GASLY BECOMES A RACE WINNER AT ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
In a race no one would have predicted - Pierre Gasly has become a race winner for the first time in his Formula One career. The Frenchman becomes the 109th different driver to win a Formula One race and is the first French driver to win since Olivier Panis back in 1996. Right down the grid came surprise after surprise as McLaren's Carlos Sainz comes home in a career best second place and the Racing Point of Lance Stroll equals his best finish of third place.
Alpha Tauri (previously Toro Rosso) last won a race back at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix with a young Sebastian Vettel.
The race began as normal with Lewis Hamilton getting away well with those close behind making good starts also to the race. In the mix of all this was Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) who struggled from the word 'go' as he dropped further and further back ending up in the lower reaches of the points by the end of lap one.
A few laps in saw the retirement of Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari who encountered a brake failure leading him to retire. We later saw the Haas of Kevin Magnussen pull up to the side of the track after in Magnussen's words "something broke" this lead to a full Safety Car which nicely bunched up the pack which would lead to some fantastic racing.
During the safety car period the pit lane was closed which means cars couldn't come in and pit which Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and Hamilton did despite the warning of the two flashing red crosses coming through the final turn. This led to both drivers being handed a 10 second stop go penalty dropping both to the back of the field around 30 seconds behind the rest of the pack.
After a few laps after the Safety Car had come in the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc lost the rear of his Prancing Horse on the exit of the Parabolica (the final turn). Smashing into the tyre barrier which led to a red flag - stopping the session so repairs could take place to the barrier.
After the session resumed Hamilton served his penalty and into the lead went Gasly who before this race had never led an F1 race before but showed just how professional he is as a driver and as an athlete. Holding off the ever present McLaren of Sainz.
We also saw the retirement of Championship contender Max Verstappen after an issue with his engine.
Gasly in his short time in F1 has been through so much already in his career with being dropped by the Red Bull team and then last year with the loss of his good friend and F2 driver Anthoine Hubert. To then get his first podium at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The next race is the Italian Grand Prix (Mugello).