A big crash, red flags and a surprise winner: That was the 2020 Italian Grand Prix!

In its long history, the Monza circuit has seen countless dramas and thrilling, even infarction situations. Today’s race was no exception. Fans were treated to an incredible race that even had to be stopped for half an hour due to a major collision involving Charles Leclerc!

Hamilton has better conditions. Mercedes clearly favours Hamilton over Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes are only running on Lewis. Back at the start of the season, these were the prevailing views among F1 fans. After a few races, however, completely different opinions are beginning to emerge.

Even according to Mercedes fans, Bottas is simply not enough for Hamilton. Today, it was the Finnish driver who, after another team defeat in qualifying, was very determined to say that the Italian circuit was a long way from the first corner and anything could happen.

Hamilton, Bottas, Sainz, Pérez, Verstappen, Norris, Ricciardo, Stroll, Albon, Gasly. That’s what the top ten on the grid looked like. What the Finnish driver must be left with is his guess. A lot happened at the start.

Valtteri apparently overslept and got off to a very bad start. Sainz, Perez, Verstappen and Lando Norris all got past him. However, both McLaren drivers made a perfect start – Sainz was second after the start, Norris right behind him.

It was a tragic start to the race for the home team from Maranello. Sebastian Vettel’s brakes literally burnt out on lap six. Kevin Magnussen of Haas was the other retirement. He said something was broken on his car.

It was at this point, on lap 21, that the drama began. The Danish driver parked his car very awkwardly before entering the pit lane and the safety car had to be brought on track. Now the whole race began to unravel.

Due to Magnussen’s car being towed to the pits, the race management took away the drivers’ opportunity to make the coveted pit-stop. This, however, went unnoticed by Mercedes and Alfa Romeo. Lewis Hamilton and Antonio Giovinazzi completed the stop. Both received one of the harsher penalties for this offence, a 10 second stop and go penalty!

It should be noted that Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc managed to stop before the safety car came out and were subsequently moved up the order. The decision not to stop was made by Lance Stroll in the Racing Point car, who was then in an excellent position to fight for the race win.

On lap 25 we witnessed a horrific moment. Charles Leclerc fell victim to the Ferrari’s oversteer, which meant he failed to negotiate the final corner of Parabolica and crashed hard into the tyre barrier at high speed. The race was stopped and red flags were waved!

The race was stopped for about 30 minutes. Leclerc was examined after the accident and fortunately escaped uninjured. However, on home soil, Ferrari lost its second car on lap 25. The Italian team’s troubles are getting worse. Ferrari is slipping further and further down the grid.

The spectators were treated to a restart from a strong position! Lewis Hamilton has dropped to last place in the race after serving his penalty. Pierre Gasly has taken the lead in the Alpha Tauri.

Lance Stroll then made a driving error that took him off the track for a while. Carlos Sainz Jr. duly took advantage of this and moved up to fourth place. Gasly, Räikkönen, Giovinazzi, Sainz, Stroll, Norris, Bottas, Ricciardo, Ocon, Kvyat.

Max Verstappen dropped out on lap thirty-one for technical reasons. It was undoubtedly clear to all spectators that they would not be able to maintain the high positions of the Alfa Romeo, and so they fell down the order over the following laps. A fighter drive and a furious pace was set by Lewis Hamilton.

In the bowels of the Mercedes, the Finnish driver complained throughout the race that the car was simply impossible to drive without that ‘party mode’. An interesting observation during this Grand Prix is the performance of the Mercedes cars behind, or behind, the other drivers.

The comparison of the top speed in this situation with the Red Bull, for example, was almost even. This may also be the reason why Bottas didn’t find the recipe to overtake Lando Norris for the entire race. Even DRS didn’t help Bottas against his McLaren…

Car set-up and cooling – these were the other issues that Mercedes were struggling with. In the final laps, Sainz pushed hard and was clearly going for the win. After all, Mclaren had last celebrated triumph in the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix! That was when Jenson Button took the win.

However, a famous and flawless drive by Pierre Gasly took away Mclaren’s hopes of victory. “It’s unbelievable that I’m disappointed to be second,” the Spanish driver remarked after the race.

Today was the Faenza team’s second ever victory. The first one was in 2008. Sebastian Vettel, then in Torro Rosso colours, celebrated victory at a rainy Monza. Gasly also ended a long wait. He is the first Frenchman to win a Formula One race in 24 years!

The last time was Olivier Panis at Monaco in 1996. And to make matters worse, Gasly received recognition and a congratulatory phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron!

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