The lights went out for the very first time under the Tuscan sun. Bottas took an incredible start from P2, snatching the lead from his teammate. Verstappen's reactions at the lights out had been outstanding, but there was something wrong with the ERS system of his RB16, which meant significant loss of power and losing positions. Turn 2 saw a major incident; AlphaTauri's Gasly crashed into Kimi's Alfa Romeo. This contact made the Iceman crash into the rear of Verstappen's Red Bull, throwing the Dutchman into the gravel. The race was over for both Verstappen and Gasly. Monza's glory had disappeared in a blink of an eye! Kimi was able to continue, but the Iceman had to pit to get himself a new front wing, which dropped him down to P17. Also McLaren's Sainz span between Turns 2 and 3. Sebastian proved unable to avoid contact with the Spaniard. The German's front wing took damage, and Sebastian had to pit for a new nose. Safety car was deployed on the opening lap already!
The greatest start to the race had been taken by Charles, who was now third in the race! He was followed by Red Bull's Albon, who was chasing his maiden podium finish. Safety car came in on lap 6. Bottas defended his lead superbly, keeping his contenders behind. But there was huge drama at the back of the pack right at the restart! Coming to the start straight, the back of the pack opened full throttle, expecting the top ten to do so. This led into a scary-looking collision involving four cars. Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi crashed into the rear of Magnussen's Haas, with Latifi's Williams and Sainz' McLaren also taking a hit. All four drivers were out of the race, and there was debris all over the start straight! The race was red-flagged, and the cars were to return to the pit lane. At this point there were only 14 cars in the race. However, Renault's Ocon became the seventh driver to retire. The Frenchman had to retire due to brake overheating. Kimi, who had been able to avoid hitting anyone at the restart, was now in P11.
After a 20-minute delay the race saw a standing restart from the grid. Both Mercedes drivers opted for the medium tyre wear, whilst other top drivers had the red-walled soft compound on. Kimi, too opted for the medium compound. The restart was an eventful one. Thanks to the head wind, Hamilton benefitted from the tow and dived into Turn 1 as the race leader. Albon, who dropped down to P7, was the biggest loser at the restart. Kimi was able to pass Williams' Russell, moving up to P10.
In spite of the excellent start to the race, Charles was in serious trouble with his toothless SF1000. Racing Point's Stroll had rapidly closed the gap to the Ferrari ace, and using DRS made it extremely easy for the Canadian to move past the Monegasque. Next lurking behind Charles was Renault's Ricciardo, who also used his opportunity and passed Charles. Racing Point's Perez was also missing pace, and Albon made a successful overtaking move on the Mexican. Charles' race turned into worse and worse, as both Albon and Perez overtook him one by one. The SF1000 was simply just too slow! Charles' tyres were finished, and he pitted on lap 22 for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. The pit stop dropped the Monegasque down to P13.
The gap between the Mercedes duo maintained within two seconds. Stroll in third was 12 seconds down on Bottas already. On lap 27 Bottas said on the team radio, that he wanted to opt for an opposite tyre choice to Lewis for his last stint. He obviously didn't want to leave any stone unturned in the fight against his teammate. Meanwhile, both Ricciardo and Kimi pitted for a differing tyre choice. The Australian opted for a fresh set of medium Pirellis, whilst the Iceman rejoined the track on a fresh set of hard tyres. Unfortunately Kimi's pit stop didn't go as planned, and the Iceman was now at the back of the pack.
Bottas pitted on lap 32, as the Finn's front-right tyre was completely finished. Also Hamilton and Albon pitted on the sequential lap. Both Mercedes were on the hard compound, although Bottas would have wanted to opt for a differing tyre strategy to his teammate. Hamilton was still leading the race, with Bottas second. Albon dropped down to P5 after his pit stop. Ricciardo was now impressive third in the race. Meanwhile, it was Norris' turn to overtake Charles, moving up to P7. This definitely wasn't the way to celebrate Ferrari's 1000th GP! Charles pitted for the second time on lap 39, now switching to the mediums. Meanwhile, both Mercedes drivers were told on the team radio to stay away from the kerbs due to high tyre degradation.
The battle for the last podium place seemed interesting. Stroll was only 1.2 seconds down on Ricciardo, and Albon in fifth had quite the same gap to Stroll. However, a dramatic turn on lap 44 ended the race for the Canadian! Going through the Turns of Arabiata 1 and 2, Stroll suddenly suffered a rear-left puncture, and the Racing Point pilot was thrown into the tyre wall. The race was red-flagged for the second time already! Bottas had the perfect track position, and the Finn pitted for the second time. However, teammate Hamilton still managed to hold on to the lead despite pitting for the second time as well.
The last time there were two red flags in the race was at the 2016 Brazilian GP. Kimi was now under investigation for crossing the line at the pit entry. Unfortunately the Iceman was given a 5-second time penalty.
After another 20-minute delay, the second standing restart took place. Unfortunately Bottas failed to take a dream start. He had every opportunity to take his lost lead back by using the tow and attack Hamilton in Turn 1, but the Finn ended up losing a position to Ricciardo and dropping down to third. However, the gutted Finn took his second place back a moment later. Further down in the pack, Kimi had taken an impressive restart, as the Iceman had made it up to P8. The first points of the season were at the Iceman's sight!
With eight laps to go, Albon made his move and passed Ricciardo. The Thai driver was on his way to the podium for the very first time in his career. For the 90th time in his career, Hamilton crossed the finish line as the race winner. He broke another record by finishing in the points for the 222nd time in his career! The gap to teammate Bottas had increased into over five seconds in the end. I was so happy for Albon, who finally scored his maiden podium! Ricciardo was left fourth, with Perez fifth, Norris sixth and Kvyat seventh. Due to Kimi's time penalty, Charles finished the race in P8, with Kimi 9th and Sebastian 10th. It definitely wasn't a glorious race for the Red Team, but at least they got both drivers in the points.
Italy has seen two extremely action-packed and colourful races. Now the F1 circus moves to Sochi, Russia in a fortnight. Sochi has a very special place in my heart, as that's the venue, where I got to interview the quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel back in 2017. Those are such unforgettable, extraordinary and exceptional memories, which I will always cherish!
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