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Lewis Hamilton claimed his 90th Grand Prix in an accident-plagued race with three starts under the traffic lights and one behind the safety car at Mugello.
A week after the sensational podium at Monza, Mercedes’ normalcy is back in Formula 1 on paper. In a crash derby at Mugello that started three times under the traffic lights and once behind the safety car, Lewis Hamilton beat Valtteri Bottas on Sunday. Alex Albon stepped onto a Formula 1 podium for the first time at Red Bull, only twelve cars crossed the finish line.
As at Monza, there were a series of spectacular accidents and interruptions in the first Formula 1 race at the Ferrari track in Tuscany. It was only after about two and a half hours that Hamilton was singled out as the winner.
It already started at the original start, when Max Verstappen, starting from third place, could not move without power and became an unwitting participant in a midfield skirmish at Turn Two. The Red Bull, third-placed in the World Cup, was thrown into the gravel, the Dutchman fell early, like the sensational winner of Monza, Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri).
Bottas then led the field behind the safety car to restart on lap eight, but then there was another terrifying collision at the rear of the field. Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa, for example, hit Carlos Sainz Jr.’s McLaren with full force, which meant that Monze’s runner-up was out as well.
The fact that Bottas had waited a long time to accelerate his Mercedes when restarting drew criticism in some places. “Are you going to kill us all?” Asked a heated Haas pilot, Romain Grosjean. Sainz remained calm. “It’s important that everyone stayed healthy. We may have to rethink the reboot system.”
Turbulent
Due to cleaning up almost an hour after the original start, the race with Bottas was restarted against Hamilton. This time standing up again and under the traffic light. There were only 13 cars with Vettel last.
“Wingman” Bottas let world champion Hamilton pass on turn one. Then both Mercedes immediately walked away. With 15 laps remaining, the race could have turned around again, because after a serious accident with Lance Stroll – the third from Monza also said goodbye with him – the red flag again caused a longer interruption.
However, Hamilton was lucky that the safety car that had gone out no longer caught him. Behind the safety car we left the pit lane until the third traffic light, a real rarity in the premier class.
Bottas ruined the start, but quickly edged out Daniel Ricciardo and returned to second place. Up front, Hamilton drove smoothly until the jubilee victory. Now only one thing is missing in record world champion Michel Schumacher. “Today was three races. It was tough, my heart is still racing,” admitted the world champion. “90 wins, that’s crazy,” added the Briton, who after 9 of 17 races is already 80 points ahead of the best non-Mercedes driver, Verstappen.
The only “miles ahead” in red in the 1,000,000 Grand Prix for Ferrari were only the safety car, which was repainted for the occasion. After the Monza double this time around, Charles Leclerc (8th) and Sebastian Vettel (10th) at least brought World Cup points to the finish line on the anniversary.
Verstappen, on the other hand, was very angry after his third loss of the season, the second in a row. “No energy!” he had called desperately at first. “I think it was the same problem as at Monza. It’s a shame, today we would have had a good chance to fight Mercedes,” said Verstappen, who was confirmed by Albon. The teammate, who lives in England, drove for the first time and was therefore also the first Thai on the podium in a Formula 1 race. “With Max there would have been chances of winning”, adviser Helmut was sure Marko.
(THAN)
