Hamilton reaction.
Giles Richards' race report
Updated
What drama we had at Mugello. There were two big pileups, two red flags, three restarts and only 12 drivers finishing the race. But the end result was the same. Lewis Hamilton won his 90th race and will go to Russia in two weeks looking to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of grand prix wins. It was a great day for Alexander Albon, Ferrari saved a little bit of face and fans returned to F1 for the inaugural race at Mugello. Thanks for joining and I’ll leave you with this taste of the madness.
Lap 7 restart at Mugello = carnage 😮 💥
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
Four drivers = OUT
And all four walked away unscathed, thankfully 🙏#TuscanGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/d8crtpUa9H
Updated
Albon’s third place was the first podium finish for a Thai driver, according to the commentators. A wonderful effort, and timely given his seemingly precarious position at Red Bull as thoughts turn to driver lineups for next year.
Updated
Anthony McGrath takes issue with my analysis of Ferrari’s day. “Sad day for Ferrari when ninth and 10th is clawing back respect at a home track,” he says. “If I was team principal I would simply tell to drive quicker!”
Tuscan Grand Prix result in full
Where do we start?! 🤯#TuscanGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Cf3eSjnrdh
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
Updated
Hamilton speaks
“It was like three races in one day,” says Hamilton. “it’s incredibly tough. All those restarts, total focus was needed. My heart is definitely racing. It’s crazy to be here and have 90 grand prix wins.” He finishes by saying: “Justice for Breonna Taylor.”
Albon says he is relieved after grabbing his first podium finish. “It was tough out there and I had to work for it,” he says. “I can breathe and it’s good to be here. It’s brutal here but there was more adrenaline going through my body than. anything. It’s fun to drive.”
Ferrari can be fairly happy with their 100th race, given recent performances. For the first time in five races both drivers finished in the points. Norris gets his fifth top six finish of the season.
🏁 END OF RACE (LAP 59/59) 🏁
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
And breathe...
TOP 10
Hamilton
Bottas
Albon
Ricciardo
Perez
Norris
Kvyat
Leclerc
Raikkonen
Vettel#TuscanGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/L9g5X1eoLZ
George Russell ran out of time and had to settle for 11th. His best ever finish but not his first championship point.
That was fantastic from Hamilton. So calm amidst the Mugello madness. Ricciardo is fourth, Perez fifth and Norris sixth.
Updated
Hamilton wins inaugural Tuscan Grand Prix
Bottas has to settle for second, and Albon gets third.
Updated
Lap 58/59 Hamilton extends his lead to close to 2sec with the fastest lap of the race. He’s untouchable.
Lap 57/59 Bottas narrows the gap on Hamilton to 1.4sec but he is frustratingly just out of DRS range. That poor restart ruined his victory chances.
Lap 56/59 Russell goes really wide but gets away with it. Can the 22-year-old from Kings Lynn in Norfolk get that first point.
Lap 55/59 Hamilton’s lead is 1.7sec. Albon is a further 1.2sec back. This looks like the podium with four laps to go.
Lap 54/59 Both Ferraris are in the points. They’re only ninth and 10th, and Russell is closing, but they’re clawing back some respectability at their home track.
Lap 53/59 Albon is a man possessed. He’s chasing down Bottas in second. So much speculation about Albon’s Red Bull future. This is the right way to respond.
Lap 52/59 Hamilton is 3sec ahead of Bottas. Russell is up to 11th chasing his first ever point. In front of him are Vettel and Leclerc, then Raikkonen with a 5sec penalty. Can he do it?
Updated
Lap 51/59 Albon is up to third. He’s never been on the podium before but he swooped past Ricciardo there. The Red Bull team erupt in joy.
Lap 50/59 Raikkonen is handed a 5sec time penalty that will be added after the race. He’s one of four drivers without a point this season, and he’s in eight currently.
Lap 49/59 Russell was a big loser at the restart. He’s back in 12th and last place after going backwards off the grid. Norris is in sixth on Perez’s tail.
Lap 48/59 Albon is fourth and Perez fifth. This battle for third promises to be quite something.
Lap 47/59 Bottas hits back at Ricciardo and whips round the outside. Ricciardo bowed to the inevtable there,. It’s thee podium finish hee wants, no point in fighting Mercedes.
Restart Hamilton gets a great start and reaches the firs corner in fromt, but Ricciardo gets an even better one. He’s taken Bottas to go second. Oh Valtteri!
Updated
The restart is imminent, and the race to the first corner between Hamilton and Bottas should be immense. Bottas wanted a safety car. A red flag was even better for him. Now, can he pounce?
It’s been a crazy, dramatic, unexplainable race, but Derek Hurst has a point about Mugello. “Maybe with all the incidents that is why the GP are not held here.” he says. Two weeks ago I blogged the Belgian GP at Spa. Hamilton dominated from pole to the podium. I’d take this any day, as long as no drivers are injured.
Daniel Herlihy is following our coverage from a village in southern Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand, where he says “with mozzies as big tuppence pieces. He doesn’t want F1 messed with. “F1 is an elite sport,” he says. “If your car isn’t good enough do something about it. Mixing up fields does a huge disservice to the 100’s of people that work for the team and it is very much a team. The drivers are not being trite and saying it for the cameras when they talk about it they really mean it. Imagine your 80-hour working week creating a car to win starting at the back of the grid – it would be pretty soul crushing. Besides – the teams have people who are smarter than the average bear. They’d not race in the sprint or game it some how. It’s not a sport for the lowest common denominator – there is plenty of opportunity for random events to impact significantly whether like last week or weather events.”
Updated
The race will restart in 10 minutes at 5.12pm in Italy, 4.12pm BST. This is how the grid will look with only 12 drivers left in this riveting first grand prix at Mugello …
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes
2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes
3 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault
4 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull
5 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point
6 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren
7 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia AlphaTauri
8 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari
9 George Russell (Gbr) Williams
10 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari
11 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing
12 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas
That was some spin and collision into the wall from Stroll. He lost all control, through no fault of his own …
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 13, 2020
A puncture sends Lance Stroll off and into the wall at high speed, he's out of the car and okay.#SkyF1 | #F1 | #TuscanGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/uiqEYtKa4g
Bottas will sense a huge opportunity here. He passed Hamilton off the grid at the start, before Hamilton did the same to him after the first red flag. The headwind gives the driver in second the advantage it seems, and both times previously the leader has had no answer off the grid.
Second red flag of the race
Stroll’s crash brings out another red flag. “I got a puncture,” says the Racing Point driver. Replays show bits of the front wing were flying off even before he went in to the gravel. His car is being retrieved from the wall, and it is still on fire. We’ll have another restart from the grid.
Updated
Hamilton makes his pit stop to match Bottas. No advantage to the Finnish driver. He will restart in second on the same tyres as his dominant Mercedes teammate.
Lap 44/59 That’s a real shame for Stroll, who was chasing another podium. Looks like he a puncture may have donee for him.
Lap 43/59 Stroll goes into the gravel and the safety car is out. Bottas pits straight away and Hamilton doesn’t. Will this be crucial? Stroll’s race is over.
Lap 42/59 The latest standings make grim reading for Ferrari …
Ricciardo is currently in the podium positions! 👀#TuscanGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Lhr4MQEgOT
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
Lap 41/59 No one can touch Hamilton out front. A win here would move him within one of Michael Schumacher’s record.
Lap 40/59 Albon sets the fastest lap of the race in fifth as he chases his first podium finish. He’s right on Stroll’s rear.
Lap 39/59 Ricciardo is on course for a podium finish. It’s been a long wait, and Stroll and Albon are right behind him.
Lap 38/59 Leclerc pits, a 3.1sec to be exact, and comes back out behind Vettel in 11th.
Lap 37/59 There is a big scrap between Leeclerc and Kvyat for eighth place. Deressingly for Ferrari, Leclerc won’t be able to keep the AlphaTauri at bay for long.
Lap 36/59 Hamilton’s lead is now almost 7sec.
Lap 35/59 Taha Omer gets in touch as a “a concerned Grosjean fan” to say he’s not happy with the Mercedes tactics. “I’d love to see some excitement with the top two but Toto Wolff and Mercedes are letting us fans down again,” he says.
Lap 34/59 Norris moves into seventh after overtaking Leclerc. Raikkonen goes past Grosjean, with a minor touch, and moves off the back.
Lap 33/59 Red Bull produce a sub 2sec pit stop when Albon comes in, and he exits in fifth.
Updated
Lap 32/59 Bottas pits and Hamilton follows not long after. It’s the hard compound tyre, and he exits way ahead of his teammate.
Lap 31/59 Stroll comes in now, and when he comes back out he’s behind Ricciardo. Albon is now in third, but he hasn’t pitted yet.
Lap 30/59 Kvyat pits, allowing Ricciardo back up to fifth. Theses stops may, as ever, have a bearing on this race. What will Bottas and Hamilton do?
Lap 29/59 A poor pit stop from Raikkonen means he comes out in last place, 20sec behind Grosjean in 12th. That stop was 12.9sec.
Updated
Lap 28/59 Ricciardo pits, amd Norris overtakes Perez. That course of events takes Norris up to fifth.
Lap 27/59 Russell is ninth and Vettel 10th, but the Ferrari is making no impression against the Williams. How the mighty have fallen.
Lap 26/59 Leclerc’s move to the hard tyres has the desired effect. He zooms past Grosjean. He wasn’t happy with the old ones …
LAP 21/22:
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
Leclerc is passed by first Albon, then Perez.
The Ferrari driver radios his team 📻
"Those tyres are ****** minus 2. As quick as we can get on the other set would be good"
He pits, and returns to the track in P13#TuscanGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/skdNk5kzW9
Lap 25/59 Hamilton says he is struggling a bit with grip, on the medium tyres. Bottas is on the same, while the next six are on softs.
Lap 24/59 Hamilton’s lead over Bottas remains at 2sec, while Stroll is a further 12sec back, with Ricciardo on his heels.
Updated
Lap 23/59 Stroll is in third, after his podium finish at Monza, but many are unimpressed. “Stroll is lucky to keep his seat at Racing Point,” Malcom Wei says by email. “He is mediocre to the last degree compared with Perez, and were it not for the fact that his rich dad owns the team, he’d be the one replaced by Vettel next year. Hopefully, Aston Martin Racing will realize next year that Vettel and Perez would’ve been a much better pairing than Vettel and Stroll. Sebastian deserves someone who can be competitive with him, not someone who hasn’t gotten a single podium since his Williams days.”
Lap 22/59 Leclerc is a sitting duck. Perez, who was so easily passed by Albon just a couple of laps ago, flies past Leclerc. The Ferrari driver pits to go on to hard tyres.
Updated
Laps 21/59 The current top five is …
Hamilton
Bottas
Stroll
Ricciardo
Albon
Lap 20/59 Leclerc is going backwards. The Ferraris are so slow on teh straaights and Albon roars past into fifth. The dream is fading at Mugello.
Lap 19/59 Ricciardo is absolutely flying. He roars up to the rear of Leclerc and then swoops past with ease. That was pure DRS, and painful for the Ferrari fans in the stands.
Lap 17/59 Stroll overtakes Leclerc to move in to the final podium place, while Albon whips past Perez into sixth.
Lap 17/59 Game on for Ferrari! Vettel surges past Raikonnen on the outside to go into 11th. Leclerc continues to hold off Stroll in third.
Lap 16/59 Stroll attacks Leclerc on the outside but the Racing Point closes the door.
Lap 15/59 Ricciardo swoops past Perez into fifth on the home straight. That looked very easy. Now the Australian has Stroll in his sights.
Lap 14/59 Vettel is last but one in 12th place, but Leclerc is going well in third. Is a podium position possible at Ferrari’s home track in their 1000th race? There’s along way to go.
Lap 13/59 Hamilton posts the fastest lap, and opens up a 2sec gap on Bottas.
Lap 12/59 Russell gets past Raikonnen and is back up into 10th, his position at the restart. Can the Briton win his first championship point?
Lap 11/59 Hamilton’s car was smoking at the restart but he picked up Bottas’s slipstream and his teammate was no match for his speed.
Lap 10/59 Leclerc is in third, Stroll is fourth and Perez is fifth.
Third restart
Lewis Hamilton roars away and overtakes Bottas at the first corner. Revenge for the first start.
Chris Pollard is a Sergio Pérez fan. “Racing Point’s treatment of Pérez is shameful,” he emails. “Invoking a blatantly unfair clause, which was only triggered because of coronavirus-related circumstances, and nothing to do with personal performance, is cynical and selfish. Lawrence Stroll is turning Formula One into a nepotistic circus. Lance Stroll would not hold down a seat in any decent team, and he’s only there because daddy is paying for the team. Lawrence Stroll needs to play the game fairly, or get out of Formula One. This isn’t his personal toy.
“No one is going to take Lance Stroll seriously until he has the guts to walk away from this gravy train, and prove himself in a team on the basis of his ability, rather than his family DNA.”
Updated
We went three years without a red flag, and now have had two in the last two races. Only 13 cars will restart the race this time. We’re almost ready for the third attempt to start this race, the second from the grid. How many will make it to the chequered flag?
Thankfully all the drivers seemed to have walked away unhurt. Sainz seemed to have injured his hand, but he says it’s nothing serious …
Im OK and looks like everyone is OK and that’s the main thing because the crash was very scary. We were racing and suddenly looks like we weren’t racing. I started braking and by the time I saw everything it was too late. It’s something to learn from here because its not a nice feeling to do 280kmh and suddenly find three cars stopped in the middle of the track.
Updated
All the cars have now been recovered from the track, but there is lots of damage to report. Leclerc has had a change of tyres. Ocon’s brakes were on fire so the team are checking with the FIA what they are allowed to replace. Russell, Raikkonen and Grosjean’s cars are all being furiously worked on.
Updated
Verstappen is pretty phlegmatic after his third DNF of the season. “On the formation lap the engine stalled,” says the Red Bull driver. “Same problem as in Monza I suppose. I had a good launch, went round Lewis but then had no speed.” He adds that if he hadn’t been hit from behind he would have had to retire anyway.
Latifi, Magnussen, Giovinazzi and Sainz are now out of the race, along with Gasly and Verstappen. That means the top two from last week’s Italian Grand Prix are no longer with us here. It looks like there will be a standing start now, mercifully given what’s just happened.
Red flag after huge pile-up at the restart
“That was stupid from whoever is at the front,” Grosjean says down the radio. “Do they want to kill us or what.” There are only 14 cars left in the race after another huge pile-up. Bottas left it to the last second to speed off after the safety car, but the cars at the back had already started racing, and had nowhere to go.
Updated
Lap 7/59 Bottas bolted away at the restart but there’s a huge crash at the back. There is debris everywhere. The safety car is back out.
We are close to a restart, will Hamilton be able to snatch back the lead?
Mugello has served up drama within its first few seconds of F1 racing. Watch the dramatic start in all its glory …
Lights out and away we go! 🚦
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 13, 2020
Chaos on the opening lap! 💥@Max33Verstappen is OUT ❌
Safety Car ⚠️#SkyF1 | #F1 | #TuscanGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/RmtXcd59KC
“I’ve got no power,” Verstappen shouted down the radio as he was swallowed up by the cars behind him before the first corner. It got worse when Raikkonen ploughed into the back of him. Hamilton had no answer to Bottas, who almost pointed his way past the world champion before racing into the lead. We’re still awaiting the restart, but this looks like being some race.
Gasly and Verstappen out of the race
Gasly tangled with Raikkonen off the start, Sainz spun and Verstappen was rear ended after struggling off the start, maybe due to the pre-race issues he had.
Lap 1/59 Bottas gets an excellent start and flies past Hamilton off the grid. Carlos Sainz spins, and Max Vertappen is into the gravel and out of the race. The safety car is out. What a dramatic start.
Updated
The drivers are on the practice lap. One man to watch out for is Sergio Perez, who looked fast in practice after losing his Racing Point ride for next season to Sebastian Vettel. He was not happy about how he found out. How will he respond today?
Updated
Red Bull have worked their magic and it looks like Verstappen will be on the start line. That’s great news for the race. The young Dutchman is the sort of driver they love in Ferrari country.
Looks like Max's car is ok - he's being strapped into the cockpit 👍
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
The start is moments away! 🙌#TuscanGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/VPCel5HMzS
Updated
A reminder of the standings in the drivers’ championship …
1 Lewis Hamilton 164
2 Valtteri Bottas 117
3 Max Verstappen 110
4 Lance Stroll 57
5 Lando Norris 57
6 Alexander Albon 48
7 Charles Leclerc 45
8 Pierre Gasly 43
9 Carlos Sainz 41
10 Daniel Ricciardo 41
11 Sergio Perez 34
12 Esteban Ocon 30
Updated
Max Verstappen has a problem and thee mechanics are rushed into action. It looks like the engine overheated on the reconnaissance laps.
A nice touch at the track where Ferrari great Michael Schumacher spent so much of his time …
😍@SchumacherMick takes his father's title-winning F2004 around Mugello! 🙌🔴#SkyF1 | #F1 | #TuscanGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/yZF4Tsn0ZG
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 13, 2020
There is a strong headwind down the straight which may give Bottas and the Red Bulls a chance to attack Hamilton off the start. The championship leader admits it could be a factorr. “It is not going to be great,” he tells Sky Sports F1. “But I don’t allow myself to be worried. What will be will be. The wind is definitely gonna make it harder today. I just hope everyone stays safe.”
The sun is beating down and the air is hot an hour north of Florence …
Mercury rising 🌡
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
Excitement levels 🔝#TuscanGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/3wOdMGWUqi
Mugello has 2,800 fans at the track today, as spectators make a welcome return to F1, but what can the drivers expect? The 3.26-mile circuit is rapid, and Lewis Hamilton has warned the 59 laps will provide a gruelling challenge. Mark Webber, the nine-time grand prix winner said, did not pull any punches in his assessment …
Not one driver’s head is going to stay on around that track. Their necks are going to snap in half. It’s so, so quick
This is a special day for Ferrari, and their contribution to F1 has been honoured at this race. For the romantics out there Giles Richards’ interview with Piero Ferrari is well worth a read …
Valtteri Bottas was the dominant force during practice at Mugello, but Lewis Hamilton did some extra homework on Friday night and snatched pole on Saturday. The Red Bulls are waiting to pounce, while Pierre Gasly will start in a disappointing 16th after his maiden grand prix win at Mona a week ago. This is the full grid …
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes
2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes
3 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull
4 Alexander Albon (Tha) Red Bull
5 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari
6 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point
7 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point
8 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault
9 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren
10 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Renault
11 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren
12 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia AlphaTauri
13 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing
14 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari
15 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas
16 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia AlphaTauri
17 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing
18 George Russell (Gbr) Williams
19 Nicholas Latifi (Can) Williams
20 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas
Updated
Preamble
When Formula One gave Mugello its first grand prix, no one expected Ferrari would arrive at their home track in such disarray. They’ve not registered a point in the last two races; Charles Leclerc is seventh in the championship while Sebastian Vettel is 13th; the team are sixth in the constructors’ standings behind Racing Point and Renault; and when Vettel announced this week he had signed with Aston Martin from next season, he revealed things had got so bad at Ferrari he had considered retiring.
But sport is nothing without hope and on Saturday in qualifying Leclerc injected the home fans with a huge dose of it. The Monégasque will start the Tuscan Grand Prix fifth on the grid after surpassing all expectations and he will have support in the stands, with some fans allowed back for the first time this season. It’s also Ferrari’s 1000th race, of course, so what price an emotional return to the podium for F1’s glamour team?
Lights out at 2.10pm (BST)
Updated
.png?w=600)
