Hamilton wins hectic Tuscan Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has taken yet another victory in 2020 as he hunts down his seventh Drivers World Championship title.

Hamilton’s Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas takes second place in front of Alex Albon (Red Bull) who finishes third for this first podium in Formula One after being tantalisingly close in previous races this year and last.

In Ferrari’s 1000th race it was drama from the fourth corner where last weekend’s race winner Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) was sandwiched between the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. The two drivers had no where to go but the gravel trap which left all but Magnussen beached and out of the race.

The Racing Point of Lance Stroll tapped the rear of Carlos Sainz (McLaren) leaving his MCL35 facing the wrong way and in hand leaving Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari no where to get past but nudge the car of the man replacing him next year and damaging the German drivers front wing causing Vettel to pit on the first lap.

This chaos caused a Safety Car which kept everyone close. Then after around five laps under the Safety Car – the then race leader Bottas slowed the pack up and then got away well as did the top five behind.

However, as the lights went green drivers all got rather excited and got tangled up causing a large shunt with the Williams of Nicholas Latifi, the Haas of Magnussen who then went into the back of the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi , leaving the Haas car momentarily airborne.

The chaos meant that after six laps of the maiden Tuscan Grand Prix the cars had raced just four corners.

This incident caused a red flag bringing the remaining 14 cars into the pits for around ten minutes. During this time the Renault of Esteban Ocon was retired due to a brake duct failure.

With 50 laps still left in this race ,the race had calmed down after the red flag until lap 44, when Lance Stroll lost pressure in his rear right tyre causing him to have a heavy impact into the tyre wall on the exit of turn two. This then lead to a second red flag, making the race the first to have two red flags since Brazil 2016.

The restart was a battle for third as the Mercedes pulled out a commanding lead on the rest of the field. The fight was between Albon, Ricciardo and Sergio Perez in the sole remaining Racing Point.

In the end the pace of the Red Bull was too much for the Renault team, giving Alex Albon the first podium for a Red Bull driver that isn’t Max Verstappen.

At the back of the pack was the Williams of George Russell who was unbelievably close to his first World Championship point as he chased the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel who he finished a second behind. During the second red flag Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) was late into the pits and was consequently handed a five second time penalty which meant that in the end Russell was left one second away from his first point in F1.

This race also marked the 222nd points finishing race for Lewis Hamilton – a new Formula One record.

The next race is the Russian Grand Prix on 27th September.