I mean…what just happened?!
And just when everybody was calling F1 boring… Pierre Gasly took his maiden victory in a crazy 2020 Italian Grand Prix, being joined on the podium by Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll.
Things had started in a regular manner with a Mercedes 1-2 in qualifying; although, Max Verstappen dropped from his obligatory third to fifth on the grid, as the Red Bull’s struggled around the high-speed circuit. Valtteri Bottas’s reactions to the lights going out were slow and he was jumped by Carlos Sainz on the run to the first corner, but that was not to be the end of his troubles. Lando Norris – who had put a recent run of poor opening laps behind him and climbed from sixth to fourth at the start – passed the Mercedes around the outside of the second chicane and, after Bottas ran wide at the second Lesmo, he was also passed by Sergio Pérez and Daniel Ricciardo on the run to the Ascari chicane.
Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was sailing away at the front. Without the ability to use a conservative engine mode, the true pace of the Mercedes was revealed and Hamilton, despite taking it pretty easy, had built a 14-second gap by lap 20. But that’s when the normality stopped.
Kevin Magnussen’s Haas broke down at the pit lane entrance and, after a lap of yellow flags, triggered a safety car. Mercedes brought Hamilton in to pit under the safety car, as is often standard procedure to gain a cheap pit stop, but crucially they had missed that the pit lane entry had been closed. The world champion was somewhat a victim of his own success, as the rest of the field had those extra 14 or so seconds to prepare and only the Alfa Romeo team made the bizarre decision to bring in Antonio Giovinazzi.
Mercedes were immediately aware of their mistake and Hamilton may have had some time to build a gap to the field, but just one lap after the safety car had ended, Charles Leclerc suffered a massive crash as he lost the car halfway through the 150 mph Parabolica.
That led to a red flag whilst the barriers were repaired and meant that Hamilton’s ten-second stop-go penalty was confirmed during the race suspension. We then experienced the novelty of a post-red-flag standing start, with the top 10 on the second grid being Hamilton, Stroll, Gasly, the Alfa Romeos, the McLarens, Bottas, Nicholas Latifi and Daniel Ricciardo.
Stroll got away poorly and Gasly found himself in the lead once Hamilton had served his penalty; Mercedes elected to take it immediately as the rules state it must be served within three laps and another safety car would have left them in even bigger trouble. Hamilton rejoined 20 seconds behind the pack with only 24 laps remaining.
Kimi Räikkönen was briefly in second but, on soft tyres in an underperforming Ala Romeo, quickly began to fall back down the order. In the four laps it took Sainz to pass the Finn, Gasly had opened up a four-second gap. The Spaniard would then go about closing that down in the remaining laps and eventually got to within the one-second DRS window on the final lap.
Gasly withstood intense pressure and didn’t put a foot wrong, successfully holding off the faster McLaren and taking an incredible victory for AlphaTauri, at the same track where a young Sebastian Vettel had taken the team’s only other victory 12 years ago, under their former guise of Toro Rosso.
It was the first win for a French driver since Olivier Panis in 1996 and the entire paddock – perhaps aside from Esteban Ocon – seemed thrilled for the affable Frenchman. “Honestly, it’s unbelievable, I’m not sure I’m realising what’s happening right now, it was such a crazy race”, Gasly said. “I’ve been through so much in the space of 18 months, my first podium last year and now the win in Monza!”
Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll had understandably mixed emotions – initially at least – after the former’s near miss and the latter’s poor start throwing away his chance at the win. Norris produced an excellent defensive display, holding off Pérez in the first half of the race and then Bottas – the Finn struggling with overheating issues throughout – for a well-deserved fourth. Ricciardo finished sixth, equally unable to pass the Mercedes, and Hamilton completed a stunning recovery to seventh place and took the fastest lap.
That meant, against all odds, that his championship lead actually remained the same – now 47 points from Bottas, rather than Verstappen. These are the days when Bottas absolutely has to be seizing his opportunity to close the gap to his illustrious teammate, but spending the race stuck behind first a Renault and then a McLaren, whilst Hamilton carves through the field to finish just two places behind him, is not a good look.
Time for a Change to the Rules?
This race weekend brought attention to a rarely-experienced set of circumstances.
Hamilton took responsibility for having missed the boards that stated the pit lane had closed but, in his defence, they are not ideally located. Two red crosses on the far left of a right-hander, which look pretty similar to the usual yellow/orange SC signal, is surely not obvious enough. As Hamilton pointed out to his team over the radio, he was looking right as that’s where the incident was and this post from Reddit shows the delayed reactions of all the teams.
This is less a question of fairness than it is one of safety. The pit lane was closed to protect marshals who were about to wheel a car to the pits and yet more than one team didn’t notice that the pit entry was closed. Daniel Ricciardo missed the same warning signal in Brazil four years ago.
Surely a large screen could be positioned just before the pit lane entry, jutting out from above the catch fencing? Or more crucial information on the steering wheels, rather than just the light indicators for flags? More to the point, why do the FIA not have the ability to send out a radio message on all channels – to drivers and teams – for major safety messages? Other racing series utilise this.
In addition to this point, there was the fact that Stroll was then able to take his mandatory tyre change during the red flag – ironically, gaining a free pit stop à la Hamilton and Giovinazzi – the unfairness of which, Norris drew attention to. We also saw footage of Mercedes and Red Bull trying to convince the stewards that minor bodywork damage to Bottas and Alexander Albon was a safety risk and should be allowed to be changed. A red flag should be like pausing the race, simple as that.
And then there was the qualifying fiasco again – not as dramatic as last year’s but still dangerous in both P3 and Q1. It feels as though the FIA does not make changes until an accident forces them to address issues properly.
A Bad Day for Mercedes…But Worse Still for Red Bull and Ferrari
On one of the rare occasions where Mercedes have an off-day, Red Bull would have hoped to have been there to capitalise, but things never really got going for them at Monza.
Verstappen crashed during Practice One and, by the end of qualifying, it was apparent that they simply were not the second fastest car this weekend. The Dutchman also lost places on the opening lap and spent the first half of the race stuck behind Bottas, before retiring with an engine issue not long after the restart.
Albon had another weekend to forget. Whilst ‘only’ three tenths off Verstappen in qualifying, he went off at the first corner and then received a five-second penalty for a clumsy defensive manoeuvre on Romain Grosjean, which resulted in his damaged floor. He never recovered and finished ahead of only Giovinazzi, after the Italian’s ten-second stop-go penalty.
All whilst the driver they demoted last year was winning the race in their B-team…
Ferrari, on the other hand, never expected to be in a position to challenge Mercedes, but would nonetheless manage to disappoint. Vettel got caught up in the Q1 mayhem and qualified 17th, with Leclerc only managing 13th on outright pace – the first time since 1984 that neither Ferrari qualified in the top 10 at Monza.
Things would get worse on race day, however. A brake failure for Vettel thankfully happened at a safe point of the circuit but, obviously, produced a retirement on lap 6 and then there was Leclerc’s crash at the halfway point. At least the Tifosi weren’t there to witness it all.
The next race is Ferrari’s 1000th and the first ever at their home track in Mugello. They will be desperate to produce something remotely worthy of the occasion.
Farewell to the Williams Family
Finally, a quick word for the Williams team, who were recently bought out by US investment company Dorilton Capital. Claire and Frank Williams announced that the Italian Grand Prix would be their final race in charge of the team, as they stepped aside to allow the new owners to run it.
Tributes were ubiquitous and the affection in which the Williams family are held was clear to be seen throughout the paddock. Their driver George Russell delivered a touching message upon finishing the race, thanking them for giving him his chance in the sport, which was something echoed by many drivers – both current and former – from Bottas to David Coulthard.
It is the end of an era, as the final family-owned team in Formula 1 changes hands, but hopefully the name will remain and the team can continue their recovery up the grid.
The Italian Grand Prix in 90 Seconds (It Needs the Extra 30…)
Answering the Burning Questions
What effect will the new ban on engine ‘party modes’ have over the weekend? It didn’t seem to affect Mercedes in qualifying and may, in fact, have hurt Red Bull who had been pushing for the change. It’s hard to tell on the Monza track, though, so watch this space at Mugello.
Will it bring Mercedes back towards the field as planned? Nope, but other things did.
How badly are things going to go for Ferrari at their home race?.. Pretty badly…
Can Daniel Ricciardo challenge for a podium? Bizarrely, no…considering it consisted of an AlphaTauri, a McLaren and a Racing Point.
