Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: Mercedes win the 2020 Constructors Championship

Hamilton has won the third Italian GP of the season, after starting in second, meaning Mercedes are officially the winners of the 2020 Constructors Championship.
On Lap 9, we sadly saw Pierre Gasly box and subsequently be pulled out of the race. After an impressive qualifying, Gasly started the race in 4th, and maintained a promising start. Pierre was told he had to box due to a “terminal situation on the car” and the disappointment was shared by many.
Another disappointing start and overall performance can be seen with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen spun out on the first lap, nicking Stroll’s front wing, causing him to pit to have it replaced.
Stroll stayed last for the entire first half of the race, only overtaking Magnussen around lap 38. Overall he finished in 14th, second to last out of those that actually finished.
Esteban Ocon was the second retiree of the race, with a suspected gearbox issue. This gifted Hamilton a free pit stop, which he of course made the most of, putting him in first.
Bottas started in pole today and only really secured second because of Verstappen’s puncture. Verstappen incredibly overtook Bottas when it wasn’t necessarily expected, but to split the Mercedes is always a fantastic achievement. Red Bull team principal said he didn’t think Verstappen would catch Hamilton, but nonetheless it was devastating to see him out.
Another devastating exit was Williams’ George Russell. He was finally in the points bracket, it would have been the first point for Williams this season, and Russell’s first ever. Yet he somehow spun off behind the safety car for no obvious reason, it was driver error in this circumstance but it was still crushing.
Another notable driver was Daniil Kyvat, who finished in 4th. We all expected Gasly to bring home the high points for AlphaTauri, but it was in fact Kyvat, who challenged Ricciardo for that podium on the last lap. Despite being unsuccessful in that respect, 4th place is a huge achievement, and definitely makes up points-wise for Gasly’s exit.
Full Classification
Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Time/Gap |
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:28:32.430 |
2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | +5.783 |
3 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | +14.320 |
4 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | +15.141 |
5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +19.111 |
6 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | +19.652 |
7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | +20.230 |
8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +21.131 |
9 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +22.224 |
10 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +26.398 |
11 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | +27.135 |
12 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | +28.453 |
13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | +29.163 |
14 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | +32.935 |
15 | 23 | Alex Albon | Red Bull Racing | +57.284 |
16 | 63 | George Russel | Williams | Ret/ Lap 51 |
17 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | Ret/ Lap 50 |
18 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | Ret/ Lap 47 |
19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | Ret/ Lap 27 |
20 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | Ret/ Lap 8 |
Grid Talk Podcast
Want more reaction to the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix? Host Steph Wentworth with panelists Philip Mathew, Peter on Pole and Jack Watson stared in Grid Talk’s Emilia Romagna GP review: