It is no longer news that Lewis Hamilton has won the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, but let’s look at the event’s main highlight.
The British driver strengthened his grip on the title in a race that has highs and lows. There was a lot of car incidents in the event.
It could be recalled that Hamilton ended 7th in the enthralling Italian Grand Prix, won by Pierre Gasly, who suffered a first-lap crash. But he didn’t make the same mistake in Tuscany.
Although Hamilton lost the lead initially, he later got in front by passing teammate Valtteri Bottas around the outside after the red flag restart. He was ruthless on his cold tyres.
Hamilton, who described the race as heart-racing, said it was like three races in one day recorded his 90th victory, and he is now one behind Michael Schumacher’s all-time record.
The win also earned him a record 222nd career points finish, beating Schumacher’s record. His consistency has now seen him set a new F1 record with his 42nd consecutive classified finish, bettering the record of Nick Heidfeld.
Recording a record-equalling seventh world title seems almost inevitable for Hamilton, but he is getting closer to that, and he is not under any pressure.
Meanwhile, Bottas, who was leading from the start, will be scratching his head in finding a way to beat Hamilton. His undoing during the race was his failure to defend robustly.
His winless run now extends to eight races. The last time he climbed the number one podium was the opening race in Austria. He surpassed compatriot Mika Hakkinen’s tally with his 52nd career podium.
With eight Grand Prix to go, Bottas is now behind Hamilton by 55 points. It means that he needs to win two more races to beat his teammate.
Alex Albon is now third time lucky after being on the podium again. He got the third position after driving past around the outside of Daniel Ricciardo brilliantly. His ruthless pace advantage did this.
Lance Stroll failed to clinch the third position in the Tuscan Grand Prix, losing out in claiming his second successive podium for Racing Point.
Daniel Ricciardo could have ended on the podium if not for the final red flag that forced another restart. He eventually finished fourth for the third time this season and second in three races, with a total of 53 points. This bettered the tally he recorded across the whole of 2019.
Charles Leclerc is also among the loser as he finished eight. The driver admitted that the team was slow in the race as he fell back from fifth while his teammate Sebastian Vettel finished 10th.
Gasly was hoping to continue from where he stopped in Italy, but he struggled in qualifying, getting knocked out in Q1.
He eventually got out of the race after being squeezed and pitched off into the gravel.
Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed
