Many F1 fans, including myself, expected to wake up and watch the Mercedes cars driven by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas dominate and finish first and second like they usually do. While Hamilton dominated early, a safety car at lap 20 for the stalled Haas driven by Kevin Magnussen changed everything.

Lewis Hamilton led the first 20 laps of the race after a strong start, but the safety car at lap 20 changed his whole race. When Hamilton was informed that Magnussen’s car was stalled, he dove to pit lane to get new tires so that he wouldn’t have to pit once the field was bunched up behind the safety car. However, as he was diving onto pit lane, the F1 stewards closed pit road. It was too late for Hamilton to change his decision about pitting, and he received a ten second stop-and-go penalty as a result. Everyone else in the field pit during the safety car period except for Lance Stroll, advancing him up to second place behind Hamilton. The race resumed at lap 24, but the field didn’t even complete the lap before a red flag was necessary, as Charles Leclerc took a massive shunt through the Parabolica in his Ferrari. As a result of the red flag, Stroll’s team was able to change his tires and get him on an even strategy with the rest of the field, while holding his position as the provisional leader, as Hamilton hadn’t yet served his penalty, which had to be served under green flag conditions. The race resumed on lap 28 after the 25-minute red flag period came to an end. Hamilton immediately pulled away from the field and Pierre Gasly advanced past Stroll for second place after Stroll got a bad restart. Hamilton served his penalty at the end of the lap, giving the lead to Gasly, who drives for Alpha Tauri. Alpha Tauri, who is the junior team to Red Bull, was known as Toro Rosso until this year, and had only won one race in it’s history, which occurred at Monza in 2008. Gasly led the final 25 laps of the event and was able to hold off a late charge by the McLaren of Carlos Sainz to earn his maiden F1 victory. Sainz and Stroll finished second and third, respectively, to round out the podium.

Gasly was demoted to Alpha Tauri midway through the 2019 season due to his lack of performance with Red Bull. Since that transition, Gasly has consistently outperformed has Alpha Tauri teammate Daniil Kvyat, including a spectacular second place finish in last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix to earn his first podium finish, and is now a Formula 1 winner. “It was such a crazy race,” Gasly said. “The car was fast, and to go through so much in the space of 18 months. First podium last year (in Brazil), now first victory in Monza. I have no words.” (Associated Press, 2020) Gasly jubilantly celebrated with his team and sprayed champagne on the podium, truly enjoying his first F1 win. After all of the podium ceremonies, Gasly sat down on the podium and reflected on the wild journey he’s experienced to get to this point. “I would have never expected that a year ago,” said Gasly. “The podium was already unexpected, a big, big highlight last year. I sat down, and I had a lot of things crossing my mind, obviously first of all my family, my friends, and all the people who supported me. You just remember everything you’ve been through … It was a very special moment. It’s been a crazy ride in the last few months. It’s just unbelievable, I’m still struggling to realize what we’ve just achieved.” (Associated Press, 2020)

Sebastian Vettel’s brake failure on lap 6 and Charles Leclerc’s massive hit into the tire barriers through the Parabolica on lap 24 only worsened the dismal 2020 season that the Ferrari team has had, and many people still are confused to this sudden drop in performance level. Ferrari wasn’t featured in the top ten on the starting grid or the finishing results, which was a first time occurrence at Monza for the prestigious program. The team currently sits sixth in the Constructor’s Championship, and hasn’t finished lower than 5th in the Constructor’s Championship since 1980. Vettel, a four-time champion, hasn’t even earned a top 5 finish for Ferrari this season. “It’s clear in terms of expectations you see where we are. It’s not that we can expect an awful lot,” Vettel said. “I hope in Mugello we are in a little bit better place but that doesn’t mean that we are fighting for the podium so you need to be realistic. Expectations are very low but hopefully we have a smooth weekend, a weekend without trouble. That would be a good start.” (Matar, 2020) Many Ferrari fans, including myself, are ready to forget the season that Ferrari has had before it even reaches it’s halfway point. It’s been that bad. However, team principal Mattia Binotto thinks otherwise. “We shouldn’t forget anything, we need to learn,” he said. “This season will make us stronger.” (Matar, 2020)

Written on September 7th, 2020

Sources:

F1. “Italian Grand Prix 2020 Race Report and Highlights: Gasly Beats Sainz to Maiden Win in Monza Thriller, as Hamilton Recovers to P7 after Penalty: Formula 1®.” Formula 1, Formula 1, 6 Sept. 2020, www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.gasly-takes-maiden-win-in-monza-thriller-from-sainz-as-penalty-leaves.2wjQyiSgOy8ggwcJlWHhsi.html.