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Pierre Gasly won the Italian Grand Prix for AlphaTauri, earning an unlikely victory at Monza as an eventful race proved disastrous for world champion Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton finished in seventh place having led halfway when he was penalized for illegally entering the pit lane. Carlos Sainz was second for McLaren with Lance Stroll third for Racing Point. Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren and Valtteri Bottas fifth for Mercedes.
It’s Gasly’s first grand prix win, and the 24-year-old was understandably ecstatic by the end, the Frenchman had closed with verve and steel. It was especially poignant just over a year after he was demoted from Red Bull’s senior team to his sister team after the Belgian GP. His previous best time was second at the Brazilian GP last year. It is also AlphaTauri’s first victory, the only other victory for the team came in its previous form, as Toro Rosso was also here at Monza, when Sebastian Vettel won in 2008. The last French driver to win a grand prix was Olivier Panis in Monaco in 1996.
Ferrari had a home race to forget with Sebastian Vettel pulling out with a brake failure and Charles Leclerc crashing early. While Mercedes is likely demanding answers, unhappy with how what looked like a nailed victory for Hamilton fell apart.
Hamilton was clean from the start on the ramp to the first chicane, but Bottas had a surprise, going backwards beaten by Sainz and then passed by Norris, who climbed from sixth to third. The Finn continued to lose places complaining of a puncture and slipping down to sixth, but did not pit and it seemed he had just lost the line and could not recover quickly.
With the immediate threat of his teammate disappearing from sight, Hamilton made a dent, putting more than two seconds on Sainz in four laps. He soon left them completely behind.
But for Ferrari, an already depressing weekend only got worse. Vettel suffered a brake failure on lap five, going straight through the first chicane, he was forced to retire at the end of the lap. “The brake line exploded,” Vettel said after a very disappointing weekend in his final race at Monza for Ferrari.
McLaren looked good with second and third, albeit eight seconds behind Hamilton on lap 13, but Bottas was unable to advance from sixth against Sergio Pérez and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth and fifth.
However, what seemed like a routine for Hamilton was transformed in a moment. When Kevin Magnussen retired with a problem on lap 20, the safety car was called and Hamilton pitched in search of new tires. Tellingly, he was the only one of the leaders to do so. The entrance to the pit lane was still closed at the time deputies pushed Magnussen’s car into the pit lane. Hamilton was immediately investigated by the stewards. In contrast, AlphaTauri had pitted just before the safety car was deployed and the pit lane was still open, it turned out to be an inspired move that would ultimately put its driver in a race-winning position.
With the pit lane open, the remaining leaders stopped in search of fresh rubber and the race resumed on lap 23. Only to stop almost immediately when Leclerc had a major accident hitting the wall at Parabolica. A high-speed impact that Leclerc was lucky enough to get away from stopped the race with a red flag as Leclerc’s car was removed and the barrier repaired.
When the cars returned to the pit lane, Hamilton received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty and was furious, he went to see the stewards as the race came to a halt. The flurry of stops and chaos turned the race upside down. Third, when racing resumed, Gasly beat Stroll at the restart and when Hamilton committed his penalty almost immediately, Gasly took the lead, with Kimi Raikkonen and Sainz behind. Bottas was sixth, seven seconds behind.
Team principal Toto Wolff was furious that the pit lane closure had not been clear, but it was the team’s fault for allowing Hamilton to enter the pits. Clearly frustrated and disappointed, Hamilton’s career was in tatters. He came out of his penalty in 17th, last place and 30 seconds behind the leader with 24 laps remaining.
Meanwhile, Sainz brilliantly overtook Raikkonen on lap 34 at turn one and declared his intention to go after Gasly. He came within two seconds with ten laps to go and less than a second with two to go. “I want this victory,” he said. However, Gasly showed the courage and courage to maintain his lead against what was clearly a faster car, earning an enormously creditable victory.
Hamilton did his best to cut through the field and reach the points in seventh place, salvaging something from the afternoon. He still leads the Bottas championship by 164-117 points.
Ricciardo was sixth and his Renault teammate Esteban Ocon eighth.
Daniil Kvyat was ninth for AlphaTauri with Pérez in tenth.
