Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Mugello, 2020

Hamilton wins crash-strewn Tuscan Grand Prix

2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000 summary

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Lewis Hamilton scored his sixth victory of 2020 in a crash-strewn Tuscan Grand Prix which was interrupted by two red flags.

The Mercedes driver lost his lead to team mate Valtteri Bottas at the race’s original start, but regained it during the first of two standing restarts which were required during the afternoon.

The Safety Car was deployed soon after the start of the race in response to a crash which eliminated Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly. Verstappen had started slowly and appeared to be heading for retirement when he was hit by the AlphaTauri, which had tangled with Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo.

Carnage broke out at the rolling restart, as several drivers accelerated before the leaders, and a pile-up wiped out four drivers. Carlos Sainz Jnr, Kevin Magnussen, Nicholas Latifi and Antonio Giovinazzi all retired on the spot. The collision is under investigation.

At the second standing start of the day, Hamilton retook the lead from Bottas, and began to draw clear. Lance Stroll moved up into third place behind them, but a rapid Daniel Ricciardo climbed through the field and eventually took third place from the Racing Point.

On lap 45 Stroll appeared to suffer a left-rear tyre failure in the fastest corner on the track, Arrabbiata two. The Racing Point hit the barrier hard, and while Stroll looked unhurt the race was red-flagged so his smouldering car could be recovered and the barrier repaired.

This handed Bottas another chance to pass Hamilton, but at the final standing start he was passed by Ricciardo. The Renault only stayed ahead for one lap, but it was long enough for Hamilton to make good his escape. After Bottas passed Ricciardo, Alexander Albon soon followed him.

Hamilton therefore led a Mercedes one-two, followed by Bottas, while Albon grabbed his first podium finish. Ricciardo came in fourth and Sergio Perez completed the top five.

Lando Norris finished sixth ahead of Daniil Kvyat. A five-second time penalty for crossing the pit lane entry line demoted Kimi Raikkonen to ninth behind Charles Leclerc.

The Ferrari drivers occupied the bottom two places in the points in the team’s 1,000th race, Sebastian Vettel taking 10th. George Russell came in 11th for Williams, narrowly missing out on scoring his first point. Romain Grosjean was the only other finisher.

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2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000 reaction

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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132 comments on “Hamilton wins crash-strewn Tuscan Grand Prix”

  1. Gutted for Danny Ric and Russel.

    1. Literally what my comment was going to be! Was all going so well before that last red flag, so gutted!

      1. Same. I was really cheering them on and then the red flag. I knew ric wasn’t going to be able to keep albon behind him. Arrgh. Can’t beleive he is going to leave Renault and not get a podium.

    2. … Gutted for Max. RB need to wake up on the tech side.

  2. After Red Bull’s request to implement the engine mode rule, their lead driver has retired TWICE due to engine issues. LET THAT SINK IN.

    Russell is cursed literally. Happy that Albon got the podum.

    1. Your remark about Red Bull is what is called a fallacy. You try to connect things that are actually unrelated.

      1. And ironically, you’ve just made a Vacuous Truth fallacy. (As have I)

      2. @passingisoverrated Who says they’re unconnected? True there’s no proof they are, as far as I know, but what proof is there that they’re not? It’s not illogical to make that connection given Red Bull have dropped further behind and had issues. Ferrari have also worsened since. Mercedes probably did and do have more margin to tweak the engine up overall compared to other teams.

        1. Fernando Alonso would have the answer we seek: KARMA!

        2. @david-br I can see why some might suggest that is the case, and I do feel that GtisBetter is perhaps overreacting a bit to the suggestion of a possible like between the two.

          That said, I would have thought it is more likely to be the case that there is a specific hardware issue with this power unit, rather than it being tied into the engine mode regulation change. It is reported that this power unit is the same one which Max used in Monza, and Honda indicated it did suffer from overheating issues in that race prior to him retiring – it was also originally meant to have been used in the Spanish GP, but Honda reverted back to his previous power unit because there was something anomalous in the data which they wanted to investigate further.

          If there were already a few concerns over this power unit in Spain, followed by the power unit being overheated in Monza, it could well be that there was a manufacturing defect with this power unit that has now become worse due to it overheating in Monza.

          It is possible that the way that the engines are being used could be aggravating those issues if Honda are running a slightly more aggressive engine mapping in race trim than they normally would have used, which could be putting their whole power unit through a more aggressive duty cycle than originally planned. That said, on balance I suspect it is more likely that it is coincidental that a power unit which seems to have had a few minor issues from the start is being used just as those new regulations kick it.

    2. Very Good point.

      Redbull , or at least on Verstappen’s car, seem to have the engine in the red for qualifying and then trusting it to hang in there for the duration of the race. I wonder if Redbull have the two cars set up differently, and would that explain Albons conservative qualifying?

      1. I believe both drivers have to use the same engine mode.

        1. @scbriml that said, the FIA did say that differences in engine mode were allowed to account for differences in engine wear – so, if there is a difference in age between Albon’s engine and Verstappen’s engine, then they would be permitted to use slightly different engine modes.

        2. I thought the engine mode related to the individual driver and not the team.

          So long as that driver drive in the same mode he qualified with that is the key point. I can’t see a reason why, within that remit, they could not make this strategic call.

          Albon’s apparent under achievment, and today’s success could be the result of this different strategy. its food for thought which the other teams might well follow.

    3. HAM. 1:15.144
      VER 1:15.509
      That is the qualifying result on Saturday. With engine modes Mercedes would have been lower than 1:15
      Let that sink in
      Once it does, it is a fair point that apparently Red Bull is setting up their cars differently for two drivers.

      1. That’s a lap of 75 seconds, and 4 tenths in 75 seconds. On longer tracks, that would have been a demolition by the normal margin that we used to have or even bigger. You also forgot that Bottas had his lap ruined by the yellow flag, and was going faster than Hamilton’s pole time. Horner and Marko should have shut it about the engine mode rule. I ain’t saying no more. Enough has been said.

        1. Going faster? I thought the yellow flags was in sector one so how can we know Bottas was going faster

          1. He was faster in one segment, as I remember – purple, and green in the other, so I think we can say with some certainty he would have been faster in sector 1 – but then, because we know Hamilton saved his tyres in sector 1 to have speed in sector 3, I think it’s fair to say we know bottas would have been slower there. Which means the decider would have been sector 2 – and as you rightly say, we have no data, so we will never know.

        2. Bottas was not going faster than Hamilton’s pole time. You made that point up.

    4. @krichelle Kimi definitely did more to earn points than Russell did today. It’s a shame Williams is slower than Ferrari, but cursed? Come on, absolutely not. Maybe Russell should’ve stayed on the road in Q1 to earn himself a higher grid position. Might’ve helped a lot today.

  3. Hamilton did well to recover his lost lead after the first restart. Bottas is Barrichello 2.0 and simply cant match him at the moment. Happy for Albon. Ferrari got double points in a race with 12 finishers, so thats that. Gutted for George.

    1. As soon as I saw Lewis’ brakes smoking on the grid @ the restart, I knew what was going to happen in turn 1. Valtteri is painfully close in qualifying but has proven much less adaptable on a Sunday. Lewis just has more tricks in his arsenal & a killer instinct wheel to wheel that Bottas seems to lack.

    2. Bottas: hahaha! I beat Lewis at the start!!!

      Hamilton: Best two out of three!

  4. Lewis – what a beast….⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Bottas – good fight. Was the faster looking driver, must be sad to lose everything.
    Ricciardo – ahhh. So close.

    1. When did Bottas look the faster driver ? Practice when the times don’t count towards anything. Hamilton out-qualified and out raced him today. A masterclass from Hamilton on the restart. Bottas burnt his tyres out so much trying to keep pace that they had to pit him for safety before Hamilton. I’ve always liked Bottas but this race just proved how far from Hamilton he actually is. He was given every opportunity to win today and couldn’t get close. Hamilton was given one shot after his first poor start and grabbed it with both hands. His other restarts were perfection and that’s the difference.

      1. When he was ahead of Hamilton?

      2. The first pit stop was instructive. Bottas asked Mercedes to put him on ‘whatever Hamilton wasn’t having’. Apparently confident he could make an alternate tyre strategy work. Only he dropped 7 seconds or more behind and had to pit first! So how were Mercedes supposed to alternate his strategy? Obviously they didn’t. It was already a big boost for Bottas to get the undercut, imagine sticking Hamilton on mediums or softs (!) tyres just to help Bottas. But the thing is, Bottas should have said, ‘put me on mediums’, that way forcing the issue, despite him coming in for tyres first. But that didn’t happen.

      3. Absolutely right. Bottas knows he cannot best Hamilton with the same tyres and strategy which is why he asked for a different tyres, whatever they might be. That’s a sign he’s losing his self confidence. It doesn’t bode well for him for the rest of the season.

        1. The stupidity of asking for different tyres AND coming in first is on another level.

          Yes sure, we’re really gonna give you the undercut AND not tell our world champion and clearly better driver what tyres you’re putting on just to appease your fragile sense of self worth.

          Not.

  5. Well done to Hamilton on beating Bottas yet again, especially in race pace. And this guy will be in the race-winning seat next year as well. Thanks Toto for the exciting challenge.

    1. It sucks for us fans but if you think about it its the best possible result for mercedes over the season. Hamilton clear 1st. Bottas the Barrichello a hard earned 2nd. Merc clear 1st in WCC. Bottas happy with a few race wins through the season. Life’s great for Mercedes.

      1. Life’s great for Mercedes.

        Absolutely no doubt about it. Mercedes beat Ferrari even at picking no.2s. Bottas doesn’t have the ”fast” mouth of Barrichello or Massa.

        1. @mg1982 Bottas would destroy Vettel and probably beat Leclerc too. Or at the very least he would be extremely close.

          1. @f1osaurus
            From 2014-2016:

            Number of times both Williams finished the race – 46

            # times Bottas finished ahead – 23
            # times Massa finished ahead – 23

            Why should we rate this guy?

          2. @kingshark Meaningless stat as both Massa and Bottas would beat Vettel.

          3. @kingshark He destroyed Massa, but indeed he was often unlucky in races and Rob Smegly kept giving Massa the better strategies. They managed to keep Bottas of the podium for a number of races and actually get him behind Massa in the process or into a DNF.

            Beside the time Massa finished ahead was mostly when both cars were completely lost during the race. So who cares if your 11th or 14th?

            Bottas finished much higher on average, qualified ahead a lot more often and score a ton more points.

            But of course leave it to you top pick the most meaningless stat to pretend you have a point. Sigh

          4. @f1osaurus

            He destroyed Massa, but indeed he was often unlucky in races and Rob Smegly kept giving Massa the better strategies.

            Please provide concrete evidence for these claims.

            Why should Bottas be rated highly when his record against Massa is so underwhelming?

            Bottas also finished behind Maldonado 9-5 in 2013!

            There’s nothing about Bottas’ pre-Mercedes record to suggest that he is anything special.

          5. I give it to you that BOT might narrowly beat the 2020 VET, but I really have big doubts he’ll come on top against LEC. LEC seems pretty fast, consistent and coordinated. He seems better at wheel to wheel racing, plus has that killer instinct of the champs…. which BOT doesn’t seem to have (at all). I rate LEC at least as high as RIC, better than BOT for sure. If BOT was that good, Ferrari or some other top/midfield team would have tried to get him and build around him, maybe getting some info about Mercedes along the way. Did not happen and highly doubt it will happen. In my opinion, when he’ll be out from Mercedes, BOT will only be able to sign a midfield team at best, most likely a Mercedes powered team. The rest don’t think will have much interest in him, unless he’ll race for a modest sum and/or get some sponsors.

      2. Its fantastic for fans, to be honest.
        What do I want to watch, a technical master piece by the best team and best driver, or watch a bunch of whiners?

        Monza is for whiners, rest is for fabulous display of technical supremacy and best man doing the best job.
        Bottas was best in Austria and he won.
        Max was best in 70th anniversary race, and he won.
        Lewis pretty much best everywhere, and I hope he goes onto clinch the title this season.

        Amazing season. Its pathetic fans are ill informed and media adds on to the hype.

    2. I’ve made a decision to myself to just completely ignore Bottas in any race going forward. The man is irrelevant in terms of racing, excitement or the championship.

    3. Yes, unfortunately even with the second Mercedes driver on only one year contracts, both Leclerc and Max took the easy option to sign long term contracts with their respective teams despite knowing of their likely car performance; thereby removing themselves from the game. On the plus side LeClerc obviously has a performance clause he can trigger, so he/we can live in hope.

    4. lexusreliabilty?
      13th September 2020, 17:18

      @Jay

      Bottas put a credible challenge all weekend. I rather get the impression that your issue isn’t so much whether there is war between the Merc drivers- but whether Bottas beats Hamilton. I don’t hear you whining about Max having average team mates since Ricciardo left? Look at Albon today- manage to score a podium in a car that apparently isn’t even “near the Mercs” if you listen to the Max bandwagon. Granted there was alot of disruption today but Albon still finished within sight of the lead Mercedes.

      1. Is it really that bad to want an even fight for race wins and titles?
        Albion can get fired/demoted when redbull become dominant again.
        But sure, tell me all about what I should want.

        1. lexusreliabilty?
          13th September 2020, 19:11

          Point is quite simple- the second best car doesn’t even have an above average driver next to Max which would otherwise provide entertainment and fireworks despite not being “dominant”.

          1. Yes the point is quite simple, dominant cars should have two equally competitive drivers.

  6. Hamilton crosses pit entry in Hockenheim 2018: No penalty. Hamilton crosses pit entry again in Hockenheim 2019: No penalty. Raikkonen crosses pit entry: PENALTY! Infuriating.

    1. Hamilton got a penalty in 2019.

      1. Just looked it up.

        So, my memory is infuriating…

        1. @f1mre or just selective?

        2. Very selective. Stop believing in your own lies. 😃

    2. He did receive penalty on the second occasion (2019) – 5 second as well, if my memory serves me well.

    3. Hamilton got one in 2019, 2018 was slightly different as he went across to stay out rather than come in

      1. Lol, that is why we research before opening mouths @f1mre boo hoo Hamilton always gets away with it despite it not being true at all…

      2. Hamilton received a reprimand in 2018, 3 reprimands give a grid drop, so he was penalized for 2018 and 2019. The haters just dont like it.

  7. About time for Albon to get his first top-three finish. What a mess, though, this race. Maybe allowing overtaking from SC1 (as was the case before) rather than the timing line would be better.

  8. Justice for Brianna!!!

    2 more wins

  9. Apparently George Russell was instigator of the restart crash. By leaving a gap that was too big and accelerating too early, therefore having to brake.

  10. YEAH, what a race.

    The start, its wasn’t Bottas who started better, but Hamilton who could not get started.
    There was even the risk of being over taken, until Verstappen’s eng failed him. Last week’s lucky chappy, not so happy this time round as Gasley, crashes out, puts a measure of perspective on that win.

    Then the crash and the restart, and suddenly Leclerc is up into 3rd … before the lower orders has a crisis of confidence, as they started racing each off the grid. I think the fact it took place on the grid, had them acting as if this was the start of the race. Bottas slower start just caught them out. Later his slower start almost had him lose out on 2nd. [btw do you suppose Bottas was briefed in the second redflag, on Hamilton’s manuver when he slipped streamed Bottas?]

    Loads of drama, but the result is Lewis edges closer to Shumachers all time record, and there’s seems little that can be done to stop him making history.

    I wonder why they stopped racing on this track, does it have an history of crashes….

    1. This is the first F1 GP here. There are no past instances.

    2. Gasly was squeezed between two cars. Nothing he could have done differently, I think.

      1. Well, he didn’t go for just a gap, he went for a disappearing gap.

    3. I have a hard time with people saying hamilton is making history: how many races did he win before 2014, as in dominant mercedes? Less than 20.

      Can we add a few races in 2017 and 2018 in periods the car wasn’t dominant? Ok, then 30.

      How many races did alonso win without a dominant car? 32; schumacher? 55 or so.

      Seems like hamilton is being carried by the most dominant car ever; he’s a top driver, no more than that.

      1. lexusreliabilty?
        13th September 2020, 19:15

        ow many races did alonso win without a dominant car? 32

        Nonsensical selectiveness as the 05 and 06 Renault where the best cars in that period. Added to that is the fact that Mr Alonso had journeymen as team mates- Fisichella, Massa and Piquet junior. If your team sabotages your team mate’s gearbox for eg in Austin 2012 even when they beat you on merit- it helps to make you look better than you actually. Alonso has only had top calibre team mates for 3 seasons in F1 and he was defeated twice.

      2. Kind of a none point. Senna won 6 of his 41 wins before he moved to Mclaren, which was of course the 1988 car was the most dominant in history. The rookie Hamilton beat the experienced Alonso in 2007 at McLaren. Most of Schumachers wins were in the dominant car, and he even had bespoke Bridgestone tyres that not even his team mate could access. Do I need to keep going with examples??

        1. lexusreliabilty?
          13th September 2020, 19:22

          +1. It seems for many, Hamilton is judged by a different set of rules. Not that it matters of course- he is still a 6, and soon to be 7 time champion who holds the all time pole record etc etc. People are entitled to belittle Hamilton’s achievements but it doesn’t make them any less special.

      3. @esploratore Hamilton didn’t have a dominant car in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He was just the best driver bringing home the points while Vettel Leclerc and Verstappen were throwing away the wins they could/should have had. Same for 2008 (although then with Massa and Raikkonen).

        Actually in 2016 he had the lesser car at least at Mercedes.

        1. Anyone remember this classic where both Ferraris conspired to take each other out, as well as their Nemisis Verstappen.. Hamilton certainly wasn’t in the dominant car then.

          Singapore 2017 enjoy.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi-qitmfvlI

      4. Actually, Hamilton won 22 races before 2014. So if we say your claim of ‘less than 20’ is 19 and add the 3 you missed, that makes 33. So, even by your own ludicrous standards of assuming Alonso never had a single win in a dominant car, then Hamilton has one more than that.

        And if we take your completely made up figure of 30 race wins, that would still put Hamilton 8th on the all time list, ahead of Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Niki Lauda, Juan Manuel Fangio and Mika Hakkinen. If you’re going to pull figures out of thin air to suit your agenda you should probably make sure they actually fit the agenda you’re trying to push, because these ones do the opposite.

        1. [I meant add the 3 to the 30 wins you admit he won in a non-dominant car, not the initial claim of ‘less than 20’.]

      5. I have a hard time with people saying hamilton is making history: how many races did he win before 2014, as in dominant mercedes? Less than 20.

        I agree. I mean, he didn’t win any at all before 2007. Useless.

      6. You are not very clever!!!

        Firstly numbers are all wrong, then…..
        How many races did Vettel win before joining Redbull?
        How many races did MSC won before joining Ferrari?

  11. lexusreliabilty?
    13th September 2020, 17:20

    Masterclass from Lewis in what was an exciting race filled with minefields. History making is in sight.

  12. The second red flag was totally unnecessary in my opinion, the Stroll’s car could have been easily removed with other circling around behind safety car (the barriers are far more away than those in Monza, so not a comparable situation). And it might have killed Daniel’s chance for a podium, I believe he could have been up to Albon’s pace if the race was uniterrupted.

    1. How were they supposed to move the car without putting a vehicle on the track? Shovels?

    2. Hmm I disagree with this and think the red flag was the right call. We had 8-9 laps at the start under safety car and Madness on the restart. The stranding start was the safer option and red flag meant we got more racing laps. It also allowed more time to fix the barriers which we didn’t really get to see the condition of. I’m gutted for Ricciardo but I doubt he would have kept Albon behind under a normal restart anyway. The second Stroll went off was when he lost the podium.

    3. @pironitheprovocateur,
      The sky commentators mentioned why the red flag was necessary. This is an old school track and the tyres barrier couldn’t be set back properly or in-time without red flagging. Also, Stroll’s car did catch on fire and the crews were struggling to put it out. Good decision by race control, in my opinion.

  13. It was strange looking at Hamiltons left hand at the restart. It was just lying on top of the steering wheel. It seems a bit odd that we are on top level of the motorsport and you can basically lay your hands there and just drive off. These cars seem to have so much grip if you get that start right that it looks way too easy. Of course as we have seen if you lose it it becomes really hard to handle.

    1. He has been doing that all the weekend.

      1. He’s actually been doing that all year, and if i remember, last year too, its the way he holds and releases the clutch.

        1. +1

          He started using this technique after a season indifferent starts. Until the original race start, he’d had really good starts at all the races, and indeed, his next two starts were both good.

    2. Was any other driver doing that?

    3. Oh. Lewis holding his steering wheel is the problem now? Is he allowed to step on the gas, or is that not allowed too???

      1. With Lewis, they will ALWAYS find something to complain about.

        /smh

      2. I don’t think anyone is complaining about anything here. The OP just shared an observation.

  14. He uses his hand as a marker for the second bite point.

  15. Fortunately HAM wasn’t at the front on the safety car restart or we’d be suffering through a bunch of comments about how HAM caused the crashes at the back. Masterful drive by HAM. Was cheering for RIC but ALB stayed focus and kudos to him. Feel badly for VER as that was a scary situation when you lose power just after the first turn of the first lap.

    1. LOL , Im surprised no one’s said that about Bottas.

      Mean time the commentors on sky were expecting Bottas to slipstream ahead of Hamilton, only recognised Hamilton’s skill with that manuver, when Bottas failed to repeat the same.

  16. RAI beats both Ferrari boys in what is the slowest car in Mugello.
    He had everything thrown at him: team incompetence, time penalty, etc. Finished 4 secs ahead of LEC before penalty is applied. Defo one of the DODs.
    SEB: One of the fastest ever drivers, but not this year. Finished a dozen seconds off Kimi, passed by LEC, out paced by RUS!….

    1. What happened with Lelerc at the end though? He was 2s behind Raikkonen and then suddenly 7s.

      1. Timing continues to work after they pass the finish line so Leclerc slowed down more than Raikonnen on the cooldown lap. One of annoyances I have with the timing system.

    2. I’ve been watching F1 since 2002 and Kimi is one of the beasts in the grid.
      His demeanor towards journalists is terrible, anyone remembers him pushing a photographer that came too close?
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xJuJFy1OxA

      But his driving is one of the best. Ferrari is such a terrible team, he got them a WDC but they totally ruined his career to carry Vettel to many results. Kimi is and will always be much much better than Vettel.

  17. Stunning weekend by Kimi. OH MY GOD level of dominance ahead the rest of the field.

    If he only had a better car…

    1. Hehehehe BOOM – TISHHH

  18. Gasly was more to blame for the first crash that took out Verstappen, by forcing his car into an already tight situation

    1. Verstappen said he would have retired anyway because of the engine issue.

      1. Indeed and even if the car had recovered, race was already ruined due to the loss of power in the first straight.

      2. @scbriml So that means Gasly can just crash into him and Grosjean?

        1. No, of course not, but his race was done before the collision.

    2. Gasly hit Albon in Monza, but very fortunate to survive that and get the flukiest win of the season.
      Lots of poor f1 watchers got excited, especially the Presenters in sky world feed.

      Today, he is brought right down back to ground. Another crash and luck deserted him.

  19. This race like nearly every race since 2017 proved what we already know — Hamilton is quicker than Bottas.

    Is there a more disappointing driver than Bottas? Feels like a waste of a seat.

    Well done to Albon. RBR no better than the third best car, but got it on the podium.

    Can’t have a repeat of this season next year.

    FIA went to great lengths to nullify Ferrari’s advantages in the 2000’s but happy to let Mercedes dominate one second per lap better than the competition.

    I don’t get it.

    1. I disagree about red bull, they seemed like the 2nd best car on track, and verstappen would’ve put even more pressure on the slowest mercedes.

      1. Oh, and obviously agree about the fia: they try to stop every car from dominating for too long, they better start doing something vs mercedes too.

        1. David Bondo is always talking down the Red Bull and claiming it is the 3rd, 4th, and even 5th fastest car.

          Such abject delusion must be terrible to live with.

          1. Quite hilarious after both Red Bulls lined up on the second row of the grid.

          2. Racing Point was quicker today.

          3. @kbdavies he’ll be claiming it’s the 6th fastest car come the next race at this rate – I agree that it is rather comical that he so aggressively downplays the performance of Red Bull to an extent that makes it more like he is a critic of the team.

    2. Weird, you call Bottas poor who is almost neck and neck with Lewis, then we’ll done to Alec who is like a second behind max and nowhere in the race.

      Tsk tsk. Pathetic state of mind😃😃😃

      1. Verstappen is the class of the field.

        Max made Ricciardo look second rate by the end of their partnership, yet Ricciardo basically ended the career or Hulkenberg and is in the process of destroying Ocon’s reputation.

        1. lexusreliabilty?
          14th September 2020, 8:14

          Verstappen is the class of the field in my opinion.

          There I fixed it for you. The guy still has top prove he can string a championship campaign together let alone beat world championship team mates. Verstappen’s toughest test has been Daniel Ricciardo and he didn’t acquit himself convincingly (Ricciardo won 2-1) yet here you are claiming his better than a proven serial winner like Hamilton.

    3. FI never did anything against Ferrari. In fact they helped Ferrari on many occasions to keep Renault back (and McLaren). FIA never did anything against Red Bull either. They made some token deflection test changes (which changed nothing really) and only after 4 years said that all teams would be allowed to have flexible wings.

      1. TrickyMario7654
        14th September 2020, 8:13

        You obviously forgot about the 2005 rule changes. The “no mid-race tyre change” rule was only put in place to mess Ferrari up and stop them winning.

    4. I think you mean maximise not nullify.
      The pseudonym of the FIA (Ferrari International Assistance) was invented at that time. More likely you weren’t actually watching F1 then, were you?

      1. “FIA went to great lengths to nullify Ferrari’s advantages in the 2000’s but happy to let Mercedes dominate one second per lap better than the competition.”

        See above changes moment David.

      2. Been watching a lot longer than you.

        2002 was an uncompetitive season and wholesale changes were brought in for 2003 to nullify their edge.

        This should have been done to Mercedes at the end of 2014, but here we are in 2020.

        1. David Bondo, so, tell us – if it was a case that, in the future, Verstappen ended up in a similarly dominant car, would you be prepared to have his car neutered and his performance levelled to that of the field to “spice up the show”? If you want such rules, then you must be prepared to accept that they could have the same impact on your favourite.

          Also, your comparison with 2003 is actually very poor – you say that “wholesale changes were brought in for 2003 to nullify their edge”, but don’t provide any explanation as to how those rule changes specifically impacted Ferrari. The main technical change was the ban on pit to car telemetry – most of the technical changes were either postponed to 2004 (the increase in engine life to last for a whole race weekend) or never took place (removing telemetry from the car to the pits), so 2003 actually saw fairly negligible changes in the technical regulations.

      3. TrickyMario7654
        14th September 2020, 8:17

        Did you not see the 2005 rule changes? They were designed specifically to stop Ferrari winning, especially the “no mid-race tyre change” rule.

    5. On the issue of that ‘wasted seat’, Bottas got the seat because he was one of the few Drivers who statisfied the Mercedes brand image. Its a bit like Vettel going to Austin Martin.

    6. If you acknowledge that Lewis is quicker than Bottas, why are then asking if there’s anyone more disappointing than him?

    7. @David Bondo

      This race like nearly every race since 2017 proved what we already know — Hamilton is quicker than Bottas.

      This is quite strange logic given you then go on to claim Max is the class of the field. So what have we learnt about Max then? That he wasn”t better than Ricciardo, marginally better than Sainz and that he’s significantly better than Albon and Gasly?

    8. FIA went to great lengths to nullify Ferrari’s advantages in the 2000’s but happy to let Mercedes dominate one second per lap better than the competition.

      Right so banning DAS for next year despite ‘frozen’ regs, allowing Ferrari to run an illegal engine in 2019 and keep their WCC result and now banning qually modes, widely known that Mercedes had the best one isn’t enough for you?

      Leave off. You’re chatting utter nonsense and you know it.

  20. I really feel sad for Bottas.
    Gutted for Russel.
    And just to ask, why can’t there be a rolling start behind a safety car after a red flag if the race is to be resumed?

    1. I think there was some rule change to make restarts more exciting since a while, so now there’s a standing start after a red flag.

    2. Sad for BOT??? He asked for hard tyres and got them even though they were absolute rubbish on this track. Then he asked for another safety car and got it.

      1. +1 … that was a surreal moment in the race as the radio exchange between Bottas and his Engineer ended …and a few minutes later, Stroll was in the barriers. Bottas tried every trick and gave everything he had to finish 2nd.

        It is time for everyone to accept that the rest of the grid is racing HAM who simply is a master at extracting every advantage offered by a fantastic car.

      2. @jimfromus I feel sad for Bottas because no matter how hard he tries, no matter how many tricks he tries to master, Hamilton is destroying him that it’s just demoralizing. At the beginning of the season, he pumps himself up just like anyone would do, in the safe knowledge that he got the best car on the grid to put up a championship fight and win it, but then his efforts are always short, because just across the garage is another monster of a driver. It reaches a point you start asking yourself, what more can I do? Yes he might win the odd races here and there and be actually faster than Hamilton during that race weekend, but the consistency isn’t there, reason why Hamilton is strolling towards that 7th WDC. I REALLY FEEL FOR HIM. That 1st WDC title is so near with that car yet so far with Hamilton as his teammate.

  21. There is a reason Mugello is not used as an F1 race track. We saw it today.

  22. You know as soon as Bottas went ahead at the start that circumstance would not let him have it, and sure enough. Even when he took the sc restart it was still practically inevitable.

    He could be the one to mess up the first start and not get the advantage and the restart, but make the last 2 starts that counted, but no. It had to be the other way around. The guy’s bad luck / Hamilton’s good luck is amazing.

    He was probably the fastest this weekend which was good, but him just sitting there without moving and giving a tow at the second restart was simply poor though. Seems he hadn’t even worked it out in his mind, or too afraid of the team to actually risk anything with Hamilton. Ricciardo showed how it was done when roles were reversed.

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