans aren’t running teams.

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        8th August 2020, 15:28

        @roger-ayles

        Credit today should go to Hulkenberg, but I don’t know why so much hate is going to Stroll. The race is what matters and lets be honest, Hulkenberg has thrown away quite a few possible opportunities for podiums in the past. A crazy race in Baku and Germany 2019 both could well have been opportunities for him. Kobyashi, Perez, Bottas, Magnussen, Grosjean (you could even possibly say maldonado) have all managed podiums in midfield cars on at least one occasion. I think Hulkenberg often failed to continue doing a great job when huge opportunities came. That was his weakness IMO. I still think he certainly deserves a spot on the grid and is better than a lot of drivers overall, but I don’t think he’s as good as many suggest. I think he’s average at best based on his last season. The thing that is impressive is coming back and managing to get used to F1 again so quickly.

        We still haven’t had the evidence that Hulkenberg is going to dominate Stroll in a race since Perez (who overall looked better than Hulkenberg) got comfortably beaten in Hungary. His qualifying was impressive, but I’d wait and see before getting too excited about the race. Qualifying is usually Stroll’s weakness.

      2. Lol perez has dominated stroll the whole season except one freken race. Seriously just look at the point gap

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          8th August 2020, 16:14

          @carlosmedrano

          You are not considering everything. In the first race, Stroll had to retire early on. With all the other retirements that occurred, Stroll likely will have finished just behind Perez (or ahead) given perez’s tyres were so worn by the end. 7th will have been realistic given the speed difference between him and Gasly’s car. He lost a few points at least there.

          Saying dominated the whole season is a bit of a stretch when 2/3 of the qualifying sessions so far have been Stroll beating him. His pace was far worse in Styria, but if I’m honest, Perez’s mistake at the end resulted in Stroll just finishing behind by 0.066 seconds. Stroll is one of the weakest qualifiers on the grid, and he outqualified Perez twice. That is extremely poor from perez if you ask me. Admittedly not the race, but still.

          In Hungary, Stroll dominated Perez – by over 30 seconds. That hasn’t been the other way round when we can actually compare the race this season has it? You implying Perez has dominated Stroll is quite clearly wrong.

          Like you say yourself. “seriously just look at the points gap”. Well lets have a look at the end of the last race they both raced. Stroll had 18 and Perez had 22. That hardly implies like that looking at the points gap they Perez has dominated…. Include the few points Stroll missed in the first race and he likely would be ahead not even including Britain.

          Nothing shows that it will continue like this as we have barely had any races, but in your own words, of “whole season” you make it look like a lot of races has gone by. In that case, since they have been together, Stroll has dominated 33.3% of the time on race day and the points would actually be practically even with equal luck.

          I think perez is far better and will easily finish ahead in the standings, but your view on things is not very accurate if you are amused by someone else giving some credit to Stroll. So far when they were both in the car, I couldn’t say Perez has done a better job this season – but we haven’t had enough time to accurately judge the outcome for the rest of the season.

      3. Correct! Perez certainly does not come out of this much better than Stroll. Perez Is an above average driver. No more, no less. He completely fluffed his opportunity at a “big” team and has not done anything of much note since. Put a VET or a RIC or a SAINZ in the same car and he’s beaten 9 times out of ten. RP should clear out both current drivers and get in VET and HULK.

  2. Good grid, expect a very close race for the minor places tomorrow.

    1. minor places

      P3-P20 ;)

      1. P4 and lower, Max will end up on podium in the end(somehow).

        1. Max might have a tire advantage, being able to run longer in free air when others have had to pit and again, getting free air after he does pit.

  3. COME ON HULKENBERG!! YES!

  4. I’ve been down on him in the past but must say great effort by Hulk. Hope he can actually race tomorrow! Also, great to see Renault and Alpha Tauri competitive with Red Bull and quicker than Ferrari. Just think how exciting it would all be if Mercedes weren’t way in front!

    1. Hope he can actually race tomorrow!

      If Mercedes let’s him this time :P

      1. @coldfly you mean RacingPoint?

        1. Mercedes AMG high performance powertrains.
          It was the PU which didn’t want to start.
          @neiana

          1. @coldfly I wasn’t talking about the car… ;)

  5. How can Albon be that slow? He should’ve beaten the four between him and his teammate to at least get P5.

    1. Albon is wasting a drive, I really think they need to try Gasly (again) next year or look outside at Hulk or Perez (if Vettel does replace him at Beta Mercedes)

    2. Maybe Red Bull and Alpha Tauri got the cars mixed up and gave Gasly the second Red Bull, and Albon the second Alpha.

    3. Well, he is only about half a second off on Max. What to think though of Ocon who got trounced by over 7 tenths!

      1. someone or something
        8th August 2020, 16:47

        @bascb
        He didn’t though. Their gap was 0.375 seconds in Q2, on the same tyres. Then Ricciardo increased the gap in Q3 on the softer compound.
        Not saying their gap isn’t a lot, but realistically, it was only half of what you made it out to be.

    4. It’s obvious to anyone with a bit of common sense. Red bull make sure the number 1 car is miles faster then the number 2 car to make their pr number 1 driver look amazing

      1. It’s amazing that no one noticed Horner running on the track and putting a stick in Albon’s spokes.

  6. Mercedes 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th on the grid!

    1. They are THAT good! Supreme!

    2. Lance kind of messes that up really doesn’t he but whatever ;)

  7. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
    8th August 2020, 15:12

    Won’t be surprised if we get a protest against the Racing Point cars for this specific session.

  8. A great grid.
    Hulk putting a (technically) illegal car on third is best for me but Mr Ricciardo has also shone today.

    Seb? – what? If you can’t be bothered dude then let someone else have a go.

    1. @nullapax It is kind of ridiculous seeing Hulkenburg doing such a good job and then hearing that Vettel is lined up for Perez’s RP berth. Make very little sense in racing terms.

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        8th August 2020, 16:26

        This is hulkenberg doing such a good job for a single outing. We can’t judge too much about it.

        In the past with vettel, he looked similar to now in Red Bull 2014 and looked like he’s just had enough, but then arguably was the best driver on the grid when he went to ferrari in 2015. I don’t think he will be this good if / when he moves, but I think he will be better. So far this season, I don’t think vettel has looked that bad Leclerc took him out one race and he actually looked significaently better than Leclerc in Hungary. Last time out shouldn’t really be compared as he had technical problems the whole way through practice which won’t have helped at all.

        Stroll has been rather up and down this season. I think Hulkenberg deserves to be in F1, and this may sound harsh, but I still think vettel is more capable than Hulkenberg and I believe Vettel will turn around with a fresh start.

        Even last year in the driver rankings on this site, Vettel was rated 10th and Hulkenberg 15th. Over a season, I just haven’t been that impressed with Hulkenberg in his recent years. Not Vettel either really, But I think he has more potential at a new team.

        I feel I’m going to get some disagreeing with me, but I’m prepared!

        1. Personally, I would rate Sergio Perez higher than both Vettel and Hulkenberg at the moment. I think it would be a mistake for Lawrence Stroll to get rid of him for either of them, particularly given the sponsorship money that Pérez brings, and the fact that they would have to pay a lot to get him out of the contract.

          1. @f1frog Exactly – signing Vettel would seem to me like a complete vanity move – trying to draw (positive) attention to the team, without it actually bringing any benefits. Certainly I’d rate both Perez and Hulk above Vettel, with Perez having proved marginally better than Hulk as well and bringing plenty of cash – I can’t see why they’d get rid of him.

  9. Scary looking P4-P10 behind Hulk.

    1. Yes, plus he’s never started well when he started near the front of the grid, and he barely did a few practice starts in this car… I don’t expect a fun first lap for him, and Stroll’s struggles last week aren’t encouraging either. Needs a good amount of luck for a podium shot, but he’s done all he could have so far.

  10. Well with it being the same venue and the same people I had hoped we would see it on UK tv this week as well as last time. There will be Coultard and co presenting remotely from the same venue as they were live from last time. Still if the owners don’t mind loosing 75% of the uk audience by restricting it to Sky they should be aware of the continuing disappointment and disaffection which is leaking F1 fans. This will be my last year following
    F1. I rely heavily upon GP+ and Joe’s blog but since he has stopped all comment half the feeling of community has gone. Even his FB link is no more. I shall be 75 next year and even the forthcoming free tv licence is now gone.
    So the end is nigh for F1 as far as I am concerned, its back to the BTCC.

    Oh yes and well done Hulk, just try and keep it together in the race!
    Still missing Other John!

  11. Impressive from Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Gasly and I cant believe I am saying this but Romain Grosjean.
    Curious with the gap between Verstappen-Albon and LeClerc-Vettel.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      8th August 2020, 19:05

      @pinakghosh
      The gap between vettel and Leclerc was actually almost identical to Bottas vs Hamilton last week. It wasn’t quite as big as it looks. Verstappen vs Albon was half a second. Only two tenths more, but albon always seems that far off so it isn’t really surprising.

      Gasly seems really impressive in qualifying, but when both him and Kvyat have both been on track on race day, Kvyat has looked far quicker a couple of times. Especially last time out. He climbed from p19 to p12 and was within Gasly’s DRS by lap 12. Then his wheel failed. Gasly has been lucky with the number of retirements in some races including his team mates bad luck. I think his race pace is a weakness of his that is still evident from when he was at Red Bull. Kvyat has a big problem in qualifying it seems, but his pace actually looks good in the race.

      I’m not sure what is up with Haas. They are up and down and all over the place (like some will say their drivers are). But Grosjean was less than 2 tenths off Sainz. And if people think Sainz did a poor job, well he was only 2 tenths behind Norris. P14 and that 0.7 second advantage over magnussen was extremely impressive. It probably won’t get noticed by many.

      I think Ricciardo and Hulkenbeg were the main stand outs. For the ability of the car, I think ricciardo was the most impressive today. Barely behind Verstappen. Given the circumstances and lack of experience in the car, anybody could argue and say Hulkenberg was the most impressive though.

Comments are closed.