For the second race running we have had an eventful Grand Prix with plenty of action and although there was no surprise winner this time like there was at Monza it was still a gripping race.
Lewis Hamilton extended his lead over Bottas in the championship but lets face it no one is expecting a fight to the death for the title, it is only a matter of time before we see Lewis secure title number seven, but Bottas did have a chance of beating his team mate at Mugello yesterday. Having got off the line better than Lewis when the lights went out (for the first start) he could have taken charge of the race from then on but unfortunately the grid had to make three standing starts in the race, something that has only happened a handful of times in the sports seventy year history, and at the second one Lewis made the better getaway. Which he repeated again after the race was red flagged for the second time and although Valterri was close in the closing laps car number 44 never looked like losing the lead.
That alone though doesn’t tell the story of the race and if I was to rely everything here I would still be writing this blog at midnight tonight but ther main pints were:
- turn 2 clash between asevearl drivers on the first lap that took out Verstappen and Gasly and caused damage to Saniz’s car resulting in a safety car. Verstappen though was likely to be heading for retirement with mechanical problems after losing power at the start.
- At the restart there was a big collision on the start line caused by drivers misjudging when to go and the race was red flagged to clear away the wreckage. We lost four cars in this incident as Sainz, Magnussen, Giovanazzi and Latifi all went into each other. It was a nasty accident and the onboard replays are hard to watch but thankfully there was no injuries , although Sainz did appear to have hurt his hand. Trying to apportion blame here is very difficult, leader Bottas left it very late to pull the lug but that is his right as leader and so laying the blame at his door would seem unfair. Twevle drivers did receive warnings after the race for the incident and personally I feel that the drivers just have to do a better job of judging when to go in future, I don’t feel that any rule change is needed to prevent it happening again, it is all the drivers responsibility to get away safely, they are the best in the world after all.
- Once everything was clear the race got going again Lewis as mentioned beat Bottas away into the lead but a short while later the race was red flagged again when Stroll, on for another strong result in the Racing Point had a massive shunt at the fastest part of the circuit. He was unhurt but the car and the crash barrier were wrecked and there was a lengthily delay before the race could get once again.
From here on in it was plainer sailing at the front for Hmailton as Bottas breifly came under pressure form Ricciardo who had done a great job to get into third place and at that time looked like getting the podium place he and Rebualt have been looking for the past two years. Unfortunately for the Australian Bottas was able to eventually drop him and he had to focus on Albon behind.
Albon had been making some brilliant moves all day and clearly had a faster car and was able to find a way past at turn 1 to score a well deserved third place. Although I would have loved to have seen Ricciardo on the podium I have to admit that I was very pleased when Albon got by as I feel he really needed a good result like this. The pressure has been on him alot of late and he hasn’t always brought home the results a team like RedBull expects. But he hasn’t been buried by it and on pace I feel that he has improved steadily over the last two or three races. A podium was a worthy reward for him and hopefully will give him the confidence to move forwards and cement his place in the RedBull team.
George Russel was so close to scoring his first poinys in F1 bit lost out badly at the final restart dropping him from ninth to twelfth. He moved up to eleventh behind Vettel but couldn’t get past the Ferrari and was understandably very disappointed after the race. His time will come but it would have been great to see him get some points as a reward for his efforts in a difficult car.
Ferrari celebrated their 1000th event and while it was nice for them to do it in Italy it is a shame that there couldnt have been a full house present as I’m sure there would gave been a lot more made of it. A selction if old cars on tarck would have been great. There were some fans presnt though, around 2500 and they got to witness Mick Schumacher drive his dads title winning F2004 which sounded amazing!!!
As far as the race goes, Ferrari’s performance was pretty much as expected, a double points finish was actually a good result for them and the best they could have realistically hoped for.
As for Mugello itself I think it was a brilliant addition to the calendar, seeing the cars tackle the track was awesome and watching them through the fastest part of the track, Casonova and the two Arrabiata corners was just amazing. Old school circuits such as this show F1 cars off at the very best and always provide a challenge to the drivers. The fact that the race also produced so much action was both surprising and exciting. I don’t know if F1 will go back to Mugello in a “normal” season but I would definitely support the idea if it did and if it does not then I will have fond memories of the race there.
A two week break awaits us now then , and a very welcome break I;m sure for the F1 people and then onward to Russia where we will be expecting to see some more fans present.
My F1 talk 