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Lewis Hamilton was on the brink of a seventh world title with victory in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
A double for Mercedes with Valtteri Bottas second sealed a record for the seventh consecutive constructors’ championship.
In the chase for the drivers’ title, Hamilton is 85 points ahead of Bottas, who rose to second when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen suffered a puncture.
Hamilton will win the title in the next race as long as Bottas doesn’t beat him by more than seven points.
Williams driver George Russell was on target to score his first F1 points, but the Brit crashed while trying to warm up his tires behind the Safety Car.
How did Hamilton win?
Hamilton fell behind Verstappen to third after making a poor start, but had moved into a winning position before the virtual safety car ensured his victory.
The race was shaping up to a tense scenario, in which the advantage was with Hamilton.
He decided to stay longer before his pit stop, after Bottas and Verstappen were stopped for new tires, to try to extend the lead long enough to stop and stay ahead.
Bottas was struggling with a damaged car (a large chunk of Ferrari debris was stuck in his ‘barge boards’ behind the front wheels and cost at least 0.5 seconds per lap) and was holding on to Verstappen, and Hamilton did a series of laps quick to extend your advantage.
His engineer had just told the Finn he was “an unsafe second for Lewis,” meaning Hamilton had enough of a lead to pit and still emerge in the lead, when race director Michael Masi called the virtual safety car. to get Esteban back. Renault hit by Ocon.
The safety car was out not much longer than Hamilton was in the pits for his new tires and was able to emerge with a four-second lead and sail to the flag.
Bottas appeared to have lost second place to Verstappen when he made too many mistakes locking his front wheels at Rivazza.
On lap 42, the Finn ran wide and slid to the edge of the gravel, allowing Verstappen to close in and pass Tamburello at the start of the next lap.
But a puncture to the right rear 10 laps later broke his suspension and sent him rolling into the gravel, pushing Bottas into second place.
More danger than it seemed
Although Hamilton appeared to be in control once he took the lead, there were concerns in the Mercedes pits.
They noticed vibrations from their rear tires in the second part of the race, a tell-tale sign of a possible impending failure, and Mercedes began to think they would have to stop again.
As a result of this concern, once the Verstappen tire had failed, Mercedes would have stopped both cars for new tires, regardless of whether there had been a safety car or not.
It is not yet known why Verstappen’s tire failed. It was within the expected useful life and Pirelli will investigate whether the failure was caused by debris or was influenced by certain characteristics of the circuit that put additional pressure on the tires, in particular a high-grip track surface and curbs that put a lot of energy through of the tires.
A few frantic last laps
Verstappen’s accident meant the safety car was dispatched to clear the damage and led to an action-packed scramble for third place in the closing laps.
But before the safety car period ended, Russell lost control trying to warm up his tires and slid into the barrier.
The highly rated Brit, who will drive again for Williams next season, showed a dejected figure as he walked away from his wrecked car, then sat against the fence and hit his knee multiple times in frustration.
Daniel Ricciardo of Renault, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and Alexander Albon of Red Bull decided not to stop for new tires, to protect the track position, while Sergio Pérez of Racing Point, Daniil Kvyat of Alpha Tauri and the McLarens of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris were stopped by new soft tires. as Mercedes cars had done in the front.
At the restart, Ricciardo, Leclerc and Albon struggled to get their tires up to temperature and Kvyat passed Albon and Pérez in a move towards Tamburello, before passing Leclerc up the hill from Tosa.
But Ricciardo managed to hold off the Russian to take his second podium and Renault’s in three races, with Kvyat in an impressive fourth, making up for his teammate Pierre Gasly, who had qualified there, retiring with an engine problem in the first laps.
Leclerc managed to hold off Pérez in fifth place, with Sainz and Norris McLarens seventh and eighth.
Albon spun when Kvyat passed him at the Villeneuve chicane and finished 15th and last again, not what he needed when his seat is at risk for 2021.
Driver of the day
What happens next
A two-week break before the Turkish Grand Prix, when F1 returns to the Istanbul Park circuit, a great track featuring a famous high-speed triple-apex southpaw that has hosted some exciting races.
What they say
Hamilton: “It was a grueling race, the speed at which we had to go after a bad start. It’s very overwhelming at the moment. I look at my team and I know all the men and women here and there in the factory and they are the forgotten heroes. “.
Bottas: “I think [the damage] had a big impact today. The start was good, that was one of the main things to get right today. He was pushing hard to stop Max from passing. I had to push all my limits, which led to some mistakes. Unlucky.”
Ricciardo: “It was strange, I’m not sure what happened to Max, but that put us in the fight for a podium. [Team boss] Cyril [Abiteboul] although another tattoo will not be done. ”
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