| 2020 Spanish Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 6 of 17[a] in the2020 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 16 August 2020 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 AramcoGran Premio de España 2020 | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Montmeló,Spain | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.655 km (2.892 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 66 laps, 307.104 km (190.825 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy | ||||
| Attendance | 0[b] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:15.584 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:18.183 on lap 66(lap record) | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Mercedes | ||||
| Second | Red Bull Racing-Honda | ||||
| Third | Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2020 Spanish Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2020) was aFormula Onemotor race held on 16 August 2020 at theCircuit de Barcelona-Catalunya inMontmeló, Spain.[3] The race was the sixth round in the2020 Formula One World Championship, and took place one week after the previous round, the70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
The opening rounds of the2020 championship were heavily affected by theCOVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the plannedopening round inAustralia was called off two days before the race was due to take place; prompting theFIA to draft a new calendar. The Spanish Grand Prix was originally intended to be held on 10 May.[4]
Mercedes driverLewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship by 30 points fromRed Bull-Honda driverMax Verstappen. Four points behind Verstappen was Hamilton's teammateValtteri Bottas. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led by 67 points from Red Bull Racing. In third place wasFerrari, who were 58 points behind Red Bull and 2 points ahead of fourth-placedMcLaren.[5]
The drivers and teams were the same as those on the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[6]Roy Nissany took part in the first practice session forWilliams in place ofGeorge Russell.[7]
The C1, C2 and C3 tyre compounds were made available for teams to use byPirelli, the hardest three tyre compounds available. These were the same compounds used at the2019 event.[8]
Bottas topped the first practice session ahead of teammate Hamilton. Hamilton went on to top the other two sessions, whileEsteban Ocon (driving for theRenault team) spun into the wall during the final session while attempting to avoid a collision with theHaas ofKevin Magnussen.[9]
Hamilton claimed his 92ndpole position in Formula One, beating Bottas, his teammate, by a less than a tenth of a second. It was the eighth consecutive year that a Mercedes driver had taken pole for the Spanish Grand Prix. Bottas said that Hamilton's speed advantage came in the final part of the lap. Verstappen was third ahead of the twoRacing Points ofSergio Pérez andLance Stroll.Alex Albon qualified in sixth, over seven-tenths of a second behind teammate Verstappen. McLaren teammatesCarlos Sainz Jr andLando Norris qualified in seventh and eighth whileCharles Leclerc qualified ninth for Ferrari with a time less than a tenth of a second slower than Albon's time.Scuderia AlphaTauri driverPierre Gasly qualified tenth after he could not match the pace he had had in the second part of qualifying during the top ten shootout. Ferrari'sSebastian Vettel and AlphaTauri'sDaniil Kvyat were slower than their teammates and failed to make it out of the second segment. Vettel qualified eleventh and Kvyat twelfth. The Renault cars had looked fast in practice butDaniel Ricciardo could only manage thirteenth place while Ocon was fifteenth. Lap times were slower than those in qualifying for the2019 Spanish Grand Prix because of the hot August weather.[10]
The race took place in dry conditions with track temperatures varying between 42 °C (108 °F) and 50 °C (122 °F). After starting in second, Bottas was overtaken by Verstappen and Stroll at the first corner. Bottas then used thedrag reduction system on the fifth lap to pass Stroll and move back up into third place.[10] Hamilton won the race by 24 seconds, lapping everyone except for Verstappen and Bottas, who completed the podium in second and third place. Ferrari driverCharles Leclerc retired from the race with a mechanical problem after he spun at the chicane.[13] Leclerc's teammateSebastian Vettel finished seventh after driving for more than half the race distance on one set of soft tyres.[14][15]
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| Previous race: 70th Anniversary Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2020 season | Next race: 2020 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2019 Spanish Grand Prix | Spanish Grand Prix | Next race: 2021 Spanish Grand Prix |
