Pierre Gasly won his maiden race for AlphaTauri, causing a modern-day Formula 1 shock after a hugely-dramatic and incident-filled Italian GP in which Lewis Hamilton finished only seventh after a time penalty.
The 24-year-old Frenchman, Pierre Gasly, held off McLaren’s Carlos Sainz by less than a second as both fought a tense battle to reach the finish line. Gasly came out tops for a memorable and emotional victory on a day when the sport’s normally-unbeatable big hitters either made mistakes or retired.
Lance Stroll finished third for his second career podium for Racing Point, while Lando Norris finished fourth in the second McLaren.
Watch the race highlights below…
https://youtu.be/TB5yhZdF8SI
Incredibly, AlphaTauri – Red Bull’s junior outfit and Italy’s ‘second’ team – become the first team outside Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull to win a race since 2013.
Their only previous win, under the Toro Rosso name, also came at their home Monza race with a young Sebastian Vettel in 2008.
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“I’ve been through so much in 18 months, I struggle to realise this,” says a jubilant Gasly, barely a year on from his brutal and swift demotion back from the senior Red Bull team.
“I’ve got no words. This team has done so much for me, now they’re giving me my first win.”
Lewis Hamilton had led the race in the early stages but was handed a costly stop-and-go-penalty for pitting when the pit lane road was actually ‘closed’ after Kevin Magnussen’s Haas stopped at the side of the track.
The six-time champion still managed to finish seventh despite dropping to the back of the field and minimise the impact on his championship lead. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was still only fifth after a fairly torrid afternoon after a poor initial start, while Max Verstappen retired with mechanical problems on his Red Bull.
Ferrari were worse off despite being Italy’s historic standard-bearer.
Charles Leclerc had a big crash at the Parabolica, which caused the race to be suspended after 27 laps so as to repair the trackside barriers.
It also ended Ferrari’s interest in their home event as a brake failure caused Vettel to retire early.
The German was unable to slow down his car at the end of the pit straight and spectacularly took out the polystyrene marker boards at the first chicane run-off, before slowly touring back to the pits and retirement.
Daniel Ricciardo was sixth in the lead Renault, with the recovering Hamilton’s final overtake demoting Esteban Ocon late on. Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Perez will be disappointed with only ninth and 10th places respectively given their team-mates finished on the podium.
Italian GP result: Top 10
1. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri
2. Carlos Sainz, McLaren
3. Lance Stroll, Racing Point
4. Lando Norris, McLaren
5. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault
7. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
8. Esteban Ocon, Renault
9. Daniil Kvyat, AlphaTauri
10. Sergio Perez, Racing Point
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