The ninth race of the 2020 Formula One season took place at a new circuit for the series in Italy called Mugello. The chaotic race is covered by our F1 correspondent Nick van der Meulen in his report F1 Review Tuscany 2020.

The Tuscan Grand Prix was staged to be a round of celebration for Ferrari, as the Italian marque marked its 1 000th start in Formula 1. The race took place at Mugello – a legendary circuit used for motorcycle racing, where MotoGP machines would top 350 km/h down the main straight before hard braking into Turn 1. Ferrari, in particular, has used the circuit for testing purposes but so did Sauber: Kimi Raikkonen had his first Formula 1 test at this circuit driving a Sauber on this weekend 20 years ago! He returned to Mugello in 2020 with the same team, albeit rebranded as Alfa Romeo…

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First-lap mayhem

The Tuscan Grand Prix will be remembered as being one of the more chaotic races in recent memory, with seven cars being sidelined before a lap was completed in anger, while the race itself was red flagged twice. The safety car was deployed soon after the start. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) made a poor start from pole position, but Max Verstappen had an even worse start as his machine lost power as he tried to capitalise on Hamilton’s misfortune. While he dropped to mid field, rivals were jostling for position when Raikkonen and Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri-Honda, winner last time out at Monza) tripped over each other, with Gasly running off the circuit and taking Romain Grosjean (Haas-Ferrari) with him. Raikkonen, on the other hand, had his hands full regaining control of his mount and punted the luckless Verstappen off the circuit to record his second DNF in succession. Grosjean managed to rejoin.

Read about Lewis Hamilton’s newly formed off-road racing team.

Re-start confusion

F1 Review Tuscany 2020

It was felt that the safety car lights may have gone out too late before the race restart and, while the front runners were running at a steady pace towards the restart (the lights were green), Kevin Magnussen (Haas-Ferrari) was running relatively slowly, to the point that Nicolas Latifi (Williams-Mercedes) had to move to the left to move alongside him. Unsighted behind them, Antonio Giovinazzi floored the throttle of his Alfa Romeo and, when Latifi moved to pass Magnussen, saw himself rapidly closing in on the Haas’s rear wing. The Italian made heavy contact with the Dane and launched into Latifi too, causing an accident that also took out McLaren-Renault’s Carlos Sainz.

Red-flagged

The debris and stricken cars strewn across the main straight forced the Race Director to hang out the red flag and stop proceedings. A second red flag was put out later in the race, on lap 43, when Lance Stroll (Racing Point-Mercedes) suffered a puncture, pitching the Canadian into the tyre wall and destroying the car. Thankfully, Stroll walked away unscathed but will rue the loss of potential points after a strong performance.

More domination

Continuing the trend in 2020, Mercedes dominated qualifying, with reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton edging out Valtteri Bottas by the narrowest of margins to snatch pole position. While Hamilton lost out to Bottas at the start, the first safety car gave him another opportunity to take the lead – an opportunity he took with both hands. He was superior with his tyre conservation and controlled the race from the front to notch up his 90th career victory, along with his 222nd points-scoring finish: a new record. Bottas will be disgruntled to have lost out to his teammate again, but is more comfortable in second place in the championship standings after capitalizing on Verstappen’s misfortune.

A podium… finally

Red Bull Racing can breathe a sigh of relief for their number two driver, Alexander Albon, who took his maiden podium finish in Formula 1 by finishing third at Mugello. The Anglo-Thai racer took advantage of the second restart to surge past Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault to claim the final podium position at the chequered flag. Ricciardo’s performance was enough to secure him the F1 “Driver of the Day” award from the fans, but he was hoping to choose a tattoo for Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul (they have a bet, where Abiteboul will have a tattoo should the “Honey Badger” finish on the podium: Ricciardo chooses the tattoo, while the Frenchman chooses the place on his body).

Seeing red

Both Ferraris, sporting a new colour to commemorate their 1000th GP, managed to finish in the points at Tuscany. Charles Leclerc qualified fifth and ran as high as third in the early stages of the race. the Ferrari’s lack of speed was clearly apparent, though, as Stroll, Ricciardo and Albon sailed past him on the main straight, in consecutive laps, like he was looking for parking. He struggled to ninth place on the road, but was gifted eighth place when Raikkonen was penalized 5 seconds for missing entry into pit lane earlier in the race. The Finn split the Ferraris, though, as Sebastian Vettel struggled to finish tenth. The German will be relieved to leave at the end of the season, as it has been confirmed that he will join Racing Point next season, when it is rebranded Aston Martin.

Running well

Honourable mentions for the weekend include Sergio Perez claiming more points for fifth place, despite learning that Racing Point is kicking him out of the team at the end of 2020; Lando Norris (McLaren-Renault) and Daniil Kyvat (Alpha Tauri-Honda) finishing sixth and seventh, respectively, and George Russell (Williams-Mercedes) coming so close to finishing in the points in his strongest performance in F1 to date.

The next round of the 2020 Formula 1 season takes place at Sochi, Russia, on 25 to 27 September. Alpha Tauri will look to Kyvat to perform at his home race, otherwise expect more of the same…