Madness at Mugello

 

It has been 2 weeks since the Tuscan Grand Prix and only now has the chaos in my head finally cooled down. A race with ups and downs from start to finish resulted in many firsts: Mercedes finally clinching their first 1-2 of the season, Alex Albon coming home to finish P3 - his first ever podium and Mugello hosting an F1 race for the very first time. 

Looking back, this race had moments that would remind one of the Italian Grand Prix that took place a week earlier - a crazy tussle for the points, an unlikely sequence of events and not one but 2 red flags. 

Within the first few laps of the race, last week's Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly and runner up Carlos Sainz were both out of the race along with a whole list of drivers. The twisty high speed nature of the Mugello circuit proved all to fierce for them to fight as later in the race Lance Stroll who completed the podium positions in Monza was also out. 

A race to forget for the Scarlet Prancing Horses who celebrated their 1000th race in Formula 1 - an incredible feat it must be said. The sport owes a lot to them for being essentially the face of Formula 1. Now if I asked you what do you think when it comes to Formula 1, I'm sure a large percentage of you would have a red ferrari in the back of your mind. Bringing it back to Mugello, Leclerc and Vettel finished 8th and 10th respectively, their first double points finish this year though. That very fact shows just how far they have fallen since last year. 

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton claimed his 90th Formula 1 victory putting him 1 behind the record of the great Michael Schumacher. With the Russian Grand Prix right around the corner I'm sure Valtteri Bottas will be looking to extend his teammate's wait to get that coveted 91st victory.

A poor start from Lewis on pole saw him get immediately overtaken by the flying Finn only to win the place back in the second restart. However the real racing was taking place behind them. Danny Ric drove an incredible race for Renault and kept 3rd for majority of the race till he was overtaken by Alex Albon (an unfortunate event in my opinion). 

I really wanted to witness Cyril get a tattoo on his body if Ricciardio finished on the podium - not to mention the SHOEY we'd all gladly see. 

Perez, staying out of trouble, completed the top 5 with Norris right behind him. It was brilliant to see Kimi Raikonnen back in the points in 9th but you had to feel for George Russel who was on the way to his first ever points finish in F1 only to finish just outside in 11th. Sometimes it just isn't meant to be. 

Looking ahead, we fly to Sochi, an incredible, scenic track around the olympic park. Bottas has had an incredible run here and will be looking to oust his teammate but the real fight will be in the midfield amongst the McLaren's, Renaults and Racing Points who all have tremendous straight line speed.