Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, Monza, 2020

Gasly takes shock Italian Grand Prix win after Hamilton penalty

2020 Italian Grand Prix summary

Posted on

| Written by

Pierre Gasly scored a shock win for AlphaTauri in the Italian Grand Prix, resisting pressure from Carlos Sainz Jnr over the final laps of the race.

The pair found themselves in a battle for the lead after early leader Lewis Hamilton was given a 10-second stop-go penalty for a pit lane violation.

Hamilton led the opening stages of the race comfortably from pole position. But his victory hopes were ruined when he pitted during a Safety Car period, triggered by Kevin Magnussen’s retirement, despite the pit lane entrance being closed.

Race control handed Hamilton and Antonio Giovinazzi, who made the same error, the same 10-second stop-go penalties.

Both served their penalties after mid-race stoppage prompted by a heavy crash for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver lost control at the exit of Parabolica, smashing his car against a barrier, which required repairs before the race could restart.

Following a second standing start, Hamilton immediately headed for the pits. That handed the lead of the race to a group of drivers who hadn’t pitted during the initial Safety Car period, and changed their tyres during the red flag period.

Gasly emerged ahead the head of that queue. But behind him Sainz moved into second place, and closed down his lead over the final laps. The pair were nose-to-tail as they started the final lap, but Gasly clung on to claim an unexpected victory.

Lance Stroll completed an unlikely podium for Racing Point after losing several places at the restart. He was followed home by Lando Norris in the second McLaren.

Valtteri Bottas collected fifth place. The other Mercedes driver had got away poorly at the start, and struggled to make headway in the midfield.

Hamilton recovered to seventh, just two places behind his team mate, the pair separated by Daniel Ricciardo. Esteban Ocon was eighth in the other Renault. The points places were completed by Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Perez.

Sebastian Vettel was ther race’s first retirement, due to brake failure, on a desperately poor day for Ferrari.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2020 Italian Grand Prix reaction

    Check back shortly for more race reaction

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

183 comments on “Gasly takes shock Italian Grand Prix win after Hamilton penalty”

  1. Ban Mercedes and we will have races like this.

    1. No then red bull would dominate and it would be even more boring, alteast bottas is close to hamilton in qualy. Red bull will make sure albon is no were close to max in the races

      1. @carlosmedrano
        Did you watch the race today? Red Bull were not even second fastest

        1. Max was nowhere today. Running 11th when he retired. Poor start. Poor overtaking. Disappointing performance from him and red bull in a far superior car to the eventual race winner.

          1. You try to overtake with an Engine issue since the start 😅
            Maybe watch driver interviews before posting nonsense?

          2. Marty, simply an excuse. He was within Drs of Bottas for many laps prior to Magnussens safety car. Hardly evidence of a serious engine problem, now is it?

        2. @kingshark if you exclude the opening race in Austria, where Red Bull had a double DNF, the gap between the leading Red Bull and the next non-Mercedes car in the races before Monza are as follows:

          Styria: 27.8s (between Verstappen in 3rd and Norris in 5th)
          Hungary: 48.9s (between Verstappen in 2nd and Stroll in 4th)
          British Grand Prix: 12.6s (between Verstappen in 2nd and Leclerc in 3rd)
          70th Anniversary GP: 29.3s (between Verstappen in 1st and Leclerc in 4th)
          Spain: 77.1s (between Verstappen in 2nd and Perez in 4th)
          Belgium: 3.4s (between Verstappen in 3rd and Ricciardo in 4th)

          If you compare it to the margin between the winning Mercedes and the nearest non-Mercedes car in those same races, you get the following margins:
          Styria: 33.7s
          Hungary: 8.7s
          Silverstone: 5.9s
          70th Anniversary: Beaten by Verstappen
          Spain: 24.2s
          Belgium: 15.5s

          Now, Silverstone did have some slightly odd circumstances, but if you were to have taken the times from a few laps before the end of the race, then Verstappen was about 14.7s behind the leader before the last minute tyre issues up front.

          If Mercedes were not there, Red Bull would clearly be the leading team at most circuits and you’d have seen Verstappen win six of the seven races prior to Monza back to back, assuming that Max still retired in Austria with mechanical issues (where he would have been in a pretty comfortable lead at the time).

          In those cases, the margin between Verstappen and the next car on the grid would often be a lot bigger than the gap that there has been between the winning Mercedes and Verstappen has been in several races – at the most extreme, as Verstappen lapped everybody behind him in Spain, Verstappen would have won that race by a lap if Mercedes hadn’t been there.

          In terms of points, even with one DNF in the races prior to Monza, Verstappen would have been on at least 151 points – allowing for additional bonus points for a fastest lap – although, with those sorts of margins, there are at least a couple of races where he could have easily pitted for an extra set of tyres, taken fastest lap and still won by a healthy margin.

          If you look at the championship as a whole, Carlos Medrano is right that, if Mercedes didn’t exist, Verstappen would have dominated the previous races at least as much as either Mercedes driver has done (if not sometimes even far more) and would be on almost as high a points total as Hamilton is now, even with the retirement in Austria.

          If you were to therefore take Mercedes out of the championship now, what you would be doing is simply replacing one form of domination with another form of domination – and one that might even make Mercedes’s current domination look small by comparison.

      2. And what exactly did RedBull to Albon’s race today? in the past races I agree that they didnt always choose the best strategy for him, but today he ruined his own race from turn1. It just went worse and worse for him as the race unfolded. There are no excuses for him today, he started ahead of Gas and look where both of them finished.

        1. I agree with all except the final statement. You can’t blame ALB for GAS his luck

    2. Wrong. Verstappen and Red Bull would have run away with both championships. At least we have close qualifying between Bottas and Hamilton.

    3. So you are Max fan then.

    4. It is getting a bit old hearing Crofty and Brundle say things like, it’s up to the rest of the field to catch up to Mercedes, while we also hearing about other teams vs. Mercedes “that’s not who we’re racing against” because their budgets aren’t even close, nor are their facilities. See Chain Bear’s “positive feedback loops” video.

      So incredibly refreshing to hear excited drivers on the podium and genuinely thrilled teams, rather than another political lesson from Lewis after yet another victory, or hear him cry after a loss (P2).

    5. What did they do wrong?

      1. Rot troll

    6. You, along with Crofty and Brundle, need to understand that unusual circumstances will produce unusual results.

      If you attempt to codify those circumstances, then the engineers will adapt, and you’ll be right back where you were.

      1. Speaking of which, Crofty and Brundle are well past their sell by date.

    7. Ashley Grimshaw
      6th September 2020, 20:27

      There will never be that many races like this, definitely the most unexpected win (Probably Herberts last win) since the 90s, Maldonado and Vettel Monza 08 were not on the same scale given they started from Pole, Gasly came from 10th in the 7th fastest car and won in with plenty of time for the 2nd fastest car to catch him. McLaren should have won here if Hamilton’s penalty was the only swing factor, great strategy from AT with the Safety Car and well done Gasly driving wise top stuff! As a McLaren fan I’m sure they will win again soon…fingers crossed!

  2. Ferrari: Surely it can’t get any worse, (YES WE SAID THAT AT SPA)

    Alpha-Tauri-Gasly: Take a bow. Gasly drive his heart out there. DOD.

    Mercedes: What a rookie mistake that was!!!!

    Hanilton: This is a massive loss, silly mistake

    Bottas: He just messes himself so often that he’s running out of excuses

    Sainz: Second place feels like defeat, absolute superb race from start.

    2020 ITALIAN GP: Can we have more of this every grand prix ( In my dreams at least)

    1. FIA: incompetent once again for pulling a safety car for a simple pull back or VSC on the widest pit entry straight in the calender

      1. @cplchanb , what about the red flag, kind of think it was warranted given the barrier was damaged from the impact of Leclerc’s car?

        1. Likely wouldn’t have been a red flag as Leclerc’s tyres would have been fine under a VSC or double waved yellows and hence no accident.

      2. The safety car was all about spicing the race up, as so often is the case. Could easily have rolled the car back 10m, instead of forward 100m.
        Red flag was completely justified as the barrier was breeched.

        1. Nah, picknick table was blocking the way!

      3. Such an unnecessary safety car.

        1. All they had to do was call the safety car, leave Magnusson car there for 2 laps then close the pit lane and move it once everyone had pitted and assembled behind the safety car. They seemed to also lift it very early without the field being fully collected. I still think it could have been stowed behind the barrier enough to keep the race going with a VSC while it was manouvered.

    2. Not Hamiltons fault his team told him to pit, even jenson said he has never seen the pits close before

      1. Given the races we’ve had this season where an early safety car causes the entire field to pit, I genuinely wouldn’t be against the pit lane always being closed for a lap or two after a safety car is called (a bit like IndyCar)

          1. The safety car has long been used to spice up the racing and cause random winners and losers. I doubt the FIA would be minded to make it fairer as it improves the action.

        1. Look up “Crash gate” and learn why F1 stopped closing the pit lane automatically.

      2. @carlosmedrano as a racing driver, no matter which level, the absolute first thing you are always taught is to watch the flags and signals from race direction. Mercedes might have been wrong in calling him in but that does not exempt him from having to follow the very basic rules of racing.

        Bad excuses.

        1. That flashing sign looks like someone doing road works.
          Never seen it before, so lewis is roght in questioning.

          We saw the best man/team didn’t win the race today. Not cool.

          1. Rot troll

      3. @carlosmedrano , that mistake was for the whole team. It was just silly

    3. Amazing GP from Gasly… No mistake at all to resist a great Carlos Sainz… I wonder what Horner will say now… Pretty sure he will not be very emphatic, I mean why not admitting he was wrong, when you are at it? From the great Horner ? Never… So what will be his excuse now ? The Alpha Tauri been an easy car to drive is not enough to explain a victory, so what ? Pure luck, Pierre should have finished last without the help of the FIA ? They cheated ?

  3. That was a good podium and seems like Toro Rosso and Monza have special relation.

    1. At least it was an Italian team (based in) that won

  4. If you’d told me when Gasly got dumped out of Red Bull last year, that he’d now be a race winner and have 2 podiums, I’d ask what you’d been smoking!

    Great race, much needed change at the top! Hamilton did well to come through though, no damage done in the championship for him

    1. A win got stolen, whatever the circumstance.
      Taking away his race win for a lousy Haas screwing up is good for the sport??

      Gutted.

      1. It wasn’t stolen. Are you mad? How often do things happen the way they “have to happen”?

        No one stole Hamilton and Mercedes the win, they made a mistake, and others benefited from it.

      2. I’m a big Hamilton fan, but unfortunately it didn’t work out for him today. I would usually say it was unlucky and unclear but every other team (minus one Alfa) managed to see it and not pit. Mercedes messed up today and threw away a win, luckily it didn’t hurt Hamilton too much.

        It did make a nice change to see other guys fighting at the top, I think 99% of fans would agree with that

      3. Rot troll

  5. Whats funny is I wonder if gasly would prefer to stay at toro rosso then get demoted to the number 2 red bull car

    1. You dont need to wonder he looks happy and chuffed there, and that’s even before today’s race!

    2. I wonder if he’d say no to the “promotion”

    3. With a neutral car which is drivable for both drivers, it won’t be a surprise.

    4. I asked myself the same and I believe he would do a mistake. Red Bull struggles and Max drags that car up the order but I feel it’s a similar story as was the case with McLaren in their Honda days – the car isn’t that good and its true potential is somewhere between Verstappen and Albon. Moreover, the switch and having to understand a new car from a scratch, practically, wouldn’t do him much good.

    5. Red Bull is so corrosive for the number 2 driver that I don’t think anybody would want to go back to the same circumstances.

  6. Much like Bahrain 2017, Hockenheim 2019, Mercedes don’t think pit rules apply to them.

    Lucky for Hamilton his only competition in the championship is Bottas.

    It’s the kind of mistake that costs you a championship in an even, competitive series.

    Well done to Gasly. Held off the fast finishing Sainz, didn’t buckle under the pressure, didn’t snag a brake.

    1. It almost didn’t

      I sensed from the delay between announcing GIO and HAM penalty that they were trying to find an excuse not to issue the penalty but knew the blow back from the non English public, other teams and the press would of crucified them.

    2. What norris did today was exactly what mercedes did at Bahrein ’17.
      No penalty.

    3. Enjoy it while you can, it happens very rarely.

  7. That podium was the most beautiful thing. The emotion from all drivers, Gasly in particular was just amazing. Amazing experience.
    I don’t care about what others may have done wrong or any bad luck, to witness that moment just warms you through.

    1. @eurobrun Brilliant to watch that podium. Doesn’t matter if it’s lucky, have to be in the position to take advantage of luck to begin with and all three did that.

    2. How is it amazing when the order was dictated by luck?

      Racing purist would know they saw BS today.

      1. Dude… What are you on? Racing purist? What the heck…

        1. Yup you like BS.

          1. Rot troll

          2. Enemy in sight!

      2. Every so often circumstances give different racers a chance. Almost any other race Gasly has no chance, but he gets a sniff of a win and he doesn’t put a foot wrong – there’s no luck in the drive he put in today. Same with Sainz, could well have finished 2nd without the mid race chaos

      3. Rot troll

      4. TIL “racing purists” prefer boredom to excitement.

  8. BWOAH! What a missed opportunity

    1. Yeah, I was already shocked when I saw him going for the red tires. So sad…

  9. Bottas was bulljiving in this race. Unless he had damage, he has no championship blood in him. Hamilton took a stop and go penalty just after the restart, dropping him to last, and came through the field within 28 laps and finished almost 10 seconds behind you and just two places behind. Mercedes will not be happy with that, and it has been consistently already.

    Red Bull… no words literally.

    Albon – better get out of Red Bull and find somewhere else where you feel happy.

    Gasly – Driver of the season. Hands down up to this point.

    1. Bottas is holding up a perfectly good seat. Winning races when everything falls in place is not the same as winning a championship where a more capable driver would have capitalised when his two main rivals are not in picture.

      1. Of course, Bottas has lost a lot of points this season. I really hate it when he gets passive because it cost Mercedes wins and for him as well. Even though it was against Raikkonen, he pulled off a great move from behind, and that is what we want Bottas to be. Bottas should have won this race today. He definitely had the chance to do so. I cannot wait to watch the pure pit wall on Wednesday from Mercedes about this.

    2. i have been saying it for a long time due to the low rake the merc is good at leading but rly bad at following but noone is listening even tho race after race year after year its obvious, but i do agree bottas is painfully avrage driver.

      1. Lewis passed many cars. If only there was another 25 laps.

        1. they also changed their entire “cooling” package during the red flag in order to do so but nvm trying to explain things to a troll like you.

          1. What rubbish is that? They tried to do s9mething to Bottas’ car. Lewis’ was untouched.

            Think you are the troll enjoying a rare lucky day in f1.

          2. Rott is obv hallucinating as they did it on both cars, ive seen “special” people before but you take the cake for being absolutly….

        2. Exactly. Lewis managed to do it and ended up not all that far from Bottas. Let’s face it Bottas is just a steady number 2 and I can understand why Merc like him as he doesn’t rock the boat.

        3. Rott troll

    3. Got to agree. A Mercedes fan and I defend Bottas regularly. He’s a decent qualifier, but it has to be said this was incredibly disappointing. Had Hamilton not cut through the field today I would have said it was difficult to pass, but Hamilton passed a Racing point, A redbull (albeit damaged), and a Renault, and finished two places behind him. Bottas was at sea with no map or compass today. Very disappointed.

      1. Not sure what was up with Perez, he seemed to be off the pace all day but Ocon had worn softs by the time Ham got to him. ie. Ham may not have done so well against the rest.

        1. Yeah in reflection, I think it was good strategy on part of Mercedes to put him in the hard tire.

          This meant he was able to push and would have strong tyres when it came to over taken most of the field that were on mediums and softs.

          I think that helped Hamilton to pass a lot easier at the end compared to Bottas who I think was on the mediums like everyone else.

          And yeah Ocon in the soft and albon broken and the others and true backmarkers so maybe I was a bit harsh.

          Would have been good to have another ten laps and see what he could have done against the second Renault.

  10. Well, that was the best thing to happen in F1 for a very long time. Makes me even angrier with Ecclestone for creating the ridiculous revenue structure that made days like this nearly impossible.

    Also, bad luck for Sainz – he was unreal all weekend. Bad luck for Perez as well – if the team hadn’t messed up his stop and he found himself in Stroll’s place, then it’s more likely it would’ve been a RP win. Not that that would have been as nice a story!

    1. My vote for COTD (regarding Ecclestone).

  11. As a lifelong McLaren fan, I’m extremely pleased with Gasly, and of course Sainz and the overall result of the race. This is what F1 needs from time to time, and I’m not that sad McLaren wasn’t able to win – they still have a long way to go but they’re on the right path. Holding on to the second and the third was sensational. By the way, does anybody know how many races it took to have a podium without either Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull?

    1. Hungary 2012 I believe, Hamilton McLaren, Kimi and Grosjean in the Lotus

      1. That’s right, thank you very much!

        1. I remember Pierre just before the race fist bumping his mechanics saying a prayer before he got into his car then he was the first to pit, then Magnussen pulled up and I first thought they waited a while before the safety car was deployed, first I thought to myself they did that to give Hamilton an advantage then found it very odd that sainz and especially stroll didn’t pit since he hadn’t pitted at all!! Then I thought to myself what if racing points strategist was banking on another safety car???? It didn’t take long before it arrived and I know people are saying that stroll profited unfairly but maybe it was a good move by the strategist after all!! Wonder how stroll would perform in a Merc, would he ever capitalize when Ham messes up coz it rarely happens in the first instance for ham to underperform and when he does none of his teammates or title rivals rarely capitalize, Good race though!!

    2. any advice for a lifelong Ferrari fan that is probably gonna go through the same path as you in 2015-2019?

  12. Great race, more of this please :) Even though there wasn’t an absolute tonne of action, was still thrilling just to see Mercedes not dominate. Not sure if that’s just sad come to think of it lol.

    1. Merc did dominate.

      1. Rot troll

  13. That’s a great result for the whole sport, Gasly vs Sainz was a really great showdown and most importantly, it was pure racing which kept everyone excited till the very end.
    Stroll will definitely enjoy his second podium, but he knows he bottled his first win being in second spot at the restart. Still a great result, but he had the tools and the luck to get an even greater result.
    I’m quite shocked by Bottas race today. He lost 2 places initially by the McLaren’s(fair enough) and then bottled Lesmo II alone and was passed by Perez and Ricciardo. After the second restart, he only passed Raikkonen… Mercedes was definitely struggling when following other cars, but Bottas showing was really poor

    1. No it’s not.

      When the best driver/team lost a race due to Unnecessary rules, something very wrong with the rule book.

      1. Rott troll

  14. I’m a bit disappointed on how difficult it was to overtake, or even get close to the leading car in Monza, if we think that Monza is traditionally a slipstream fest.Anyway,the result in the end is a welcome surprise!

    1. Didn’t look to difficult for Hamilton. To overtake, now did it?
      He overtook every other car make bar Mclaren and Ferrari(who were both retired already ) .
      He passed Honda, Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault powered cars.
      He teed them up easily, passing under Dr’s and without.
      Bottas and the Red Bull drivers looked rather plain.

      1. In the first part of the race this didnt happen tho. Grid was pretty stable ,despite all being relatively close to each other. Hamilton did what he should do with his equipment and his skill, while Bottas dissapointed massively with the car he has

    2. It did seem there were a lot of DRS trains today, you wonder whether there would actually be more without it as cars don’t reach the limit as fast. Could also be the new engine mode ban as well?

      1. Do you remember the pre drs days? Today “overtaking” is assisted. Drivers are deskilled.
        Before Drs an overtake was a thing of extreme difficulty and marvel.
        I remember well Hamilton, in his rookie year, was this crazy new kid who could actually overtake slower cars. A real breath of fresh air.
        Now it is so artificial with drs and too easy like at Spa last weekend.
        Still I say again, Hamilton breezed past his opposition today, but then he has the ability to overtake with or without drs.

  15. I love watching someone having the best day of their life. What a great story.

    1. Luck won’t last.

      He was dropped by redbull for a reason.

      1. Rot troll

        1. If you don’t have anything worth saying, might be better to not say anything.

  16. Also – the rubbish Sky commentators were making the ridiculous call for reverse-grid races late on, using this race as proof it would work. Completely missing the point that what makes it so exciting is that it’s unexpected. If there were artificial reverse grid races then it wouldn’t be anywhere near so special.

    1. God brundle is horrible

    2. @tflb Croft needs to go. Incredible the lack of values in f1 broadcasting in the UK. Murray has more class and integrity on his glasses prescription alone.

      1. I was starting to lose count at the silly mistakes Croft was making today. I’m not sure which was worse, him thinking Leclerc was catching Albon, when had actually just been passed by him, or him thinking Bottas was Hamilton during the red flag when you could clearly see “77” on the car.

        1. Croft does that 75% of the time – mistakes the driver who’s just been overtaken for the one attacking. Very irritating.

      2. Before we got Sky feeds in the US I heard y’all complain so much about Croft thinking no one is worse than Leigh Diffy, but Croft seems like he’s not all there. I like Brundle though. I wish he would talk more about his history in driving to give us some perspective.

        1. Croft makes too many glaring errors nowadays and while Brundle used to correct him, I get the feeling that Brundle a) has been ‘instructed’ not to correct Croft, or b) can’t be bothered to.

          I agree with TFLB, Croft’s insistence about the reverse-grid races is getting tiresome – as is his wont for soundbite-friendly commentary especially at race end.

    3. I want some kind of reverse grid and so do lots of others. F1 cannot carry on like it had in the past. It needs to change or it will die. I guess the 2022 changes will fix everything, but I am not going to hold my breath on that one.

      1. @aliced it needs to change, but messing with the grid is not the answer. That’s just a pathetic gimmick.

        1. It’s right up there with double points for the last race of the season.

    4. Thanks for that, why are sky pundits are all ex fail Drivers and highly opinionated?
      Rosberg and button should take over from these losers full time.

      1. Not sure how Martin Brundle could be described as an “ex fail driver”. Do you know his career stats? Never won a F1 race but he sure did well in other categories. Take a look at his F1 team mates and the level of opposition during his F1 years before deriding his record.

        1. Brundle is up there with the best drivers to never win a race (Amon, Brundle et al) and he is fine in his colour commentary position. (He gave Senna a run for his money in F3, and in 92 was probably Schumi’s toughest teamate prior to his merc comeback) He still offers balanced opinions and great insight. Crofty needs to go. He is a sycophant when it comes to Hamilton (and so is the rest of the sky and FOM broadcast for that matter), and its almost blood curdling. His over the top commentary on the very boring races we have had this year (and yesterday for that matter) is so forced, it comes across as the opposite of Murray ‘pants on fire’ genuine enthusiasm and excitement. Its on the same level as Jonathan Legard for me, although he was a football commentator for radio, so he just wasnt suited for TV commentary.

      2. Damon Hill’s a World Champion

  17. Exasperating and brilliant race to watch, I’ve really liked Gasly’s driving this season, so it’s excellent he won.
    However the madness of the race covered up some serious issues: Ferrari??? Two cars going off track, one very seriously. At Monza. After terrible performance in the race. Red Bull, also very bad, and Albon terrible. Bottas?? What kind of start was that? And where was the championship contender performance after? Hamilton, the debates on the penalty will be endless, but he was leading a race calmly until the race director decided that a SC and pushing Magnussen’s car hundreds of yards forwards (rather than 5 backwards) was totally justified. Sure! After that, good recovery drive to minimize the points loss to Bottas. Sainz and McLaren have got to be disappointed not to win. In sum, chaotic but, yeah, it’s what makes F1 worth watching still.

    1. Albon had half a floor missing.

      1. Which was entirely his own fault.

        1. Entirely his own fault again…
          How many times his he going to get away with leaving no room for other cars when racing. 5s penalty is nothing when it saves you a place pushing others off track.

    2. @david-br no room to wheel the car back, go take a look. It wouldn’t fit.

      And a full safety car -and closed pits- to let marshalls on the track to move it is immensely more important than risking a life to let you feel better.

      Hamilton absolutely messed up as was clear on the replays, but I would bet he wouldn’t have had such a harsh penalty if he was the only one since he managed to exceed pit speed recently and no problem ‘cuz Mercedes.

      1. @neiana

        it is immensely more important than risking a life to let you feel better.

        Cheap. Magnussen obviously parked at that point because he thought it could be extracted from there. At least that’s what it looked like. Why he didn’t just pit, no idea. A VSC would have done the job, probably. And the car’s placement, on the inside of Parabolica posed zero risk, unless someone else wanted to park there later. But sure, I get the point of a SC to spice up a predictable race. Just not every race, please. The Sky commentators were making excited calls for reverse qualifying grids all the time. That’s circus entertainment, not the highest level of motor racing.

        1. @david-br and he was obviously wrong. Not his fault, but that doesn’t mean his “thought” should have been magically made the truth.

          But if you want to play at odds with the safety, I am certain Jules Bianchi would love to have a fine conversation with regards to that.

          1. @neiana Like I said, cheap shots. Bianchi’s accident was high risk. Why? Because cars were going off on that exact same trajectory at that corner, in the rain, with zero control over the car once they started sliding. And then they put a tractor, heavy equipment, with precisely the wrong structure (height) to be on a race track, at that exact point. As I was watching it, I said out loud that another car would go off there – as Brundle said, on the commentary. The risk from Magnussen’s car would be virtually zero.

      2. When did he exceed speed limit. What a liar!!

        Foolish troll.

        1. Rot troll

          1. This is getting ridiculous. You’re both convincing me that unregistered users shouldn’t be allowed to post if this is the quality of comment that adds nothing to the conversation.

          2. Yep this comment section is just one guy saying hamilton was robbed and another saying rot troll which I’m pretty sure is the same person. As one of the biggest trolls in the world would put it, Sad!

  18. Overall, a great race, but still a bit gimmicky to go for full SC instead of VSC despite Magnussen’s car placement. Also, the standing start instead of a traditional rolling one after the red flag-stoppage. Not bad, but still, not absolutely necessary either. A bit too Nascar-like occasionally, but oh well, possible to look through fingers this time.

    1. @jerejj the delay on the sc was disappointing, there were men on track already and the red flag was poorly timed as well.

      1. I agree on your point about the SC. I think regardless of whether it was going to be a VSC or a full SC, the amount of time it took for it to come out is the real hero (or villain depending on where you stand) today. If race control took action as soon as Magnussen pulled over then none of the ensuing excitement occurs. Instead, it was almost a full lap later that the SC came out. I’d imagine that race control would be keeping an eye on a slow moving car, especially considering Magnussen’s car broke about halfway down the back straight. The call should have been ready by the time he hit T11, and probably should have been made when he pulled over into the grass and shut the car off.

    2. Standing start is mandatory and has been for a while.

  19. Shocking though as soon as the red flag came out it looked pretty set, the restart was the key to the 2nd part of the race. DRS train at least meant there were few easy overtakes. Great to see an actual race, stuff happens a race is a race, someone wins, should not be set in stone, it just needed a load of luck to happen.
    we have vsc to cut on unfair advantage. luck is luck but changin tyres on the red flag is an unfair advantage. I just did not want to see someone luck in this way, this rule and a big penalty was the only way to see anyone other than the big teams to win a race over a decade.

    1. Way too much info :p

  20. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    6th September 2020, 16:53

    FIA should really change the rules of Red Flag situation. Unless required for safety no changes allowed to the cars including tyres.

    2 drivers deserved to be on the podium – Stroll didn’t as he didn’t make a pitstop.

    No words for Bottas and no words for the FIA blunders. Absolutely ridiculous that for a stranded car on the inside of a corner and 5 meters away from a safe exit a safety car is called out.

    1. I bet you don’t like the halo, too.

    2. @jelle-van-der-meer in which case, you would need to penalise a large chunk of the grid for changing their tyres under a red flag period, not just Stroll.

    3. I think you would have to choose between letting the drivers change tires or no standing race start (it would dangerous to have a start with worn tires vs new-ish tires). I would rather have the standing start

    4. After the late red flag at Monaco 2011 ruined the end after getting a free set of tyres I thought the free tyre change rule in a red flag period had been removed. Apparently not.

      That said rules are rules, and while Lance clearly has the seat because of his dad he still took full legal advantage of the rules in play and scored another podium. While I doubt he’ll ever be one of the greats, he is proving to be a serviceable and reasonably competent driver that isn’t off the pace to the extent that many of the paydrivers of the 90s were (same can be said for both Nakajimas).

      1. Sadly they got rewarded for bad strategy.

  21. I feel bad for Sainz. I thought he would be the more deserved winner.
    But Gasly drove well after the restart. Cant that away from him
    TV coverage sucks. Its like watching LewisTV. Prefer to focus on Lewis fighting over P15 and forgetting all about Gasly and Co in front
    Ferrari….it would be good if you can try to stop to kill your drivers (esp Vettel). You still need them for the rest of this season. Vettel’s car really look dangerous today. Brake failure on L6. Seriously?

    1. So you’d rather watch a boring procession at the front for 20 laps than a driver making up 20 seconds on the pack and overtaking 8 cars. You’re clearly not mental…

      1. How often have you watched Gasly, Sainz and Kimi in an AR up in front? Its a welcome change from the usual MB procession that we see every weekend so far this season. And is watching Lewis overtaking a couple of backmarker cars interesting for you?
        But not to worry. Next week we can go back to the usual MB domination in Mugello…

        1. We saw plenty of Kimi and Sainz fighting for 4 laps or so. Watching Gasly unchallenged driving in clear air when there was lots of overtaking behind including Kimi going backwards would be stupid. Its not about the result, its about seeing all the relevant action and there was more behind than at the front and when Sainz got there with 3 laps to go it focused on them at that point. Maybe if you have an irrational dislike for watching Hamilton race youre watching the wrong sport.

    2. Gasly who?

      Lewis was the only one passing cars left right and centre while lucky Drivers held on for a rare win. It’s still a Lewis Hamilton show!

      1. Rot troll

        1. if not a troll and actually sees reality this way we should all feel sorry for him

      2. Well Gasly wasn’t gonna be passing cars left right and centre was he? Given he was leading.

  22. Rather confused at reading people unhappy at that race because of the randomness and unpredictability of the result. I mean the opposite would be a safe, predictable and unassuming procession? Would we have preferred that? Because that’s super boring.

    That race, granted brought alive by a safety car/red flag/penalities – had excitement, tension, new teams at the front, new drivers racing for victory to the line, overtaking (or not, if you’re Bottas) and drama. It was random and it was unpredictable but that’s what sport should be all about. Great stuff. If only all the races had this level of pressure without requiring a safteycar/red flag/penalities to achieve it.

    1. Not really confusing. Yesterday we had non stop excitement during qualifying and half those who found todays race exciting thought yesterday qually was boring. So probably their ‘excitement’ was nothing to do with on track action, but where their guy did or did not finish?

    2. +1. Agreed, I loved it because it was unpredictable (as well as not artificial – like reverse grids). Happens very few times in F1 and will make a classic in years to come

  23. The “problem” is not Merc dominance, is Lewis’s dominance of the sport. We all know it.

    1. I think this race highlights the difference between Hamiltons speed and skills versus the rest of the pack.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        6th September 2020, 20:00

        *versus Bottas.

    2. The problem is getting pole position almost always guarantees a race win. I feel it should be a lot harder to get pole as well as the race win.

      1. You make a good point.
        The fastest driver gets pole and then has all the advantage to drive off, manage tyres, temps, brakes, fuel etc as soon is out of drs/immediate risk.
        This is the basis for the idea of reverse grids, so the fastest drivers start behind progressively slower ones.

        1. Surely for a reverse grid race, the qualifying session would be who could drive the slowest to get pole. Drive around in 1st gear for a whole lap and get pole position. How ridiculous is that!

        2. Getting pole didn’t mean race wins for Ferrari at a lot of races last year when they had the fastest car over 1 lap. Mercedes have also lost a win at 2 of the races they had pole already this year (25%?). Also pole sitter has only just won the majority of races this year, hardly guaranteed.

  24. Jose Lopes da Silva
    6th September 2020, 18:08

    I’m very pleased that Stroll did not got the win. This was not BS luck as purists say. The driver still matters something.

  25. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
    6th September 2020, 18:19

    1- why couldn’t Magnussen’s car have been pushed through the fence than forwards to the pitland?

    2- VSC could have worked with pit entry closure, than deploy the full SC.

    3- there’s a big tv screen at the pit lane entrance (which shows the pole driver and winner after sessions) which can be configured to display ‘Pit lane open/closed’ message, or red and green colours at the very least considering how infrequently these incidents occur.

    I’m not saying Hamilton/Gio were not at fault…the penalty was totally justified. But to expect drivers to rely upon small trackside screens for rare occurrences in this modern era is a joke. Even Toto was absolutely clueless as to where the pit lane closure was shown, and he’s not even in the car.

    1. That big tv said Box, box as Lewis entered the pit lane. Absolute farce by fIA officials to make this race a lottery.

  26. As per ferrari, who else has had a feeling that a massive chrash like this was coming? considdering leclerc is overdriving that car? im just glad charles is ok considering that car is dangerous.

    1. Both Ferrari drivers were complaining about a loose car all weekend. I think they took off so much wing to keep some speed they made the car hard to drive.

  27. This just shows how much it is down to machinery. I felt like Gasly had it under control even though Sainz was right behind him. It was like watching gp2 or gp3 race for a few years back. Both of these guys have everything to be a race winner. It just needs this kind of race to make it happen.

    This is the race midfield is having almost every race. Without Mercedes and Verstappen this was for the win.

    If we think there have always been big and smaller teams in F1 but this race showed that if all the teams are given right tools to win they can do it. It is just for FIA to clarify that how much they want to even the field.

    It was very sad to see both Ferraris out of the race. They belong in somewhere else than P6 in standings. Still it was great to hear fratelli d’italia and also the french national anthem since 1996!

    1. Why do Ferrari ‘deserve’ to be anywhere other than where they currently are? Their car and engine are both awful.

  28. IMHO Gasly thoroughly deserves the win. He has shown a lot of character the past year.

  29. Really happy for Gasly. Luck played its part but you have to be there to capitalise and he did that beautifully. Gutted for Sainz and Mclaren though. They are on a good upward trajectory. Stroll missed a great chance to win today. Happy podium made it even more nice.

  30. Where’s Horner now never seen any comments….albon is a joke and both cars seemed to suffer the worst after the engine map fiasco mad maxs car gave up the ghost just like he wished on the Mercs…..karma

  31. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
    6th September 2020, 20:47

    This was the day I decided to take my stand and say I wasn’t paying £10 to watch the races live anymore…
    You’re welcome.

  32. It’s surely no coincidence that when the front runners dropped out in Brazil last year that the two who picked their way through to the podium were the same two who ended up P1 and P2 today. Pierre and Carlos have been showing themselves as the stars of the midfield for a while now and deserve everything they got today.

  33. Red Bull need to bin Helmut (Helmet) Markko. The scattergun treatment/demotions of drivers in that second Red Bull seat falls on him and Horner (But ultimately, you get the feeling when Markko says jump, Horner asks him if he wants him to throw a somersault in alongside it).

    What Gasly has shown since his demotion beyond all doubt is that he was never the issue at Red Bull. Albon has shown the same in the Red Bull, it’s the team/car. Ricciardo saw it coming and left.

    It’s team Max. Whoever is in that second seat is screwed.

    If Red Bull were to give Gasly a (re)call, he should probably decline the ‘Promotion’. It’s a dead end role.

    His performances have been that good (and that was before he won in an Alpha Tauri), he’s probably rapidly becoming a genuine contender for something like a Mercedes seat.

    I don’t think there’s too many up or down the grid who’d take Bottas over Gasly now…. Apart from maybe Lewis Hamilton.

    1. If he has any sense he’ll stay at Alpha Tauri and wait for that Renault contract. No point going to RB to be treated like a No2 again.

      1. Yep, with the amount of whining that Ocon does, plus the fact Riccardo has him well and truly beaten, and I’m sure Alonso will as well. Drop Ocon after 2021 and replace with Gasly for a Alonso/Gasly Alpine F1.

      1. Agree with Paul, keep Ocon for 2021 (continuity reasons only) then place Gasly alongside Alonso for 2022

  34. For those wanting a reverse grid race, the qualifying session would be who could drive the slowest to get pole. Drive around in 1st gear for a whole lap and get pole position. How ridiculous is that!

    1. You would get points for qualifying well otherwise there would be no point in doing well in qualifying with a reverse grid.

  35. Very pleased for all the guys on the podium. Great driving by Gasly to hold off Sainz coming up fast behind him. A good drive by Sainz as well to get into that position.

    As others I have said I don’t think the full safety car was justified. I am pretty sure this could have been resolved with a VSC. This is an opinion that hardly seems to be used much these days. I am not sure the standing start after a red flag is the best idea either.

    Despite this it was a fascinating and unpredictable race. Just what is needed from time to time. Not sure what was going on with Bottas today. He looked really uncompetitive. A few more laps and he probably would have been caught by Hamilton. Even after his penalty.

    I don’t know why there is all this talk of reverse grid starts which is a mad idea. Some of the people on Sky come across as quite amateurish. There was no mention of this idea on the C4 coverage.

    1. Option not opinion!

  36. Best race in a long time. Was cool to see a standing restart. Shocking crash for Leclerc, how many g forces? That crash shows why safety always has to be first. Great drives by most of the field. Interesting to see Renault powered cars going faster than Honda again. Alonso might have timed his return very nicely, while Sainz must be worried about his team switch. Ferrari will be back though, they are one of the only teams consistently top 3 every year.

Comments are closed.