Spielberg bei Knittelfeld (Austria) (AFP)

Styria back to normal: Lewis Hamilton, who was down last week for the return of F1, dominated the second Grand Prix of the season on Sunday, again in Austria, where the Leclerc and Vettel Ferraris ridiculed themselves from the 3rd turn.

The qualifications, contested on Saturday in pouring rain, had already suggested the return of the Briton at the top of his form. In search of a seventh world crown that would make him the equal of Michael Schumacher, Hamilton probably annoyed by his initial 4th place at the Austrian GP last Sunday, therefore crushed his class the first GP of Styria of the story, on the same Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, seven days later.

"It's great to be back on track and at this level. The team was great on strategy. I'm thankful to be back in first place. It's been a long time since the last race of the last year. It's a nice step forward after a tough weekend last week, "said Hamilton as soon as he got out of the car.

The image of the day will unfortunately remain much less glorious for the two Ferraris of the German Sebastian Vettel and the Monegasque Charles Leclerc. In the middle of turn 3, when the race had only just started, Leclerc took off on a vibrator while trying to overtake his teammate from the outside, from whom he came to tear off the rear wing.

Conclusion: two withdrawals before we can even talk about the start of the race. A shipwreck.

- Leclerc: "I fucked up" -

"It's my fault. I was stupid, quite simply, you have to admit it when it goes like this," admitted the Monegasque at the microphone of Canal +, just after having apologized to his teammate in front cameras.

A nice failure that already plunges the Scuderia into the crisis, while Leclerc had, in an unexpected way, saved the furniture of the Italian stable last week (2nd) thanks to cascading abandonments and favorable penalties, while Vettel n could have done better than 10th.

"It's a nightmare from which I hope to wake up," admitted the four-time German world champion at the end of his lease with Ferrari.

Everything is fine, however, for Mercedes.

After the inaugural success and full of authority of Valtteri Bottas last Sunday, Hamilton offers a second success in two races to the German brand. Better still, Bottas, long helmed by Dutchman Max Verstappen who finally finished 3rd, gave Mercedes a first double this season and retained the lead in the driver classification.

The second meeting of the season also confirmed the good dispositions of the Racing Points, even if in the end the 6th and 7th places of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, overtaken in the last meters by the exceptional Lando Norris (McLaren 5th), may seem badly paid.

Note also, the solid 4th place of Alexander Albon, on the other RedBull, and the point of the best lap in the race recovered at the end of the race by Carlos Sainz Jr (9th in the race behind the Renault by Daniel Ricciardo).

Again, the spectacle of these single-seaters launched at full speed in the Austrian countryside, without audience, offered surreal images.

The initials and numbers of the pilots in the middle of the battle flashed on the seats of the empty grandstand positioned in the last corner before the straight line, to set the mood. While banners with the pilots' faces decorated another.

Overall, however, the podium ceremony was less sketchy than last week, with more team members allowed to celebrate.

To see what will remain next week of these celebrations, on the occasion of the Hungarian Grand Prix where the movements of British nationals have been restricted by the authorities, because of the Covid-19.

© 2020 AFP