The 2020 Spanish Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2020) was a Formula One motor race held on 16 August 2020 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. The race was the sixth round in the 2020 Formula One World Championship, and took place one week after the previous round, the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

Background Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

The opening rounds of the championship were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the planned opening round in Australia was called off two days before the race was due to take place; prompting the FIA to draft a new calendar. The Spanish Grand Prix was originally intended to be held on 10 May.

Championship standings before the race Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship by 30 points from Red Bull-Honda driver Max Verstappen. Four points behind Verstappen was Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led by 67 points from Red Bull Racing. In third place was Ferrari, who were 58 points behind Red Bull and 2 points ahead of fourth-placed McLaren.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as those on the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. Roy Nissany took part in the first practice session for Williams in place of George Russell.

Tyres

The C1, C2 and C3 tyre compounds were made available for teams to use by Pirelli, the hardest three tyre compounds available. These were the same compounds used at the 2019 event.

Free practice Bottas topped the first practice session ahead of teammate Hamilton. Hamilton went on to top the other two sessions, while Esteban Ocon (driving for the Renault team) spun into the wall during the final session while attempting to avoid a collision with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

Qualifying Qualifying report Hamilton claimed his 92nd pole 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 two Racing Points of Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll. Alex Albon qualified in sixth, over seven-tenths of a second behind teammate Verstappen. McLaren teammates Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris qualified in seventh and eighth while Charles Leclerc qualified ninth for Ferrari with a time less than a tenth of a second slower than Albon's time. Scuderia AlphaTauri driver Pierre 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's Sebastian Vettel and AlphaTauri's Daniil 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 but Daniel Ricciardo could only manage thirteenth place while Ocon was fifteenth. Lap times were slower than those in qualifying for the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix because of the hot August weather.

Qualifying classification DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3144 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:16.8721:16.0131:15.5841277 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:17.2431:16.1521:15.6432333 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda1:17.2131:16.5181:16.2923411 Sergio PérezRacing Point-BWT Mercedes1:17.1171:16.9361:16.4824518 Lance StrollRacing Point-BWT Mercedes1:17.3161:16.6661:16.5895623 Alexander AlbonRed Bull Racing-Honda1:17.4191:17.1631:17.0296755 Carlos Sainz Jr.McLaren-Renault1:17.4381:16.8761:17.044784 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1:17.5771:17.1661:17.0848916 Charles LeclercFerrari1:17.2561:16.9531:17.08791010 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1:17.3561:16.8001:17.13610115 Sebastian VettelFerrari1:17.5731:17.168N/A111226 Daniil KvyatAlphaTauri-Honda1:17.6761:17.192N/A12133 Daniel RicciardoRenault1:17.6671:17.198N/A13147 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari1:17.7971:17.386N/A141531 Esteban OconRenault1:17.7651:17.567N/A151620 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:17.908N/AN/A16178 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1:18.089N/AN/A171863 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1:18.099N/AN/A18196 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1:18.532N/AN/A192099Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari1:18.697N/AN/A20107% time: 1:22.253Source:

Race Race report The race took place in dry conditions with track temperatures varying between and . After starting in second, Bottas was overtaken by Verstappen and Stroll at the first corner. Bottas then used the drag reduction system on the fifth lap to pass Stroll and move back up into third place. Hamilton won the race by 24 seconds, lapping everyone except for Verstappen and Bottas, who completed the podium in second and third place. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc retired from the race with a mechanical problem after he spun at the chicane. Leclerc's teammate Sebastian Vettel finished seventh after driving for more than half the race distance on one set of soft tyres.

Race classification DriverConstructorTime/RetiredPoints144 Lewis HamiltonMercedes66 1:31:45.279125233 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda66 +24.177318377 Valtteri BottasMercedes66 +44.752216418 Lance Stroll65 +1 lap512511 Sergio PérezRacing Point-BWT Mercedes65 +1 lap410655 Carlos Sainz Jr.McLaren-Renault65 +1 lap7875 Sebastian VettelFerrari65 +1 lap116823 Alexander AlbonRed Bull Racing-Honda65 +1 lap64910 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda65 +1 lap102104 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault65 +1 lap81113 Daniel RicciardoRenault65 +1 lap131226 Daniil KvyatAlphaTauri-Honda65 +1 lap121331 Esteban OconRenault65 +1 lap15147 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari65 +1 lap141520 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari65 +1 lap161699 Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari65 +1 lap201763 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes65 +1 lap18186 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes64 +2 laps19198 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari64 +2 laps17 16 Charles LeclercFerrari38 Electrical9Fastest lap: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) – 1:18.183 (lap 66)Source: Notes – Includes one point for fastest lap. – Sergio Pérez finished fourth on the track, but received a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags. – Daniil Kvyat received a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags. His final position was not affected by the penalty.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton132 2 Max Verstappen95 3 Valtteri Bottas89 4 Charles Leclerc45 15 Lance Stroll40Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points1 Mercedes221 2 Red Bull Racing-Honda135 23 Racing Point-BWT Mercedes63 4 McLaren-Renault62 25 Ferrari61Source:

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also 2020 Barcelona Formula 2 round 2020 Barcelona Formula 3 round

Notes

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