The thirteenth race of the 2020 Formula One season is covered here by our F1 correspondent Nick van der Meulen in his report F1 Review Emilia Romagna GP 2020.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix took place at the Autodromo Dino e Enzo Ferrari – also known to fans as Imola. The circuit hosted its first F1 Grand Prix in 1979 (a non-championship event won by Niki Lauda), however, it staged the Italian Grand Prix in 1980, replacing Monza for the only time in the Italian Grand Prix’s existence. It was subsequently run as the San Marino Grand Prix and has been witness to much triumph, drama and tragedy. It is the venue of Gilles Villeneuve’s last Grand Prix and it was here that we witnessed the darkest weekend in F1 history where, in 1994, Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna lost their lives in consecutive days due to violent accidents at Villeneuve and Tamburello corners, respectively. It is for this reason that Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) commemorated the event with a helmet design in tribute to his hero, Senna.

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Seven-time winners

While Valtteri Bottas took a magnificent pole position and led the early stages of the race for Mercedes, it was the master class from Lewis Hamilton making his medium tyres last 11 laps longer than Bottas and Verstappen that ensured the Englishman took his 93rd victory. Bottas was unlucky to receive floor damage on lap 2 as a result of hitting debris. He struggled to slow his mount in the latter stages of the race, which resulted in a mistake and Verstappen surging through into second place. Sadly for Verstappen, he failed to finish as his right rear tyre let go, leaving him stranded in the kitty litter and bringing out the safety car. The 1-2 finish for Mercedes sealed their seventh constructors’ world title on the trot, surpassing Ferrari’s record of six in a row from 1999 to 2004. Hamilton has one hand on his seventh world championship trophy, a massive 85 points clear of Bottas.

Strong challenge

Max Verstappen, as ever, did a sterling job for Red Bull-Honda, while teammate Alexander Albon continued his underwhelming form, racing way behind Gasly until the Frenchman retired and struggled to stay ahead of Kyvat. His race after the restart, following the safety car from teammate Verstappen’s race exit, was short-lived as he spun when running wide onto the kerb after just being passed by Sergio Perez. This will not boost his shares with the team as he tries to maintain his seat for 2021.

Red Bull’s sister team (as Christian Horner says), Alpha Tauri-Honda, had a fine weekend at Imola. Gasly had his best qualifying result since his Red Bull days, making it the best Alpha Tauri qualifying since Sebastian Vettel’s pole position (under the Toro Rosso moniker) in Monza, 2008. Sadly, Gasly’s race was short lived, as he was forced to retire while running strongly in fifth place due to “terminal failure”. The under-fire Daniil Kyvat drove a storming race, particularly after the restart, to finish a fine fourth. This will surely help his cause to keep his seat alongside Gasly next season.

Shoey time

Renault and Daniel Ricciardo had another podium celebration with a solid drive from the Honey Badger. He did well to keep the harrying Kyvat behind him in the final two laps of the race to claim the final podium position. He celebrated on the podium in style, performing his famous “shoey” (drinking bubbly from his own race boot) in front of the cheering teams below. What made this one significant, however, was that he took off his second shoe and filled it with champagne, as Hamilton agreed to perform a “shoey” too!

Cool as Ice(man)

Alfa Romeo had a good day in the office after a disastrous qualifying. Kimi Raikkonen was the last to stop for tyres, making his mediums last for 45 laps before pitting from fourth place (he started 18th!). He and teammate Antonio Giovinazzi made the most of the seven-lap sprint to the chequered flag, bringing both machines home in the points, in ninth and tenth place, respectively. Raikkonen, fresh from the announcement that the team will retain both drivers for next season, won the Driver of the Day accolade for his performance.

Honourable mentions: George Russell (Williams-Mercedes) managed to get into the top ten by the time the safety car came out, before an over-eager throttle application spun up the rear wheels of the Williams and pitched the Englishman into the wall and retirement. Teammate Nicholas Latifi shadowed Giovinazzi to the chequered flag to finish 11th, his best result of the season. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) finished a strong fifth, just keeping Sergio Perez (Racing Point-Mercedes, sixth) at bay, while the McLaren-Renault’s of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris followed them home in seventh and eighth place, respectively.

The F1 circus pack up and travel to Istanbul, Turkey, where the 14th round of the 2020 world championship is set to be staged. Fans will have to wait two weeks to find out whether Lewis Hamilton can claim his seventh world title there.