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Italian GP Stats Run Down

Italian GP Review

Credits: Scuderia AlphaTauri

Monza delivers yet again. As the greatest Italian team have their struggle at home, it’s Alpha Tauri, who had a memorable day at Monza. A sight of an underdog win a race in F1 is always something to savor.  Who doesn’t love an underdog win? Be it a Jordon’s 1-2 at the Belgian GP 1998 or Pastor Maldonado’s win with Williams at the Spanish GP 2012 or even Torro Rosso win at the Italian GP 2008.

The season until Belgian GP has been predictable, and the same top 3 have visited the rostrum all but two races. However, the Italian GP has put everything on the bed by showcasing one of the unpredictable outcomes in recent history. The race has given us a blueprint of what can be expected when F1 have a level playing field.

Pierre Gasly gets his first career win with Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll completing the podium. The first race win for teams other than  Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari in the hybrid era. On top of it, the Italian GP 2020 is the first race since the Canadian GP 2007 to have 3 drivers who hadn’t won a race before. All the drivers at the Italian GP registered their second career podium.

Italian GP
Credits: Formula 1

 

Alpha Tauri and Pierre Gasly:

Alpha Tauri have won their second race in their short 15 years history. To put their race wins into perspective, Sebastian Vettel’s win with Torro Rosso at the 2008 Italian GP was an extraordinary achievement, to say the least, and Pierre Gasly’s win Alpha Tauri is inspirational. Alpha Tauri scored 27 points in today’s race, which is their best points haul on a race weekend. The previous best was in Germany 2019, where they scored 23 points by finishing 3rd and 6th. Also, they stepped on the rostrum for the 3rd time since the start of 2019.

Scuderia Alpha Tauri
Credits: Scuderia AlphaTauri

 

Pierre Gasly started the race in 10th  place.  He had a decent first half of the race where he positioned himself to score some good points. He made his first pits stop, a lap before the safety car, which eventually turned out to be a masterclass, as it moved him up to third behind Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll when the safety car was ended. He was slotted in the second row during the restart after the red flag on lap 26. He passed Lance Stroll during the re-start and moved up to second, and when Lewis Hamilton served his 10 seconds stop/go penalty, Pierre Gasly took control of the race from Lap 27 to the finish. He withstood late pressure from Carlos Sainz to claim the first F1 win of his career. He also became the first French racing driver to win a race since Olivier Panis in 1996 Monaco GP and the 14th French racing driver to win an F1 race. The musical chair between Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly is hotting up as the consistent performance from Pierre Gasly combined with a race win puts pressure back on Red Bull Racing to consider him for the seat in 2021.

McLaren:

After starting 3rd and 6th on the grid, McLaren had a good start to the race, where Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris were consolidating the race on the 2nd and 3rd place, only to lose track position due to the pits stop during the safety car period. After the restart, Carlos Sainz was chasing Pierre Gasly for the win but missed out on the win by only 0.4s at the finish line. McLaren would be gutted not to get their first win since Jenson Button’s win in 2012 Brazilian GP. However, as a silver lining, McLaren accumulated 30 points by finishing 2nd and 4th in the race, taking their season tally to 98. At the same stage last year, they had scored only 40 points. Moreover, this is their best race weekend since Australian GP 2014, where they scored a double podium.

Mercedes:

It’s a rarity to see a champion making a silly error. That was the story of Mercedes this weekend. Their weekend started brightly with 1-2 in the qualifiers. However, they could only accumulate 17 points from the race. Their first race without a podium or a win since Brazil 2019.

Lewis Hamilton had a great start to the race and opened up a 10s gap on second-placed Carlos Sainz. On a normal day, Lewis Hamilton would have won the race comfortably. But, an ambitious pits stop during the safety car, when the pit lane was closed cost Lewis Hamilton, a win. Even with a 10 seconds/stop-go penalty and 30s off the leader after the re-start, Lewis Hamilton had a great recovery race, where he came back from dead last to finish the race 7th. It’s been 41 races since he failed to finish a race on points. The last time he failed to finish in points was in Austria 2018. His determination to salvage as many points as he could from the bottom of the pack shows he’s still hungry to achieve more in F1. His tenacity and resilience portray why he’s one of the greatest F1 drivers.

Meanwhile, his teammate had another dismal afternoon. He had a poor start to the race where he dropped down to 6th at the end of the first lap. Even after the race restart at lap 27, where he was expected to be the threat for the win, he failed to capitalize and finished the race in the 5th position. He’s already 47 points behind Lewis Hamilton as the World Championship slips away from his hands once again.

Ferrari:

The disastrous season for Ferrari continues as they fail to register a finish at Monza. They should be glad that the race was held in the closed doors. Sebastian Vettel had to retire from the race on lap 7, due to a brake failure. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc, who was running as high as 4th after the Safety car period, had a premature end to the race when he lost the rear and crashed heavily on the barriers at the Curva parabolica. Another instance where the importance of Halo becomes tangible. This weekend also marks their worst weekend at Monza since 2005, where Micheal Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello finished the race on 10th and 12th. On top of it, this is also their first double DNF at Monza since the 1995 Italian GP where both Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger failed to finish the race.

Red Bull Racing:

Monza continues to haunt Red Bull as both their drivers failed to register a point this weekend, with Alex Albon finishing the race on 15th and Max Verstappen had to retire from the race on lap 30 due to an engine issue. Red Bull Racing are yet to register a podium at Monza in the hybrid era. Their worst result at Monza since the 2012 Italian GP. Red Bull Racing also failed to register a point for the second time this season.

Renault:

Renault registers their 3rd double points finish this season with Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon finishing the race on 6th and 8th. 10 points on a race weekend for Renault is handy for their battle for the 3rd place in the constructors’ championship. However, Renault should be fairly disappointed about their missed opportunity, when their rivals Racing Point and McLaren registered a podium and accumulated 16 and 30 points. They should be gutted not to repeat their last year’s Italian GP performance.

Racing Point:

Racing point are one of the happiest teams to leave Monza. With Renault and Ferrari withdrawing the appeal against the legality of their brake ducts and podium finish to their name, they had one of their best weekends. Racing Point have scored their first podium finish under the new ownership. They also registered double points finish 6 times this season, on par with Red Bull Racing, and only behind Mercedes. On top of it, Racing Point have registered a top 10 finish in the last 14 races. Their last non-points finish came in Singapore GP 2019.

Lance Stroll scored his second career podium. He was the only driver not to make any pits stop for new tyres before the red flag. He also received a free pits stop during the red flag and started the re-start from the first row, eventually fallen back to 5th at the end of 27th lap, but he managed to overtake Kimi Raikkonen and defended relentlessly against Lando Norris at the lateral stage to finish the race on the podium. However, his teammate Sergio Perez would be frustrated to miss out on a podium finish as he could only finish the race on the 10th.

Kimi Raikkonen was running in 3rd place after the restart. He had an interesting tussle with upcoming generations for the track positions, but eventually, he had fallen off the cliff and finished the race in the 13th position, which means he has finished 251 races so far in his career.

Williams
Credits: Williams Racing

As a Formula 1 community, we bid adieu to Frank Williams and family. We are thankful for the hustle and the passion they have shown in F1 since 1977. In their 43 years, they entered 739 races and won 114 races with 9 constructors and 7 drivers Championship. Though this is a sad end to the tenure, the hope remains Williams can be back fighting for wins under the new owners.

As we head to Mugello next week, Ferrari would be hoping to put on a better show at their 1000th GP. Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes would love to bounce back from their dismal weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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