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World champion and world championship leader Lewis Hamilton is drawing ever closer to his seventh title: In the 13th round of the season, the Englishman achieved his 93rd victory, the ninth in his great 2020 season.
Once again Lewis Hamilton got everything right: after a moderate start (a position lost to Verstappen), Hamilton was very careful on his tires, and when Verstappen, later Bottas, replaced the semi-hard Pirelli with hard tires, the Englishman stepped on the throttle.
In the decisive phase, Hamilton was fortunate that there was a short virtual safety car phase because Esteban Ocon’s Renault had stalled, which was ideal for Lewis, who pitted immediately, while Bottas and Verstappen drove more. slowly behind them. I had to.
In addition, Hamilton benefited from the fact that Bottas had already sustained Mercedes underbody damage on Lap 2, had apparently driven on debris (possibly from Lance Stroll’s front wing, which had collided with Ocon), and was also stuck in the side air control elements. Bottas hit other parts that spoil the aerodynamics.
After Hamilton was at the helm, he didn’t let anything burn. He controlled the Emilia Romagna GP at will, won his 93rd Grand Prix, the ninth of the year after Styria, Hungary, England, Spain, Belgium, Tuscany, Eifel and Portugal, and by the way, he became world champion of Mercedes and himself himself to the second Formula 1 driver after Michael Schumacher, who has shown more than 5000 laps in the lead. Schumi has 5,111 leading laps, which is the next record he will lose against Hamilton.
During the safety car phase due to Verstappen’s accident, Hamilton was unable to pit immediately, but his lead over Bottas was large enough to stay on top after a tire change.
After crossing the finish line, Lewis Hamilton immediately appeared on the radio after his victory: “I am very proud of all of you, we are world champions!”
After Mercedes’ 100th GP victory in the turbo hybrid era, Lewis said: “Oh man this race really exhausted me because we are driving at incredible speed at Imola.”
«My beginning was terrible. But then luck was on our side. I am really overwhelmed. I see my team and the glitter on their faces. And I know how they will party at the Brackley and Brixworth factories at home. For me, they are the great background heroes. They make sure Valtteri and I get such a fabulous race car in every race. I know they do the best they can every day, they are tireless. “
“I know a lot of people think: another victory for Mercedes, they must be tired of winning. But the truth is the opposite. Every racing weekend we starve like we haven’t won anything, and that’s one of the recipes for success. I cannot express in words how grateful I am to you for all your commitment. “
“We have now won seven world championship titles in a row, no racing team has ever done it. I know how difficult it is to raise the bar even further after that great year, I know, it is an exceptional achievement. I will be able to tell my grandchildren! “
And Lewis Hamilton did something on this very special day that he had always said he would never do: he accepted the champagne in Daniel Ricciardo’s racing boot and swallowed the noble juice and his disgust. “I thought it was a good time to jump on his shadow, even if I said at the time that I would never do that. How did you taste it? There was still a hint of bubbling, I’d rather not talk about the rest! “
Emilia Romagna-GP, Imola
1. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, 1:28:32, 430
2. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Mercedes, +5.783 seconds
3. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), Renault, +14,320
4. Daniil Kvyat (RUS), AlphaTauri, +15,141
5. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +19,111
6. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Racing Point, +19,652
7. Carlos Sainz (E), McLaren, +20,230
8. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +21,131
9. Kimi Räikkönen (FIN), Alfa Romeo, +22,224
10. Antonio Giovinazzi (I), Alfa Romeo, +26,398
11. Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, +27,135
12. Sebastian Vettel (D), Ferrari, +28,453
13. Lance Stroll (CDN), Racing Point, +29,163
14. Romain Grosjean (F), Haas, +32,935
15. Alex Albon (T), Red Bull Racing, +57,284
Outside
George Russell (GB), Williams, Accident
Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, puncture
Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, assignment
Esteban Ocon (F), Renault, gearbox
Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, water leak
World Championship place after 13 of 17 races
driver
1. Hamilton 282 points
2. Bottas 197
3. Verstappen 162
4. Ricciardo 95
5. Leclerc 85
6. Pérez 82
7. Norris 69
8. Sainz 65
9. Albon 64
10. Gasly 63
11. Walk 57
12. Ocon 40
13. Kvyat 26
14. Vettel 18
15. Nico Hülkenberg (D) 10
17. Räikkönen 4
16. Giovinazzi 4
18. Grosjean 2
19. Magnussen 1
20. Latifi 0
21. Russell 0
Trademarks
1. Mercedes 479
2. Red Bull Racing 226
3. Renault 135
4. McLaren 134
5. Racing Point 134
6. Ferrari 103
7. AlphaTauri 89
8. Alfa Romeo 8
9. Haas 3
10. Williams 0
