Spielberg bei Knittelfeld (Austria) (AFP)

Faithful to its habits and expectations, Mercedes, with Valtteri Bottas, will take pole position for the start of the first Grand Prix of the F1 season, contested behind closed doors in Austria on Sunday.

In front of the empty stands of the Red Bull Ring but all the same under the eyes of some hikers perched on the mountains overhanging the circuit, his team-mate Lewis Hamilton signed the second qualifying time on Saturday, but the Briton is the subject of two investigations by commissaires for offenses which could lead to a penalty on the grid.

Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Briton Lando Norris (McLaren) won the second row in + qualifiers + even more complicated than expected for Ferrari, with Monegasque Charles Leclerc 7th and German Sebastian Vettel "surprised" by its 11th place.

On a short circuit (4.318 km), the time difference between Mercedes, six-time defending champion drivers and manufacturers, and the others is abysmal, 5/10 between Bottas and Verstappen.

"Mercedes is on a different level," admitted the Dutchman, double holder of the event. In an attempt to overturn the established order, he will bet on racing at 3:10 p.m. (1:10 p.m. GMT) on medium tires, slower but more durable, when the rest of the top 10 have chosen soft tires.

"There is nothing to lose. We will try to complicate things as much as possible for them," the 22-year-old pilot, masked and two meters away from his rivals, promised during a video press conference. become the norm in the age of coronavirus.

- "best team" -

"We show year after year that we continue to be the best team," said Hamilton, who is aiming for a seventh consecutive constructors' title with the Silver Arrows and a seventh since 2008 among drivers to equal Michael's record. Schumacher.

A domination that the Briton, who, like part of the paddock, camps in a "mobile home" close to the circuit rather than risking transmitting or catching the coronavirus at the hotel, attributes to "openness" and the "unity" of his stable.

Surprised by the gap widened over the competition in just one lap, the reigning champion still believes that the GP should be "tighter", the pace of the Red Bulls being closer on the long stints and the higher temperatures expected having not done the Silver Arrows business in recent years.

The performance gain obtained by Racing Point inspired by the victorious Mercedes of 2019 is also confirmed, with the sixth position for the Mexican Sergio Pérez and the ninth for the Canadian Lance Stroll.

The French Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Esteban Ocon (Renault), back in F1 after a year without a steering wheel, and Romain Grosjean (Haas) are 12th, 14th and 15th.

- Black Lives Matter -

While F1, with a rainbow logo, and Mercedes, with a livery and black coveralls, have adopted initiatives to show their support for the Black Lives Matter anti-racism movement, drivers could do the same on the wire rack.

"We will potentially see people show their respect in their own way," said Hamilton, the spearhead of this movement, who regrets, however, a lack of unity with some of his counterparts.

The season should have started in mid-March in Australia but was delayed by the new coronavirus pandemic. It begins, at a minimum, with a series of eight races in Europe until early September, for the hour behind closed doors and following a strict sanitary protocol.

In the garages, all are required to work gloved and masked and the pilots requested to keep helmets and gloves. Kissing is prohibited after a good result, even if we have seen Bottas and Hamilton deviate from the protocol by giving the hug bare hands when getting out of the car.

The first podiums on Saturday, in F3 and F2, gave an idea of ​​what is being prepared for the queen race on Sunday, with physical distance between the first three, carefully disinfected trophies and champagne decidedly very difficult to drink behind a mask ...

© 2020 AFP