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It was the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly that was victorious this afternoon after an unbelievable race Monza, with Carlos Sainz finishing behind in second. The final podium spot went to Lance Stroll, who finished the race in third.
Lewis Hamilton had a good start off the line as Valtteri Bottas dropped behind both McLarens of Lando Norris and Sainz. Bottas lost out, even more, dropping as far as sixth while Sergio Perez and Danie Ricciardo jumped ahead.
Max Verstappen dropped places on the first lap, losing out to Stroll, but managed to get the Canadian into turn one for seventh.
Gasly and Alexander Albon were noted for an incident at the start as Gasly tapped the rear wheel of Albon, sending the Red Bull across the track and down to fourteenth, with the incident soon being seemed as a racing incident.
Sebastian Vettel's race ended on lap six, after a brake failure put him out of the running. Further ahead, Verstappen looked to pressure Bottas ahead for sixth place.
Albon was handed a five-second penalty for failing to leave a car width at the edge of the circuit for a separate incident with Romain Grosjean at turn one.
Perez went against Norris for third on lap nine, the Racing Point closing up to the McLaren for the position with Ricciardo and Bottas close behind.
Being behind traffic in sixth, Bottas was suffering from excessive temperatures, while Albon was coping with damage to his floor, hindering him as he looked to move up through the field.
Bottas started to drop off the racing line as a means to cool his engine temperatures but was falling into the clutches of Verstappen behind, while Albon got by Leclerc for thirteenth, with Antonio Giovinazzi also closing down the pair.
Charles Leclerc pitted on lap eighteen, swapping his worn soft tyres for a new set of hards. Daniil Kvyat closed up to teammate Gasly in tenth, as Kevin Magnussen stopped on track, claiming something had broken in the car on the outside of Parabolica.
Gasly then pitted for hards on lap twenty, releasing his teammate to chase the cars ahead, as the safety car was deployed to recover Magnussen's Haas.
Hamilton opted to pit as Sainz, Norris and Perez opted to stay out, handing the lead to Sainz. However, the pit lane was temporarily closed in order to recover the stricken Haas when the safety car came out, meaning Hamilton pitted when he was not allowed to, as marshals opted to push the Haas into the pit lane,
As the pit lane became open again, Sainz and Norris double-stacked, as the majority of drivers opted to pit under safety car conditions. Bottas jumped ahead of Ricciardo in the pits, as drivers rushed to catch the safety car before it came to an end.
Nicholas Latifi jumped massively up to seventh, opting not to pit under safety car, as Kimi Raikkonen, Giovinazzi and Leclerc also made gains. As the race restarted, Leclerc jumped to fourth as Hamilton continued to lead.
The safety car was once again brought out after a horrific accident for Leclerc at the Parabolica, but he thankfully was okay and got out of the car unaided.
Leclerc lost the back of the car as he came through the corner, sending the Ferrari at high speed into the tyre wall at the end of the corner. Giovinazzi was then handed a ten-second stop-go penalty for entering the pit lane when it as closed.
The race was then red-flagged to allow marshals to fix the damaged tyre barrier. As marshals recovered the destroyed Ferrari, Hamilton was given a ten-second stop-go penalty for entering the pitlane when it was closed, to be taken when the race resumed.
Fourth and fifth went to Norris and Bottas, as Ricciardo took sixth. Hamilton recovered to seventh after serving his penalty.
Norris was put under investigation for driving unnecessarily slowly upon entering the pit lane, as FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer visited Mercedes in the pit lane as they attempted to change parts on the Mercedes of Bottas.
The race restarted at 16:20 local time, with Mercedes planning to get Hamilton to take his penalty within two laps of the restart. The drivers followed the safety car around the formation lap before a second standing restart took place on the grid, as it was confirmed Norris would face no further action.
On the second restart, Hamilton led away as Raikkonen moved up to third. However, Stroll went straight on at the second chicane, barely missing the Alfa Romeo of Raikkonen.
Hamilton opted to take his penalty straight away, handing the lead to Gasly. Hamilton then came out thirty seconds behind Albon in sixteenth.
Verstappen pitted on lap thirty-one with an issue, as he pulled into the pit lane for the team to retire his car.
George Russell was forced to go wide after a failed attempt to overtake Grosjean at turn one, but could not find a way past the Haas through Curva Grande.
Sainz then moved up into second past Raikkonen and soon chased after Gasly for the lead. Stroll then dropped the Alfa Romeo down to fourth as he went after the leading pair.
Grosjean and Russell continued to tussle over twelfth, while Hamilton eventually got past Albon through Curva Grande on lap forty-one.
With less than ten laps to go, the gap between Gasly and Sainz was at two seconds, the McLaren slowly catching the leading AlphaTauri.
With four laps to go, Hamilton had worked his way up to ninth and was after Kvyat's eighth position, as Sainz closed in on Gasly for the win.
Despite challenges from Sainz in the closing laps, Gasly held on to take his first F1 race victory, and AlphaTauri's second win at Monza, having won with Sebastian Vettel as Toro Rosso in 2008.
Eighth and ninth went to Esteban Ocon and Kvyat, as Sergio Perez took the final point in tenth.
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
wow.... just wow.... :D