Motorsport journalist and podcaster
Often F1 fans and pundits have hypothesised what the sport would look like released from the iron grip of the frontrunning teams. The Italian Grand Prix delivered us the thrilling answer, with Pierre Gasly taking an emotional maiden victory.
For a time it seemed this was a race no-one wanted to win.
Poleman Lewis Hamilton was penalised for making his sole pit stop while pit lane was closed. Valtteri Bottas took himself out of contention with a shocking first lap. Red Bull Racing’s already off-pace weekend was compounded by damage to Alex Albon on the first lap and a power unit problem taking Max Verstappen out of the race.
Pierre Gasly is the first Frenchman to win a Formula 1 race in 24 years after claiming his maiden victory in a thriller at the Italian Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old AlphaTauri driver beat McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll to the flag after inheriting the lead from poleman Lewis Hamilton, who served a stop-go penalty for a tyre change while pit lane was closed.
But Hamilton wasn’t the only frontrunner to hit trouble, with a slew of problems creating a perfect storm to deliver the unpredictable podium.
Pierre Gasly has won his maiden Formula 1 victory for AlphaTauri in a chaotic Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Continue reading on RACERMercedes will have both cars start from the Monza front row for the first time since 2016, and such was the margin poleman Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas dominated qualifying that there’s little reason to believe anyone can challenge in the race.
Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix took place against the backdrop of a technical directive banning the use of special qualifying modes — or ‘party modes’, as originally coined by Lewis Hamilton — a long-telegraphed change to aid the policing of technical regulations and, just maybe, condense the battle for pole.
Effectively the internal combustion engine has become subject to parc fermé conditions, its settings unable to be changed from the beginning of qualifying until the end of the race.
Lewis Hamilton has defied rule changes in part aimed at slowing his Mercedes to storm to pole at the Italian Grand Prix with an all-time speed record.
Hamilton lapped the 5.793-kilometre Monza circuit in 1 minute 18.887 seconds. At an average speed of 264.362 kilometres per hour, it set the record for fastest lap in Formula 1 history.
It was enough to pip teammate Valtteri Bottas by a slender 0.069s in a Mercedes front-row lockout, though the Finn is optimistic he has better race pace than Hamilton in his mission to slice into his 50-point championship deficit on Sunday.