Opening rounds At the season-opening
Austrian Grand Prix, Bottas qualified on
pole position. Hamilton initially qualified in second place but prior to the race, he received a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow down sufficiently for yellow flags at the end of qualifying, dropping him to fifth. Despite both drivers having to deal with gearbox issues which developed during the race, Bottas went on the win the race, the eighth of his career. Hamilton quickly recovered to second place but in the closing laps of the race received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with
Alexander Albon. Hamilton crossed the finish line in second but the penalty demoted him to fourth place. Hamilton took pole position at the rain-affected qualifying session for the , over 1.2 seconds clear of nearest rival
Max Verstappen. Hamilton led most of the race and took the W11's second consecutive victory, whilst Bottas overtook Verstappen in the closing laps to finish second, having started fourth on the grid. At the
Hungarian Grand Prix, the pace of the W11 was apparent when Mercedes easily took a 1–2 in qualifying, with Hamilton and Bottas outqualifying their nearest competitor, third-placed
Lance Stroll, by 0.8 seconds. Hamilton took pole, 0.1 seconds ahead of Bottas. Hamilton would go on to win the race for his second consecutive win and eighth overall at the
Hungaroring equalling the record for most wins at one venue. Bottas made a mistake at the start when he moved slightly just before the lights went out and then stopped his car and got away slowly, falling to sixth by turn one. He avoided a penalty for a jump start and managed to recover to third place, finishing just behind second-placed
Max Verstappen. At the
British Grand Prix, Hamilton led Mercedes to another front-row lockout by taking his third consecutive pole position over Bottas by over 0.3 seconds. Bottas took second by 0.7 seconds over Verstappen who qualified in third. Lewis Hamilton led from pole position at the race start, building up a large lead throughout the race. In the dying stages of the Grand Prix, Bottas and Hamilton both suffered tyre
delaminations on laps 50 and 52 respectively, which caused Bottas to come into the pits which made him drop to 11th place. Hamilton was forced to limp home with his delaminated tyre over the entire final lap, and the gap to second place shrank from 30 to about 6 seconds as Hamilton crossed the line. At the
70th Anniversary Grand Prix, Mercedes were once again unchallenged in qualifying as Bottas led Mercedes to another front-row lockout by edging Hamilton for pole position by only .063 seconds with
Nico Hülkenberg a further 0.8 seconds back. Mercedes struggled with race pace due to high temperatures causing excessive tyre wear and blistering. As a result,
Red Bull Racing driver
Max Verstappen was able to take the lead of the race and win. This was the first time in 2020 that Mercedes failed to win a race.
Mid season At the
Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes continued their dominance in qualifying with Hamilton leading a fourth consecutive front-row lockout, qualifying 0.059 seconds faster than Bottas who was over 0.7 seconds faster than third-placed Verstappen. at the start. At the second pit stop, Mercedes made an error and Russell was fitted with Bottas' tyres, forcing Russell to make another pit stop on the following lap, effectively ending his chances of winning the race. A late puncture then cost Russell a potential podium and he finished ninth with the fastest lap. Bottas finished the race in eighth, having poor performance and old tyres at the end of the race. Hamilton returned for the season finale having performed a series of negative
coronavirus tests ahead of the
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix alongside Bottas, meaning Russell returned to Williams. The Mercedes drivers took second and third on the grid behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen and held those positions during the race. ==Other==