“My heart is racing. It is crazy to have 90 Grand Prix wins,” Lewis Hamilton
MUGELLO, Italy—September 13th—It might have been the 1000th race for Ferrari at an Italian track, but following three safety cars and two red flag periods, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes emerged with the win. Hamilton is now one victory shy of tying Michael Schumacher’s 91 all-time wins.
Hamilton won the Grand Prix of Tuscany by just under five seconds over Valtteri Bottas. Alex Albon claimed the first podium of his career, finishing in third.
Lewis Hamilton: It was all a bit of daze, like three races in one day. This track is phenomenal and the heat and keeping Valtteri behind was not easy.
Hamilton managed to take the lead twice during the race–the first following an accident involving Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly on the opening lap, and another crash involving Carlos Sainz Jr., Kevin Magnussen, and Antonio Giovinazzi on the restart, which resulted in a half-hour red flag period.
Once he was out in front, Hamilton widened his gap by lap 37 to four seconds over Bottas. But Bottas was not having a good day, despite being in second. He was heard on his radio saying that he hoped for another safety car, and he got his wish when Lance Stroll, who was chasing Daniel Ricciardo for third, went off the track with 15 laps to go. That brought out the final red flag of the day and delayed the event for nearly the same time as the first as marshals pulled the uninjured Stroll from his car that had hit the barriers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u900k-obTRs
With a standing restart happening for the second time, Hamilton returned to the front, but Ricciardo got a perfect start and jumped into second ahead of Bottas. But only a few laps later, Ricciardo’s quest to get his Renault their first podium since 2011 ended. Bottas passed him, and then Albon. In the end, Ricciardo had to settle for his second fourth-place finish of the season.
Sergio Perez was fifth in his Racing Point, while Lando Norris took sixth in the sole McLaren. Dani Kvyat was seventh in his Alpha Tauri, while Kimi Raikkonen finished in ninth after receiving a five-second penalty for entering the side of the pitlane.
As for the two Ferrari’s, they scored points when Charles Leclerc took eighth and Sebastian Vettel 10th. The only Haas F1 car left with Romain Grosjean finished in 12th, the last of the non-retirements.
But the big story, once again, is about Lewis Hamilton, who’s clearly the class of Formula 1. “My heart is racing,” he said on Sunday. “It is crazy to have 90 Grand Prix wins.”
Following consecutive weeks in Italy, Formula 1 will now take a break. Teams will assemble at the Sochi Autodrome in preparation for the September 27 Russian Grand Prix.
