Tifosi were cheering, as the lights went out at Monza. Pole setter Leclerc kept his head cool and took a splendid start. Bottas from P3 managed to make it ahead of teammate Hamilton, but only for a fleeting moment. Hamilton snatched his second place back. Renault's Hulkenberg made it past Sebastian, jumping to 4th. However, the Ferraris were superior in terms of the straight line speed, and Sebastian managed to claim his fourth place back later on. Verstappen, who had started to the race from the last row, oddly missed the braking point into Turn 1 and went wide on the grass. This caused Max a front wing failure, and he had to pit for a new nose cone. What a messy first lap for Max! Meanwhile, Renault's Ricciardo managed to pass teammate Hulkenberg, moving to 4th.
It seemed, that an intense battle was evolving between the top four; Charles, Hamilton, Bottas and Sebastian were all within four seconds only. However, there was drama already on lap 6. Sebastian made a mistake of his own and spun at Parabolica. He was in a rush to re-join the track as soon as possible. But when spinning his Lina around, Racing Point's Stroll came towards him in full speed! Stroll made a dodge, but couldn't avoid having contact with Sebastian's Ferrari. Stroll spun on the grass, and another close call took place, as the Canadian was about to re-join the track. This time Toro Rosso's Gasly had to make a sudden dodge, not to hit Stroll. Sebastian managed to continue the race, but obviously his race was ruined. The stewards took both incidents into investigation. Sebastian was handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for re-joining the track in an unsafe manner. Stroll, on the other hand, was handed a drive through penalty for the same infringement. Kimi, too was under investigation for starting to the race on the wrong tyres. The Iceman had set his fastest lap time in Q2 on the soft tyres, but he had started to the race on the medium Pirellis. What a stupid mistake from the team! A moment later Kimi was handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the tyre infringement, which ruined the Iceman's race for good.
Leclerc wasn't able to run away from the Mercedes rivals. Hamilton was 1.5s down on Charles, and teammate Bottas was within the same distance from his teammate. This was going to be an epic battle for the victory! Hamilton opened up the pit stop roulette on lap 19. The Briton opted for the medium compound, and re-joined the track in P5. Race leader Charles pitted on the following lap, for a different tyre strategy. The Monegasque re-joined the track on a fresh set of hard tyres, staying ahead of Hamilton. The Briton put extremely hard pressure on Charles, trying to force him into making a mistake. Charles passed Renault's Hulkenberg, so did Hamilton. Hamilton was already within striking distance and tried a move on defending Charles. Charles left no room for his rival, but forced him off track. The stewards gave Charles a black and white flag, which was a warning. No such move was allowed anymore!
Bottas pitted not until on lap 27. He opted for a similar tyre strategy to his teammate. Virtual safety car was deployed twice within only a few laps. At first Sainz was released from the McLaren pit box, although his front-left tyre wasn't fully attached. Sainz had to stop his car on the track. A moment later Kvyat's Toro Rosso was hit with a power unit failure, and the Russian stopped his car on the track as well.
Lap 33 saw a sad incident, where Sebastian was lapped by his teammate Charles. What a setback-filled race this was for Sebastian, who was at the back of the pack due to mistakes of his own. Kimi, too was in a disappointing P17. Verstappen, on the other hand, had made it in the points already.
Race leader Charles was under immense pressure by the five-time world champion. Charles proved to be vulnerable as well; he locked up his tyres, cutting the corner at Turn 1. Hamilton was right at the gear box of Charles' SF90, and the overtaking move was almost floating in the air. But in spite of the mistake, Charles was able to honorably defend his lead!
Bottas, who had stopped almost ten laps later than his rivals, benefited from his fresher tyres at the end of the race. As Hamilton was fighting with Charles, Valtteri managed to close the gap to the battling duo. With ten laps to go, Hamilton made a mistake, going into Turn 1. Bottas thanked for the opportunity and moved past his teammate. The Finn was determined to chase down Charles and deprive him of the victory. Hamilton, whose tyres were gone and who had nothing to lose, pitted for a second time. He re-joined the track in P3 and started to chase the fastest lap time on the new softs.
With only a couple of laps to go, Bottas had made it within DRS distance from Charles. Just being ready to try a move, he made a mistake with the braking into Turn 1, and Charles run away! Hamilton banged the fastest lap time on the second last lap. Bottas tried everything he could to be able to challenge Charles, but the Ferrari ace was too quick today. He took his second career win in front of the passionate Tifosi, which made the victory perfect. The Mercedes drivers Bottas and Hamilton completed the podium. Renault achieved a fantastic result, as Ricciardo finished 4th and teammate Hulkenberg 5th. The Red Bull duo of Albon (6th) and Verstappen (8th) was split by Racing Point's Perez. Giovinazzi made a great job for Alfa Romeo Racing by finishing 9th. McLaren's Norris scored the last point.
Sebastian's career seems to be in a crisis. This year reminds me a lot of the 2014 season, which was Sebastian's last season at Red Bull. That year new teammate Ricciardo came out clearly stronger than Sebastian, with the Australian claiming two victories compared to Sebastian's zero wins. Everything seems to work in favor of Charles at the moment, and Charles definitely deserves all the success. At the same time, everything seems to go wrong in terms of Sebastian. The setbacks have turned into a continually growing snow ball effect... How to stop that snow ball from rolling on? Sebastian's self-confidence has been undermined severely, and he needs to get it back!
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