In Pictures: Tuscany 2020
The F1 circus arrived at gorgeous Mugello Circuit for the very first time as Scuderia Ferrari celebrated their 1000 Formula 1 race. And it was utter domination from Mercedes-Benz with Bottas leading the three free practices and Hamilton’s Pole on Saturday and win on Sunday, making it their 100th F1 win of the modern era.
QUALIFYING
Qualifying was a fierce battle between Lewis Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas, but a late spin from Renault's Esteban Ocon brought out a yellow flag, hindering Bottas and many others from setting a last lap time. Hamilton's 1:15.144 lap is the fastest ever recorded lap at Mugello.
RACE
On Sunday, Andrea Bocelli sung the Italian National Anthem and exactly at 2:10 pm local time the race started, but it was very short lived as Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Kimi Räikkönen, and Romain Grosjean collided on lap one, resulting in Gasly and Verstappen retiring from the race and Räikkönen having to change his front wing. A separate incident at the same corner involving Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lance Stroll led to front wing damage for Sebastian Vettel as he ran into Sainz. The safety car was brought out.
On lap 6, the race restarted, with Bottas leading the pack. The start-finish line is midway the front straight at Mugello and Bottas, as it is his right to do, was pacing the pack behind him, but the midfield drivers accelerated up to racing speed before the leaders did and were forced to brake, triggering a collision involving Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Antonio Giovinazzi, and Nicholas Latifi. All four drivers retired from the race and the red flag was brought out. During the red flag period, Esteban Ocon was forced to retire due to a brake failure.
The race was restarted with a standing start off the grid and Hamilton was able to overtake Bottas, but on lap 43, Lance Stroll, who was running in fourth place, crashed heavily into the barriers at turn 9, reporting tire failure. The race was red flagged again. The race was restarted with a standing start yet again. This time Hamilton held off Bottas and it was Leclerc's Ferrari in third place. He defended for 17 laps, but his SF1000 could not cope with the attacks. At the end it was Hamilton winning his 90th race in F1, with Bottas second and a well-deserved third place for Red Bull's Alex Albon.
QUOTES FROM THE PODIUM
““I’m really happy and it took a while to get here! It’s something I’ve always wanted and one way or another we haven’t been able to get it so to be there today is pretty special. It’s really nice to give the Team something back after they’ve supported me since day one and show them what I can do. It was a tough race and definitely not one of the easy ones. This track is brutal, especially the high-speed corners in sector two, and with so many re-starts to manage we had our work cut out. When we lost two positions on the final re-start, I was fired up as I wasn’t going to let the opportunity of a podium go by so I pushed hard to get third and I’m over the moon with today’s result.””
““It feels like we had three races today and it was really tough out there. The first part of the race went well for me, but also was pretty short. I had a dream start and maintained my position on the first Safety Car restart. Once I lost the position to Lewis on the second start, it was really tricky to get it back. I did everything I could and was pushing really hard, especially in the middle stint so I could maintain the distance. But when you are behind, you need to slide the car more and that uses up your tires. There weren’t many opportunities once I lost the place, but that’s how it goes, and I just need to keep pushing and keep trying to get better. And that’s what I’ll do.””
““Today was one of the most challenging days, physically and mentally, I’ve experienced. I’m pretty exhausted to be honest, but it feels fantastic to win such a crazy race. It’s all a bit of a daze and felt like three races in one day. It was incredibly tough out there, this track is phenomenal and Valtteri was pushing me hard, so it wasn’t easy at all. A huge thank you to the team here at the track and back at the factories for all their hard work to make this result possible, and this is a brilliant circuit, so I’d love to come back in the future.””
