70th Anniversary GP: Tyre dominated race for Williams Racing

The grid for the fifty two lap 2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix would see the Williams racing Team drivers starting from 15th and 18th with George Russell leading team-mate Nicholas Latifi. At the front it would be Bottas on pole from Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Stroll, Gasly, Leclerc, Albon and Norris tenth. The top ten drivers except Verstappen would all be using the medium tyre for the start. Verstappen would be on the hard tyre. The Williams drivers would be on the medium tyre. On his way to the grid George would comment to his engineer "Car felt a bit on the nose , difficult to say with these tyres and the wind ....we can leave it where we are and I can just adjust tools when needed." Outside the top ten those on the hard tyre would be Vettel, Sainz, Kvyat, and Raikkonen with the rest on the medium.

The grid would complete their parade lap and with the start it would be Bottas leading with the William drivers 17th and 18th with George leading Nicholas. Hamilton was second followed by Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Stroll, and Ricciardo sixth. Vettel had spun on the opening lap and would drop to last and was currently 19th. Nicholas had dropped to 20th while Albon had pitted on lap eight changing to the hard tyre. He would come out last as we saw George move up to 16th as a result of pits stops. Gasly would also pit taking on the hard tyre with George now 14th and Nicholas 17th. Vettel was up to 14th while at the front Bottas was still leading from Hamilton and Verstappen. George would pit on lap eleven changing to the hard tyre returning in last. Nicholas would also pit also taking the hard tyre returning in last place. George was now 18th with eleven laps completed.

Both Mercedes were having blister issues with their medium front tyres. Norris would pit on lap fourteen changing to the hard returning in 13th. Bottas would pit on lap fifteen taking the hard tyre returning in sixth. The order was now Hamilton, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Stroll, and Ricciardo fifth. Hamilton would pit on lap sixteen taking on the hard tyre returning in sixth behind Leclerc. Ricciardo had also come in taking on the medium and returning in tenth. Hamilton would move into fifth as Hulkenberg pitted on lap seventeen taking the hard tyre and returning in seventh.

Verstappen was now leading from Stroll and Bottas. For Williams they were running in 18th and 20th. Grosjean would pit taking the hard and would return in 20th. This would see George and Nicholas 17th and 19th. Stroll would pit from second on lap twenty joined by Leclerc. Both would take the hard tyre with Stroll now sixth and Leclerc 12th. Verstappen was now leading and looking to conserve his tyres. Kvyat would pit from eighth taking on the hard and returning in 15th. Leclerc would pass Norris for tenth on lap twenty two. Nicholas would get past Magnussen for 18th. Magnussen would pit taking on the hard tyre and returning last. Sainz who had started on the hard would pit joined by Ocon, and Vettel. They would return in 11th for Ocon, 13th for Sainz and 15th for Vettel. Gasly would pit from tenth changing from the hard to another hard tyre returning in 19th.

With twenty five laps completed the order was Verstappen, Bottas, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Norris, Albon and Ocon tenth. George had pitted again taking on a new set of hard tyres dropping to 19th. Nicholas was now 16th. Verstappen would pit on lap twenty eight taking on the medium tyre. Verstappen was now second but he would get past leader Bottas. Nicholas would also pit again taking on new hard tyres and would return in 19th with George now 18th. Norris would pit on lap thirty one dropping to 13th and changing from hard to a new set of hard tyres. The pit stops would continue as Hulkenberg would pit changing to new set of hard tyres returning in sixth. Albon was also in taking new hard tyres and returning in 11th. Ricciardo had spun dropping to 12th. Stroll would also pit returning on new hard tyres returning in sixth. Bottas and Verstappen would both pit with the pair on the hard tyre. Hamilton was now leading with Verstappen now second followed by Bottas.

Giovinazzi would pit taking on the medium dropping to 18th as Sainz came in returning in 14th on the hard tyre. Leclerc was now fourth followed by Hulkenberg Stroll, Albon, and Ocon as both Kvyat and Ricciardo pitted. Albon would pass Ocon for eighth as Ricciardo dropped to 17th seeing George 16th. But Ricciardo would get past seeing the Williams drivers 17th and 18th. Grosjean would it on lap forty one dropping to 18th. George would pit again on lap forty two dropping to 19th but now on the medium tyre. Nicholas would say "Did George have a problem seems very slow." Hamilton would pit from the lead with ten laps remaining returning in 4th. Nicholas was 16th and George 19th. Hamilton would start to close the gap to Leclerc who was in third. Hulkenberg would pit from fifth taking on the soft tyre returning in seventh.

Nicholas would pit again changing to the medium returning in last. George was now 18th. Hamilton was now past Leclerc and in third and closing in onto Bottas. Hamilton would get past Bottas to take second while behind Albon was able to get past Stroll for fifth. Verstappen would complete the final lap to take a memorable victory in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Leclerc was now fourth followed by Albon, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Norris and Kvyat tenth. The Williams drivers would finish in the final two positions with George ahead of Nicholas. Not a memorable race for the Williams team as they continue to struggle come race day. Nicholas would say to his engineer that the pace was there, the car was feeling great if we had been let by he could have had quite a different. George would comment that his race was incredibly hard with the right rear tyre going away quickly. Definitely a disappointing race for both drivers made even harder by the management of their tyres during the race