Lewis scored the 85th victory of his Formula One career, his first of the 2020 season and his second win at the Red Bull Ring. Valtteri finished the race in P2, giving the team its first 1-2 finish of the 2020 season and 54th in Formula One.
Today's race marked the 200th start since Mercedes-Benz returned to Formula One as a works team in 2010.
Valtteri (43 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by six points from Lewis (37 points). The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (80 points) leads McLaren (39 points) by 41 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Stephanie Travers, Petronas Trackside Engineer, accepted the Constructors' trophy on behalf of the team.
Toto Wolff: I think we can be very satisfied with this weekend, with a great drive to victory for Lewis and Valtteri coming home to secure a 1-2 finish for the team. It's been a tremendous job from everybody to get our worries from last weekend under control and deliver this level of performance. The gearbox issue was fixed, and the suspension concerns were still not 100% comfortable, but in the end, it was all good. This track hasn't been too kind to us in recent years, but we were never really troubled here and bringing the two cars home like this is a nice result. Now we look ahead to Budapest and the final round of this triple-header. We have been starved of motor racing for so long, so we can't wait to be back out on track again in just a couple of days. We just love the stopwatch, the brutal honesty of it and the Hungaroring is a great track and a very different challenge to Spielberg, so it will be interesting to benchmark ourselves there.
Andrew Shovlin: A perfect result: well done to the drivers and to the team! And especially to everyone who was involved in getting on top of the electrical issues that we had last week. We only had three days to understand the problem and produce parts in time for free practice, but we seem to be in a good place now which is a huge relief. That certainly helped us have a much smoother race today. The car was pretty strong, and we were able to do what we needed in stint one. Lewis built a gap to Max and Valtteri got through the traffic so that we were in position to undercut or force him into stopping. We'd wanted to run a bit longer with Lewis on the first stint but we were approaching backmarkers so we decided to bring him in and bank the position. Valtteri stayed out to create an off-set tyre strategy to Max but again we decided to box as we approached some backmarkers at the end of the opening stint. The second stint for Lewis was straightforward, he was just managing his gap and looking after the car and power unit. Valtteri had a bit more on his plate; he lost a big chunk of time with some backmarkers who were racing each other. Despite that, Valtteri was able to put in some great laps and was forecast to catch him the end of the race, then Max suffered a bit of damage along with tyre degradation and Valtteri reeled him in more quickly, making a great pass to take the position. It's fantastic to leave here with two wins and leading both championships; it's not been our favourite track in recent years but we're now looking forward to getting going again in Budapest in five days' time.
For Scuderia Ferrari, the Styrian Grand Prix was all over after little more than 20 seconds. Following a difficult qualifying yesterday, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were in the mid-field and collided at Turn 3 after the start. Both SF1000 cars suffered significant damage.
The German came slowly round to the pits with damage to the rear end, while Charles tried to continue, pitting for new tyres, opting for the hards. However, the damage to the floor of his car was too serious for him to be able to continue safely. Therefore, after completing one more lap, he came back in to the pits to retire.
After incidents like this, the saying goes that it's best to get back on track as soon as possible and the calendar ensures that will happen, as next Sunday sees the third round of the championship, the Hungarian Grand Prix, take place at the Hungaroring.
Mattia Binotto, Team Principal: "It is painful, very painful, to see both our cars back in the garage after just a couple of laps. Incidents like this can always happen when you start in the middle of the pack and it's pointless to apportion blame. It's the worst possible end to a weekend that was already very disappointing. It's true we took no real part in the race, but we can't hide behind the collision that eliminated both cars. However, now is not the time for accusations. Instead, we must just get on with our work. Difficult moments can bring out the best in people and I'm sure that will be the case now."
Christian Horner: "Whilst it's good to get our first podium of the season, it's frustrating to not quite have the pace to challenge for the win today. Mercedes were quicker than us and strategically they had more options. We covered them with Max on the medium tyre and he was running comfortably in second but he sustained some front wing damage from the kerbs which I don't think helped his tyre degradation. He pushed Bottas to the end but P3 was the optimum for him today, albeit somewhere ahead of the rest of the field. Alex seemed to struggle in the first half of the race despite a couple of good moves on Ocon and Sainz. After the pit stop his pace improved and he fought hard to retain fourth place, keeping a very fast Sergio Perez behind him. It has been a huge Team effort from everyone back at the factory who enabled us to bring upgrades this weekend in order to close the gap and we will continue to push on all fronts. It's great to be racing again and now our focus is on Hungary where we hope to close the gap further."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "Second race in a row here in Austria and another good performance from the team and both drivers. It's great to see both cars finish in the points, confirming we're making progress in the right direction. We could see that both in dry and wet conditions we have a car that can fight with the competitors around us, which is obviously very encouraging moving forward. It will be very interesting to see if we can now carry this performance and momentum into Hungary and to other tracks with different characteristics.
"We want to apologise to Carlos for the issue we had at his first pit-stop, which made his race more difficult than it should've been. The delay cost him several track positions and we sent him into heavy traffic, which ruined his tyres and didn't allow him to fight for the position he deserved to be in today. Carlos didn't give up and did a great job securing the fastest lap, the second time in a row for us. Lando showed he's a fighter despite the pain he suffered during the weekend. He continued to perform and stepped up when it really mattered, especially in the second half of the race and again with some exciting final laps. Great teamwork between the two drivers swapping on track when it was needed.
"Thank you again to Renault for ensuring we got the most out of our power unit and maximising our performance over the course of this weekend in varying weather conditions.
"Tomorrow we start another race week. We'll take away a lot of positives from these first two weekends, but at the same time we'll focus on all the areas we have to improve. As always, we'll use the time next week to analyse in detail what happened, try to learn from it and come back stronger in Budapest.
"Well done to the FIA, F1 and the local promoter here in Austria, who allowed us to race again in the safest manner possible. Finally, a massive thank you to our partners and fans for their continued support, which has been incredible again despite not being able to be at the track with us."
Renault DP World F1 Team's Daniel Ricciardo finished in eighth place in Sunday's Pirelli Styrian Grand Prix with team-mate Esteban Ocon retiring from the 71-lap race in Spielberg, Austria.
After starting from fifth place, Esteban began on Pirelli's Soft tyres. He lost a position on lap one before holding onto sixth place in the early part of the race. But, after Daniel passed him on lap 19, the Frenchman was forced to retire six laps later as a result of a cooling issue on his Renault R.S.20.
Daniel started from eighth on Medium tyres and, after overtaking Esteban, set his sights on a top six finish. He progressed to fifth after his pit-stop for Softs on lap 37.
After a battling effort to hold on to sixth place, Daniel was forced into evasive action to avoid a collision at Turn 3 three laps from the chequered flag. The move relegated Daniel from sixth to eighth and he narrowly missed snatching the position back at the final corner.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "Lots of emotions after a weekend like this one. We had good emotions after qualifying yesterday with both cars reaching Q3 and Esteban who showed a very strong pace in extreme conditions, demonstrating his outstanding driving skills in his second qualifying with us. Today, the emotions were much more painful after another retirement for one of our cars caused by exactly the same issue as last weekend. We had put lots of effort to return, examine the parts in Enstone, and send it back to the track, but clearly there is something that we missed. This poor level of reliability is, obviously, not acceptable in a field that is so tight. The race also showed that we need a bit more pace against our direct competitors. Daniel had a good race and he did well to defend for so long. Overall, the prevailing feeling is one of disappointment, however, we should not deter from the fact we've improved massively at this track compared to previous years. The car has made huge steps forwards but so have the other teams. Now it's gloves off for the rest of the season."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "We came away with a P10 but to be honest our cars lacked race pace today and we have not been as competitive as we should have been. Pierre's car took a hit on the right rear at the start of the race and there are some signs we have suffered some damage as a result, so we now need to investigate this. Dany had a cleaner race and worked hard to finish 10th today making no mistakes. We should be pleased with finishing in the points, but overall we expected more from our package today and a detailed analysis will be conducted to ensure we understand all the factors behind today's performance and address the key points ahead of the next race."
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: "After a difficult Saturday, we recovered well to score some important points this afternoon with both cars. The end of the race was a bit messy, but we gave it everything in those final few laps. Both drivers performed well with some strong overtakes to move forward from their starting positions. Sergio enjoyed a great battle with Albon over fourth place, while Lance was fighting with Ricciardo and Norris. It's a shame there was contact with Albon because the resulting front wing damage dropped Sergio to sixth place at the flag. Despite the late drama, we still come away with 14 points and take more encouragement from the car pace as we prepare for next week's race in Hungary."
If battling performances brought home points, we'd have quite a few to show for this second week of action at the Red Bull Ring. Both Kimi and Antonio put in good performances in a good car, displays that in other occasions would have produced a top ten finish. However, this was not one of those days, and a combination of starting positions that didn't truly reflect the pace of the car and circumstances during the race conspired to leave us outside the points.
We leave Austria with a lot of positives: a better understanding of our new C39; the confidence of being able to fight for top ten finishes in most races and to be in the thick of things come Sunday; and, most importantly, two points to our name to kick-start our campaign.
We will take this knowledge and this feeling to Hungary, where the action resumes next weekend. A different track, a different challenge... but the same spirit to take it on.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "We got so close to the points but in the end we couldn't clinch that all-important tenth place. It's disappointing to leave empty handed, but we definitely have a lot of positives to take with us. Our pace was an improvement and we could fight on track with cars that used to be ahead of us. Starting from the back after yesterday's qualifying put us on the back foot and so did the time Kimi lost having to avoid the Ferrari crash, but that we could recover to nearly claim another top ten was a sign of things going in the right direction. We will need to carry this momentum to Hungary next week."
Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean finished P12 and P13 respectively at the second race of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Styrian Grand Prix, held at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.
After the torrential rain that drenched the circuit on Saturday the skies cleared for Sunday's track action, albeit with cooler temperatures compared to Friday's running.
Magnussen started P15 on the Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires while Grosjean was mandated to begin from the pit lane after essential work was carried out on his VF-20 post-qualifying, contravening Parc Ferme regulations. Magnussen made a strong getaway and moved up to P12 on a frantic opening lap which claimed both Ferrari drivers to accident damage at turn 3. Grosjean also started on the Red tires and joined the rear of the train, holding P17.
Magnussen came in for a fresh set of Yellow medium tires on lap 32 of the 71-lap encounter while Grosjean remained on track until lap 38, when he too came in for a set of the medium compounds. Both drivers adhered to instructions from the pit wall in order to give the team its best chance at making progress - and that strategy paid off when Magnussen passed Antonio Giovinazzi for P12 on lap 69. Grosjean followed his team-mate through a few turns later to move into P13 and both drivers hunted down Kimi Raikkonen in an enthralling finale. Magnussen fell just two-tenths shy of Raikkonen while Grosjean was only half a second behind his team-mate.
Guenther Steiner: "It was a better weekend than last weekend. The race was actually quite interesting, at least for us. The driver comments were a lot more positive than last weekend. We still need to find some pace. We at least showed here that we can race in our group. It's a good starting point and hopefully we can continue this trend in Hungary. While last weekend was very disappointing, and we went away almost broken, now we're really looking forward to the next race to see if we can do any better and improve on our results from here."
George Russell finished 16th and Nicholas Latifi 17th in the Styrian Grand Prix. The Brit started 11th on the soft Pirelli tyre, with the Canadian 18th on the medium.
Both drivers ran a one-stop race, Nicholas pitted first on lap 32 for the soft Pirelli tyre and George followed on lap 34 for the medium.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: It was a tough day today. We knew that we had outperformed the car yesterday with George and we were prepared to be defensive, but we didn't think that today would be quite so tough. On a positive note, we got both cars home and we made some clear improvements to the car from last weekend. Our drivers were able to race each other cleanly, and the opportunity to race at the same venue in cooler conditions was very valuable for Nicholas's understanding of the Pirelli tyres.
We need to go through everything again in the next couple of days and see where we can find some extra pace for next week in Hungary. There were some good things from this weekend but overall it is clear that the car needs improving in all areas.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Pirelli-titled Steiermark race from pole, stopping just once to move from P Zero Red soft to P Zero Yellow medium tyres.
Both Mercedes drivers, who finished first and second, used the same strategy, but with Hamilton stopping seven laps earlier than his team mate.
Renault's Daniel Ricciardo was the highest-placed finisher to begin the race on the medium tyres, ending up eighth at the finish after a long opening stint.
Alpha Tauri was the only team to use the P Zero White hard tyre in the race (apart from Ferrari and Charles Leclerc briefly) with Daniil Kvyat scoring a point in 10th.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Carlos Sainz made an extra stop for soft tyres at the very end of the race, to try and claim the extra championship point for fastest lap - which went to Sainz with a new lap record.
Mario Isola: "We had dry conditions for the first time since Friday, although as expected the ambient and track temperatures were lower than those seen during the race last week, making it a comfortable one-stopper even with the two softer compounds. Although there was a free choice of tyres for all drivers at the start this week due to the wet qualifying, the majority still chose to start on the soft, confirming the consistent performance shown by this compound here last weekend. Some drivers stopped twice today to go for the extra point for fastest lap, which was claimed by Carlos Sainz setting a new track record: an indication of the progress that these cars make not only from year to year, but also week to week. We're satisfied with the performance of all the tyres throughout both Austrian race weekends, during which we saw a huge variety of conditions that ranged from torrential rain to track temperatures in excess of 50 degrees."
