Rating and reviewing the performances of all 20 drivers from the race - and the finishing outcome - that absolutely nobody expected
Tuesday 8 September 2020 10:07, UK
Wow. What a story - and what a win - for Pierre Gasly. True giant-killing results don't come around often in modern Formula 1 amid 'Big Three' domination and the ever-sophisticated world of reliability and computer strategy, but this was something straight out of the book of classic sporting fairy tales. On a day those familiar big names either got it wrong or were just plain slow, Gasly and AlphaTauri seized the opportunities that came their way and claimed a victory that proved as popular as it did surprising.
For Gasly, this was a personal triumph after the trials and tribulations of the past two seasons. But the team too take credit for a strategy that their driver initially doubted, when they pitted him one lap before the Safety Car was called for Kevin Magnussen's stoppage. They didn't know it at the time but the unusual sequence of events that followed, with the pit lane initially being closed to cars, turned what had been 10th place into third in the queue for the green flag and then, eventually, the full race restart.
A crucial great launch, which took him past Lance Stroll before the first chicane, then saw Gasly take the race lead for the first time ever in F1 when Lewis Hamilton headed to serve his lengthy penalty. Carlos Sainz gave Pierre no breathing space as the McLaren fast closed him down into the final laps but Gasly wasn't going to let this one go.
"I gave it everything I had," said F1's newest race winner. "I'm pretty sure we finished finished on the [wheel] rims, I had no tyres left in the last five laps, I was sideways everywhere! But I wanted it so bad."
Rating out of 10: 10
Second place is the best result of Carlos Sainz's Formula 1 career so far but no wonder he admitted to feeling "halfway disappointed" with the result given that only one L Hamilton in a somewhat-quicker Mercedes had looked to have the measure of him on pace around Monza. As it was, Sainz felt he only needed one more lap to overhaul Gasly, having crossed the line a tantalising four tenths of a second behind the victorious AlphaTauri.
Running second after a great qualifying and superior start to Valtteri Bottas, Sainz lost ground in the pack when he couldn't pit as would usually be the case when the Safety Car was called, meaning he wasn't in the prime position to take advantage of Hamilton's penalty. But, saying that, the Mercedes wouldn't have run the pit lane red light in the first place if he too had been free to make a stop for tyres as normal.
But second place for his second podium in 10 races was still a brilliant day for Sainz, who will now feel his season is finally up and running after a number of setbacks out of his control up to then which had left him much further back in the championship than his performances deserved.
Rating out of 10: 10
After securing his first podium in just his eighth F1 start, Lance Stroll has had to wait rather a long time for his second - 61 races to be precise - although, like Sainz, he may be ruing missing out on a win. In Stroll's case, his opportunity was not because Racing Point had the fastest midfield car, but that he had the most favourable of strategies.
Racing Point's opting-out of pitting a driver under a Safety Car - which cost Sergio Perez at Spa - worked wonders for Stroll on this occasion, as he vaulted ahead of his rivals up to second place before the red flag gave him a free tyre change, and effectively the race lead with Hamilton due to serve a stop-and-go penalty soon after the restart. With that advantage, Stroll will be disappointed to have ceded position to both Gasly and Sainz after light's out Part II - citing a lack of grip on his fresh medium rubber.
Stroll, however, did hold off Lando Norris well for third and, with some strong overtaking through the race too, continues to prove his worth at Racing Point. He's now up to fourth in the championship.
Rating out of 10: 8
"The only reason I don't think I'm on the podium today is because Stroll took advantage of a free pit stop. It's a stupid rule. They just get it for free and they don't deserve it."
The words of Lando Norris to Sky F1 after the race summed up his frustration, which was understandable given he probably would have been on course for a podium on a more, shall we say, predictable Sunday afternoon such was McLaren's pace.
Norris started superbly at Monza, passing Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas on the first lap, and - although not too close to Sainz - had a big buffer to the car behind before the Safety Car. The only, and crucial, thing Sainz did what Norris couldn't was overtake Stroll following the restart, and despite his best efforts Norris just had to settle for fourth in the end.
"I don't think we could've done much more so I'm happy with what I did," he said. "I'm also so happy for the team, it's an amazing result for us all."
Rating out of 10: 8.5
Hamilton doesn't have many of these weekends in a season so when he does, you simply have to take advantage of it. But Valtteri Bottas was unable to do that on Sunday, and while he is now his team-mate's main title challenger thanks to Max Verstappen's DNF - he has only gained a meagre three points on Hamilton.
Bottas was on the back foot immediately at Monza - losing four places on a "very, very messy" first lap - and complained about car and engine issues as he failed to overtake the midfield cars around him, which was particularly illuminating after Hamilton's late charge. Bottas never raced higher than fifth on a lap, quite incredibly.
Rating out of 10: 6
The ingredients for a podium could so easily have been there for Daniel Ricciardo, who had a very quick Renault at Spa and has so often capitalised on chaotic races in the past. But two big issues ruined his chances - one being that Renault were leapfrogged by McLaren and arguably Racing Point as the fastest Monza midfield team, and another that, like the majority of the field, the Safety Car and red flag hampered him rather than helped him.
Ricciardo can take solace from the fact he arguably pulled off the overtake of the afternoon - his typical late-braking lunge on Bottas into the Ascari chicane while full of fuel on Lap One was astounding - and the fact he more than put up a fight to the Mercedes throughout the race. In fact, he was only passed by Bottas during the pit-stops, and not on track. Meanwhile, he continues to dominate Esteban Ocon at Renault.
Rating out of 10: 8
Lewis Hamilton always tends to find a way, and rather like Germany last year, he still left Monza with next to no damage to his championship lead. "Talk about damage limitations, I'm definitely grateful for it," said the world champion about salvaging seventh place with the bonus of the fastest lap point too having found himself 18 seconds adrift of the pack in 17th place once he lost the effective half-minute of the full process of serving his stop-and-go penalty for illegally entering the pit lane.
Both driver and team took blame for this, with Hamilton saying he didn't realise the boards on the outside of the Parabolica would signify the pit lane would be closed and Mercedes not realising the situation until it was too late. Up until then, Hamilton had appeared to be cruising to yet another win after yet another pole amid a race his two nearest championship challengers were not a threat. But, for once, It wasn't to be this time.
Rating out of 10: 8
"Esteban this is not the place." These were stern words on team radio, from Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul no less, after Esteban Ocon angrily said his team "missed out completely" in the Italian GP. The exchange was by no means heated, but this was another frustrating afternoon for a driver who hasn't quite re-ignited in F1 with the French team.
Ocon's irritation stemmed from his medium tyres "not being warmed up" before the race restart, meaning he had to start and finish the race on softs which, as proved by Kimi Raikkonen's dramatic decline, degraded quickly. But while that left him unable to defend in the closing stages from Hamilton, Ocon's form over the weekend didn't suggest he would have been able to fight his team-mate ahead even with the right compound.
Rating out of 10: 7
How's your luck, Daniil? On many days and in many other races, Kvyat would have ended up beating team-mate Gasly after spending the first stint running in DRS range of his team-mate on harder tyres. Yet, unfortunately for the Russian, it just didn't work out that way on this particularly historic occasion.
While the timing of Gasly's lap-19 pit stop opened up the door to a result that had not even been conceivable, Kvyat was unable to pit straight away thereafter and lost his tyre advantage thanks to the Safety Car. When he did pit on lap 22 he returned in 15th place and from there worked his way back well enough to ninth. He was happy for the team and his team-mate, but even the slightest feeling of frustration would be understandable.
Rating out of 10: 8
"Anything that could go wrong seemed to happen." You've got to feel for Sergio Perez, who was on the wrong end of Racing Point strategy calls on consecutive weeks. In Belgium, Perez didn't pit under the Safety Car and lost out to Stroll as a result, while in Monza he did, and his team-mate who stayed out finished on the podium. Ouch.
Perez was following Norris in the McLaren nicely in the early stages but a slow pit-stop dropped him behind Bottas, both Renaults, and an AlphaTauri - who he just couldn't get past at the end.
Rating out of 10: 7.5
Sure, a pit-stop before the Safety Car was a great strategy - as proved by Gasly - but credit to Nicholas Latifi for battling away very nicely in the midfield and enjoying his most competitive Sunday in F1. Latifi restarted the race up in seventh and while he was never going to keep some of the faster cars at bay, he did beat all of his main rivals and overtook Kimi Raikkonen late on.
"I am happy with the overall result, but it would have been nice to reward Claire and the team with some points today," he said.
Rating out of 10: 7.5
Twelfth is actually the best result of Romain Grosjean's season so far, with Haas again just not quite having the performance to take advantage of the unpredictable race and nab a welcome point or two. Grosjean just missed out on Q2 in qualifying behind team-mate Kevin Magnussen and stayed in his 16th-place starting position until making his one stop under the Safety Car. He beat Raikkonen and Russell in the closing laps.
Rating out of 10: 6.5
It was fun while it lasted. Kimi Raikkonen was battling right up in second place after the race restart before a dramatic decline saw him overtaken by 11 cars in 20 laps. How did that happen, you ask? Well, Kimi pitted before the Safety Car to give him a great grid slot (fourth) and then, on soft tyres, overtook Lance Stroll into Turn One. However, those soft tyres - which Alfa had little option to fit with no other fresh compounds remaining - turned out to be a hindrance for Kimi, who rapidly lost tyre wear. What could have been.
Rating out of 10: 7
Angry about finding himself in the middle of a frantic and confused dogfight for the tow at the end of Q1 - although he later accepted the team couldn't have done much differently - George Russell lost out big time to his early-stopping team-mate and couldn't quite make the headway he wanted therefore, with any advantage against rivals through the lap cancelled out on the straights. "The car was feeling fast but that is just racing," he said. "I am really happy to see the top four finishers today; it is absolutely awesome for them."
Rating out of 10: 6.5
The second to last runner in a race the man you replaced at Red Bull won with the junior team? That's certainly not the weekend Alex Albon, so desperate for an upturn in form and fortunes, would have had in mind.
Albon's afternoon was effectively ruined by a messy start, which saw him make contact with Gasly and then Grosjean on the opening two laps, the latter further damaging his car and earning him a 5s time penalty. That dropped him to the back of the pack, which he couldn't recover from.
One way Albon can avoid future incidents is by qualifying higher up the grid. Although Red Bull's package was hardly stellar this weekend, ninth - and 0.3s off Verstappen - was another Saturday disappointment.
Rating out of 10: 5.5
While Hamilton was able to recover from his stop-and-go penalty that was always going to prove impossible for Antonio Giovinazzi, who finished the race 18 seconds off the pack.
Rating out of 10: 5.5
Max Verstappen lost a combined five places from the two race starts on Sunday - both of which he credited to an engine issue which eventually ended his race. A nightmare weekend for the Red Bull senior team.
Rating out of 10: 6.5
Not only was the Ferrari slow at Monza, but it was also - as proved by Charles Leclerc's big crash - very difficult to drive. Before that, unlikely points could well have been possible for Charles, who had just overtaken Raikkonen and was running up in fourth.
Rating out of 10: 6.5
Although Kevin Magnussen sustained front-wing damage on the opening lap and had to pit, he claimed he was "matching the McLaren's pace" after that first stop and was very happy. But then disaster struck.
"It was exactly the kind of race I'd loved to have been a part of," said the Dane, whose mechanical failure so close to the pit entrance led to an unpredictable afternoon.
Rating out of 10: 6
"We need to be realistic, expectations are very low." Sebastian Vettel is right when he talks about Ferrari - but surely even they dipped below those low expectations at Monza with a double retirement. A spectacular brake failure ended Vettel's race early on. With nine races left in 2020, Seb's F1 career can't finish like this, can it?
Rating out of 10: 6
