Despite starting in 6th, Lewis Hamilton proved he deserves his championship, who stands on the podium next to 4 time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

This race was all about tyres and tyre management.

Hamilton eventually gets into 1st, which may have caused eye rolls, but it wasn’t predictable. The first half of the race definitely looked as though it was Lance Stroll’s to keep. Yet, last time Hamilton started in 6th he won so maybe it shouldn’t be too surprising.

Vettel zoomed into 3rd place after the first lap, the highest place he has been this season, proving he’s still got it. After starting in 11th, that’s excellent driving from Vettel. How lovely to see him on the podium as Hamilton celebrates his 7th world championship.

Throughout the race, I made very little notes on Sergio Perez, largely because he made no mistakes and maintained an excellent P2. It is such a shame that he doesn’t have a seat confirmed for 2021. I hope that changes soon.

Stroll honestly looked so promising. For the first half of the race he lead from pole and had a fantastic lead over his teammate Perez. Unfortunately, it went bad around half way through and just spiralled out of control. He finished in 9th, only just securing points.

READ MORE: Daniil Kvyat: Not done yet

To me, it felt as though Verstappen’s potential was not achieved for no particularly reason. He started in 2nd, dropped down to 8th at one point and overall just couldn’t get up near the front. At one point, he was stuck behind Vettel and then he spun off after being too close to Perez’s spray.

Sainz was an absolute beast ploughing into 5th after his penalty-ridden start of 15th. Beating both of the Red Bulls and race leader for the first half, Stroll.

Equally, as a Ferrari fan, it was nice to see Ferrari in 3rd and 4th. Two positions which should be fantastic for their place in the constructors championship.

Full Classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:42:19.313
2	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	+31.633
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+31.960
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+33.858
5	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	+34.363
6	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+44.873
7	23	Alex Albon	Red Bull Racing	+46.484
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+1.01.259
9	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	+1:12.353
10	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	+1:35.460
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	+1 lap
12	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri	+1 lap
13	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	+1 lap
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	+1 lap
15	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	+1 lap
16	63	George Russell	Williams	+1 lap
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ret/ Lap 55
18	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ret/ Lap 49
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	Ret/ Lap 39
20	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	Ret/ Lap 11

Grid Talk Podcast

Want more reaction to the Turkish GP? Host Ruby Price with panlestis Owain Medford, Dev Tyagi and Sam Thatcher stared in Grid Talk’s Turkish GP Race Review:

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: