Lewis Hamilton won a wild and chaotic Tuscan Grand Prix, which was twice-red flagged and three-times restarted following multiple heavy crashes.
Hamilton, who started from pole, lost the lead to Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas as they duelled into Turn 1, before the race was immediately neutralised by a Safety Car.
A crash involving Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Kimi Raikkonen was the cause, with only the latter escaping retirement as the Red Bull and last weekend’s Italian GP race winner ended up in the Mugello gravel trap.
At the same corner contact between Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz caused the McLaren driver to spin, with Sebastian Vettel then tagging him, forcing the German to pit for a new front-wing.
After several laps behind the red Safety Car – in celebration of Ferrari’s 1000th GP – Bottas controlled the restart only for carnage to follow behind with a pile-up on the start/finish straight involving Antonio Giovinazzi, Sainz, Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen.
All would retire and the race would be red flagged for the first time, with just 14 cars left running, before Esteban Ocon failed to take to the grid for the restart due to overheating brakes, leaving just 13 cars…
Order at the restart: Bottas, Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon, Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Daniil Kvyat, George Russell, Raikkonen, Vettel and Romain Grosjean.
Bottas lost the lead to Hamilton on the restart, but finally a racing lap had been completed. Leclerc would drift backwards as his SF1000 had no answer for the pace of those around him and Lance Stroll lined himself up for another podium finish in third.
It wasn’t to be though as a failure at the rear spun the Racing Point into the wall at high speed, causing a second red flag and yet another restart.
This time Hamilton kept the lead, but Bottas dropped behind Ricciardo who had inherited third after Stroll’s crash, before the Finn quickly recovered to hand Mercedes another 1-2.
Ricciardo wouldn’t get his first Renault podium as Albon attacked in the closing laps to instead secure his maiden top three finish.
Ricciardo would end up with another fourth-place ahead of Perez, Norris and Kvyat, with Leclerc the best-placed Ferrari-powered car.
Williams’ Russell looked set for his first points having run ninth for much of the race, only to drop back at the final restart.
| # | GAP | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | LAP |
| 2 | V. Bottas | Mercedes | +4.880 |
| 3 | A. Albon | Red Bull | +8.064 |
| 4 | D. Ricciardo | Renault | +10.417 |
| 5 | S. Perez | Racing Point | +15.650 |
| 6 | L. Norris | McLaren | +18.883 |
| 7 | D. Kvyat | AlphaTauri | +21.756 |
| 8 | C. Leclerc | Ferrari | +28.345 |
| 9 | K. Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +29.770 |
| 10 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | +29.983 |
| 11 | G. Russell | Williams | +32.404 |
| 12 | R. Grosjean | Haas | +42.036 |
| 13 | L. Stroll | Racing Point | DNF |
| 14 | E. Ocon | Renault | DNF |
| 15 | N. Latifi | Williams | DNF |
| 16 | K. Magnussen | Haas | DNF |
| 17 | A. Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | DNF |
| 18 | C. Sainz | McLaren | DNF |
| 19 | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | DNF |
| 20 | P. Gasly | AlphaTauri | DNF |
Discussion about this post