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2020 Italy Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: We wonder how many fans, tired of the "boredom" of watching Hamilton and Mercedes runaways, decided to skip this race. Well, for those that did, the joke's on you.

EVENT: No doubt, this was where the effect of no fans hit the most. Love them or hate them, there is nothing like the Tifosi and the atmosphere they bring.

TRACK: What is with this track and the "lesser" Italian team? Monza was the home of Toro Rosso's first victory, when Sebastian Vettel won in 2008. Now, it's the home of the renamed AlphaTauri's second victory.

QUALIFYING: No party mode still leaves Mercedes on the front row, no power leaves Ferrari out of the top 10 for the first time at Monza since 1984, no downforce needed leaves Red Bull out of the front two rows, no gaps in traffic leaves Raikkonen and Russell pissed.

RACE: To quote a famous baseball announcer after a famous play during a famous World Series game, "I don't believe what I just saw!" If someone said before the race the podium would be Gasly, Sainz, and Stroll, in that order, you would say they are on drugs. The last time a Mercedes or a Red Bull or a Ferrari all failed to make the podium was the 2012 Hungary GP.

START: Bottas is slow off the line, Sainz takes advantage of that, Norris is spectacular, Perez gains as well, Verstappen drops like Bottas, and the seat swappers Gasly and Albon bang wheels.

START, PART DEUX: Hamilton puts the metal down, Stroll blows his chance to win the race by spinning his wheels, Gasly jumps into second which means first, and Sainz gets super aggressive.

GASLY: When Bryan Herta finally won his first Indy car race after so many heart breaking close calls, someone wrote, "Redemption is rare in life, let alone racing. When you get it, you take it." Gasly got it. And he took it!

SAINZ: Enjoy the podium and near win, Carlos. Because you won't get this for awhile at Ferrari. Talk about irony...

STROLL: Thanks to a very lucky red flag rule, this was his race to win. His mistake on the standing restart ended that.

NORRIS: The safety car timing cost Lando a shot.

BOTTAS: A terrible performance by Valtteri. He just seemed like an ordinary driver in an ordinary car.

RICCIARDO: Daniel admitted he didn't have it this race. It would have been cool to see him trying to chase the leaders down.

HAMILTON: Ultimately, it is his responsibility. Which he eventually took ownership of.

OCON: Once again, no match for Ricciardo.

KVYAT: Yes, he was on a different strategy. But, once again, no match for Gasly.

PEREZ: Sure wishes he had that lucky red flag rule.

LATIFI: So close to biding farewell to Claire Williams with a point.

ALBON: The pressure must really be on Alex now.

GIOVINAZZI: They had a lot more time to realize the pits were closed, and still blew it.

LECLERC: That was a big time, high speed crash. Thank goodness Charles literally ran away from it.

VETTEL: When it rains, it pours.

MAGNUSSEN: Pierre Gasly needs to send a nice Christmas gift to Kevin ... every day for the rest of his life...

MERCEDES: We get you had the least amount of time to react, there are issues with the pit closure procedures, and it was more complicated than it needed to be. But, ultimately, all the other teams (except Alfa Romeo) knew the pits were closed. All the other teams.

RED BULL: Great sportsmanship standing out in pit lane applauding your sister team's crew as they ran past heading to victory circle.

FERRARI: Despite how slow your car is, it's still too quick for your brakes.

RENAULT: We'll miss the yellow and black of your cars, but the French Tricolore will also look sharp on your 2021 renamed Alpine team.

WILLIAMS: Thanks, Frank.

FIA: Leave it up to the FIA to have the most dumbass rules in racing. There is hardly a series in the world that allows teams to work on their cars under red flag conditions, never mind allow a change of tires providing a free pit stop. Especially when the tire rule is all about adding strategy to the race by forcing the lose of time a pit stop takes.

F2: In perhaps the best race of his career, Mick Schumacher won the feature event in demanding fashion. He followed that up with a third on Sunday after the winner on the track, Dan Ticktum, was disqualified due to a technical infraction, giving the win to championship leader Callum Ilott. This is now a three-way battle for the title with Ilott (149 points), Schumacher (143), and Robert Shwartzman (140).

F3: Australian Oscar Piastri went from 12th to third on Saturday while his teammate, American Logan Sargeant, got punted to the back of the field. The next day, they both failed to finish. This put Piastri back in front of the title race by eight points over Sargeant. There is one weekend left in the season.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Redemption.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 109 -- Welcome Pierre Gasly to the Formula 1 winner's club, the 109th member.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: The last time a French driver won in F1 was Olivier Panis in the 1996 Monaco GP. This was also due to a set of bizarre circumstances which left just three finishers, a record. Panis in a Ligier-Mugen-Honda qualified 14th, but race day started out wet. This led to carnage on the track. That, combined with a perfectly timed decision to switch Panis to slicks as the track dried out, allowed the Frenchman to take the unexpected win. The only other finishers were the podium spots -- David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) and Johnny Herbert (Sauber-Ford).

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: After Lewis Hamilton pitted to serve his penalty, Kimi Raikkonen was in second and Antonio Giovinazzi was third, prompting this tweet from Alfa Romeo, "P2 and P3. Can’t we just stop the race now?"

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: We don't even need to tell you who said this: "Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, yesssssss!"

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Carlos Sainz clearly stating the only thing he is going for when his engineer tells him to keep it clean and bring home the points, "I want the win."

SCHEDULE: Next is the first of the new tracks never before raced on for F1, Mugello. It should be interesting. And some fans will be allowed for the first time as well.

Copyright © 2020 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Gasly 53
2. Sainz 53
3. Stroll 53
4. Norris 53
5. Bottas 53
6. Ricciardo 53
7. Hamilton 53
8. Ocon 53
9. Kvyat 53
10. Perez 53
11. Latifi(R) 53
12. Grosjean 53
13. Raikkonen 53
14. Russell 53
15. Albon 53
16. Giovinazzi 53
NC Verstappen 30
NC Leclerc 23
NC Magnussen 17
NC Vettel 6

Time of Race
1:47:06.056

Margin of Victory
0.415 sec.

Safety Car
2 for 8 laps

Lead Changes
3 among 3 drivers

Lap Leaders
Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz

Fastest Race Lap
Lewis Hamilton

Pole Position
Lewis Hamilton

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Hamilton 164
2. Bottas 117
3. Verstappen 110
4. Stroll 57
  Norris 57
6. Albon 48
7. Leclerc 45
8. Gasly 43
9. Sainz 41
  Ricciardo 41
11. Perez 34
12. Ocon 30
13. Vettel 16
14. Hulkenberg 6
15. Kvyat 4
16. Giovinazzi 2
17. Magnussen 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 281
2. Red Bull 158
3. McLaren 98
4. Racing Point 82
5. Renault 71
6. Ferrari 61
7. AlphaTauri 47
8. Alfa Romeo 2
9. Haas 1
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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