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Lewis Hamilton achieved his 90th career victory by beating his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in a chaotic and eventful Tuscan Grand Prix.
The race was marked by two red flags, the first caused by a crash on the pit straight, the second by a high-speed accident by Lance Stroll.
In one of the most dramatic races in years, six cars retired before a race lap was completed.
Thai-British Red Bull driver Alex Albon took a maiden podium in third place.
Hamilton’s victory was his sixth in nine races this season and, coupled with a secured fastest lap on the penultimate tour, extended his championship lead to 65 points as the season passes midway, placing him alone. one behind Michael Schumacher’s all-time record wins.
At the pre-race anti-racist rally, as he did in his post-race interviews, and on the podium, Hamilton wore a T-shirt that read: “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.”
It refers to one of several controversial cases in the United States in which police officers shot and killed black civilians.
What caused the huge crash?
Amid the sequence of incidents and crashes, victory depended on three standing starts between the Mercedes drivers.
In the first, Hamilton escaped poorly from pole position and lost the lead to Bottas, but the race lasted just three corners due to a crash between Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo, Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly and Haas driver Romain Grosjean .
The incident also killed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had been hit by engine problems while accelerating away from third on the grid.
That led to a safety car, and on the restart, when Bottas came up the field up the pit straight, there was a massive crash towards the rear of the field.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen sped up then slowed down, said because the cars were doing the same in front of him. Williams driver Nicholas Latifi swerved to avoid it and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi collided with Magnussen.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz then hit the back of Giovinazzi and Magnussen’s cars, throwing the Alfa 90 degrees into the air before it landed on all four wheels.
How Hamilton Got Leadership
On the restart, the positions of the Mercedes drivers were reversed. Hamilton selected Bottas to turn one and took the lead on the outside, controlling the race from there.
The Mercedes drivers disappeared into the distance and seemed calm, but Bottas developed problems with excessive wear on his front tires and began to fall dramatically away from Hamilton.
Bottas had to pit earlier than expected for new tires. Hamilton followed next time, and the two drivers were ordered to stay away from curbs to protect their tires.
The race seemed done, but that counted without further development.
Racing Point’s Stroll was in the middle of a three-way fight for third place with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo leading and Albon trailing when his left rear tire exploded entering the second of two 170 mph corners at Arrabbiata.
That led to a second red flag, to repair the barrier.
The final part of the race
On the restart, with only 12 laps to go, Bottas again slowly slipped away and lost second place to Ricciardo.
But the Finn was able to overtake Renault next time and secure second place.
That left Ricciardo defending from Albon for third place, which would have been Renault’s first podium since they returned to the sport in 2016.
But Albon had too much pace at Red Bull and passed the Renault with a delightful movement around the outside of the first corner with three laps remaining to take his first F1 podium.
Albon did a hard job with the result. Starting fourth, he fell back to seventh in the second outing and had to struggle to get back up, which he did with some excellent passes.
Ricciardo finished fourth, ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Williams driver George Russell missed his first points, finishing 11th, behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Ferrari had a difficult day as it celebrated its 1,000th F1 Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc was third at the start, but fell down the field, lacking pace and speed in a straight line, and finished eighth.
Driver of the day
Whats Next
A welcome two-week break after nine races in 11 weeks before the Russian Grand Prix, where Hamilton can match a record some felt would never be broken: Schumacher’s 91-win streak.
