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The 2020 Italian Grand Prix was Pierre Gasly’s dream race, but the Frenchman rates only the second-highest at Monza, where a number of usually consistent F1 performers flattered to deceive.
Agree or disagree? You can debate Edd’s rankings with him live at 5.30pm UK time (4.30pm GMT) today in the comments at the bottom of the article.
Started: 1st Finished: 7th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 70
Gap to team-mate: -0.069s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.127s
This wasn’t Hamilton’s most convincing pole position of the season as he gave away time through Ascari and the Parabolica, but his pace over the rest of the lap ensured he could get away with ceding 0.128s to his team-mate through sector three and still be on top.
Race
Penalties: 10s stop/go penalty (entered pits when closed)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: none
1 stop – soft/medium/hard
Had the race fully under control before making his illegal pitstop, which ultimately was the team’s responsibility given most other teams had noticed the pits were closed. Did well to come through from 17th after his penalty to seventh to salvage at least a few points, inevitably taking the fastest lap along the way.
VERDICT: Had a small minority stake in the illegal pitstop error and didn’t quite optimise the lap time in qualifying, but otherwise another fine performance.
Started: 2nd Finished: 5th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 71
Gap to team-mate: +0.069s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.109s
Although Bottas ran first on the road for his qualifying lap, both Mercedes drivers were running without a tow (although Bottas later suggested Hamilton did benefit from a slight slipstream). Bottas couldn’t quite live with Hamilton over the first two parts of the lap, looking a little more hesitant on turn in, but a fine last sector allowed him to get close.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: down 5
1 stop – soft/medium/medium
Came close to jumping the start but went backwards and slid down to sixth. Thereafter, he made little real progress, passing Raikkonen in the second part of the race, but was battling cooling problems and the car pulling to the right.
VERDICT: Qualifying was decent enough, but even with the problems the race could still have been much better – especially had he not fluffed the start.
Started: 17th Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 65
Gap to team-mate: +0.708s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Vettel was too far behind Russell to benefit properly from the tow on his first Q1 run, having lost touch at the end of his warm-up lap, then became caught in the backing up madness on the second run that ruined his second chance and led to him aborting to the pits. As he put it over the radio, “what a mess”.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: down 1
0 stops – hard
Slipped behind Russell on the first lap to run 18th, Vettel passed him on the run to the chicane on lap two. A rear brake failure put him out on the sixth lap.
VERDICT: Desperately unlucky on his second Q1 run and in the race, although a strong first run in qualifying could have changed his Saturday destiny.
Started: 13th Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 68
Gap to team-mate: -0.708s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Had to have three runs on softs in Q1 after his first laptime was deleted, but did improve on his two subsequent runs to make Q2 comfortably, having worked the tow well. That left him with just one set of softs for Q2, where he worked the tow from Sainz well to set a time that was about right for the underpowered, draggy Ferrari.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: none
1 stop – soft/hard
Leclerc held 13th in the first stint but made an early stop to switch to hards. This allowed him to climb to sixth under the safety car before he overdid it on the power coming out of Parabolica and speared into the tyre barrier.
VERDICT: Did a good job in qualifying but his demise was a result of being too aggressive in the race trying to force a result out of a poor package.
Started: 5th Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 67
Gap to team-mate: -0.295s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.117s
The Red Bull wasn’t a clear-second fastest on single-lap pace during qualifying, although Verstappen did lose a little through the middle sector, which cost him a shot at third place in the very congested pack behind Mercedes.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: down 2
1 stop – soft/medium/medium
Had a good launch but wheelspin in the second phase led to him being crowded down to seventh on the run to the first corner. He was shuffled down to 11th thanks to the busy pitlane under the safety car but retired just after the restart with an engine problem.
VERDICT: With the Red Bull at its weakest, he was up against it but perhaps we didn’t see all of the expected Verstappen magic in qualifying.
Started: 9th Finished: 15th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 81
Gap to team-mate: +0.295s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.135s
Albon managed to hold off exceeding track limits at Parabolica long enough to make it to Q3 and put the car ninth, and was relatively happy with his pace despite the three-tenths gap to Verstappen, with most of the deficit in the middle sector.
Race
Penalties: +5s (forcing Grosjean off track)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: down 6
1 stop – soft/medium/hard
His race was doomed from the moment he was squeezed by Gasly, who had Stroll squeezing him, with his rear-right flicked up over Gasly’s front-left and the resulting damage ruining his race pace. The late move to earn himself a five-second penalty while under attack from Grosjean at the start of the second lap was needless, but his race was already ruined.
VERDICT: Another weekend of positive signs and misfortune but also some rough edges – notably his repeated Parabolica track limits violations.
Started: 6th Finished: 4th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 63
Gap to team-mate: +0.125s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.039s
Norris didn’t seem quite as comfortable with the low-downforce trim McLaren as Sainz, with time lost in the first and third chicanes his main weaknesses. But though he considered it a disappointing qualifying performance, the overall result and the deficit to his team-mate was respectable enough.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 3
1 stop – soft/medium/medium
A storming first lap got him up to third, with a great move around the outside into the second chicane the highlight. He wasn’t quite as quick as Sainz and couldn’t quite follow his team-mate through to a podium position after both were disadvantaged, but still came home with his second-best F1 result.
VERDICT: Did a decent job all weekend, but was always half-a-step behind his team-mate.
Started: 3rd Finished: 2nd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 71
Gap to team-mate: -0.125s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.145s
Flirted with disaster a few times on his qualifying lap, notably with a big moment at the exit of Lesmo 1, but after carrying mighty speed through the Parabolica despite missing the apex his aggression paid off. The result was a spectacular, livewire lap.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 1
1 stop – soft/medium/medium
Sainz got up to second thanks to a fine start and was utterly comfortable in second place before the safety car then the red flag made life difficult for him. Having restarted sixth, he passed Stroll and Raikkonen, having also picked up two places when Hamilton and Giovinazzi served their penalties, but couldn’t quite get close enough to attack Gasly.
VERDICT: A stunning qualifying lap and a well-executed race drive – although he couldn’t get close enough to Gasly quickly enough.
Started: 7th Finished: 6th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 60
Gap to team-mate: -0.203s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.033s
Ricciardo couldn’t quite unleash the expected pace from the Renault, which wasn’t as competitive at Monza as it had been during that great weekend at Spa. But given how close the field was here, he could easily have been a few places higher had he nailed the perfect lap – although losing part of FP3 to a fuel pump failure did put him on the back foot.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 2
1 stop – soft/medium/medium
Passed Verstappen partly on the grass on the run to Turn 1, then picked off Bottas into Ascari to run fifth. But he suffered from being on the orthodox strategy, stopping under the safety car, and took the post-red flag restart 10th. Hamilton and Giovinazzi’s penalties gave him two places for free, but he also passed Latifi and Raikkonen before getting stuck behind Bottas.
VERDICT: Qualifying perhaps could have been fractionally better, but he drove a strong race that could have netted a better result.
Started: 12th Finished: 8th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 73
Gap to team-mate: +0.203s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.032s
Ocon was again a step behind Riccardo and fell in Q2, but although he was deprived of the tow for the second half of the lap by his team-mate taking a bit of the gravel at the exit of the first chicane and aborting his lap, he was already up against it after an average first sector.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 3
1 stop – soft/medium/soft
Ocon got ahead of both AlphaTauris and Albon on the opening lap to run ninth. Like his team-mate, he was disadvantaged by the orthodox strategy and started the second half of the race down in 12th place, having taken softs given he’d used his one available medium set already and the team didn’t want to use hards. But on top of places gained to Giovinazzi’s penalty and Verstappen’s retirement, he also passed Raikkonen and Latifi to earn eighth place.
VERDICT: A tidy weekend’s work and a good race drive, but still not at Ricciardo’s level.
Started: 10th Finished: 1st
Qualifying
Practice laps: 66
Gap to team-mate: -0.260s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.401s
Gasly was back on strong qualifying form again at Monza, nailing a good lap at the first time of asking in Q2 that meant he still made Q3 despite the two AlphaTauris being the only cars to have been behind Magnussen when the yellow flag was triggered. His best Q3 time was actually on used softs as his first attempt, on fresh ones, was untidy. This left him at the back of the top 10.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: none
1 stop – soft/hard/medium
Survived clipping Albon after being squeezed between the Red Bull and Stroll on the first lap, but then went off at the second chicane and lost a place to Ocon. He was called in just before the safety car but climbed to third thanks to the way the timings played out. He took the post-red flag restart third, towing Hamilton to pass Stroll on the run to the first corner. Once in the lead after Hamilton’s penalty, he drove immaculately.
VERDICT: Did a brilliant job to close out the win, but not delivering Q3 pace and the first-lap off that cost a place take the edge off his rating.
Started: 11th Finished: 9th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 79
Gap to team-mate: +0.260s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.128s
While having to lift for Magnussen’s off and the lack of a tow prevented him improving on his final Q2 run, he was already a step behind team-mate Gasly – who reached Q3 with his first-run time. Eleventh was solid, but the car was capable of a top-10 slot.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: none
1 stop – hard/medium/medium
Kvyat ran right behind Gasly in the first stint and complained repeatedly about being held up while running 11th. But he was on the wrong side of the safety car and red flag timing that helped Gasly. Came from 13th at the post-red flag restart through to ninth to bank a couple of points.
VERDICT: Not quite at Gasly’s level in qualifying, but with luck against him he at least salvaged a couple of points in a race that didn’t offer him the same opportunity as his team-mate.
Started: 4th Finished: 10th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 69
Gap to team-mate: -0.329s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.132s
While he wasn’t very confident after the team struggled on Friday, he did an excellent job to put the car fourth on the grid. But it wouldn’t have taken much to have nicked third place, which was possible with a perfect run perhaps through the middle sector, where he gave away a little time to his best.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: none
1 stop – soft/medium/medium
Perez held fourth in the first stint, but his race was ruined by a slow front-right tyre change when he pitted under the safety car that also led to further time loss as he blended into the fast lane that dropped him to 14th place before he was forced briefly into the gravel by Verstappen. He recovered to 10th, passing Latifi and Raikkonen in the second half of the race and also benefitting from Giovinazzi’s penalty and Verstappen’s retirement.
VERDICT: Did a very good job in qualifying and the first half of the race, but the slow pitstop ruined his race.
Started: 8th Finished: 3rd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 67
Gap to team-mate: +0.329s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.198s
Stroll usually excels at Monza, so it was a surprise to see him lagging behind Perez after failing to hook up a strong lap in Q3. But his underlying pace could have been much better as he fell short of his best sector time on all three parts of the lap on his fastest attempt, losing time particularly in the middle sector.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: none
0 stop – soft/medium
Stroll pulled off that rarest of things, a no-stop race, thanks to being able to change tyres under the red flag, having been left out during the first half of the race. This put him in the ideal position for a shot at victory after starting second, but, as he put it, a “terrible start” that exacerbated the disadvantage of having no tow contributed to him dropping to fifth and that chance of a win ebbed away, especially once Sainz then passed him. But he did at least pass Raikkonen, with the penalties for Hamilton and Giovinazzi handing him third.
VERDICT: A first win lost rather than a second podium gained, especially given the needless off after the restart.
Started: 14th Finished: 13th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 76
Gap to team-mate: -0.196s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.066s
Made Q2 for the second race in succession, doing a good job in the first stage of qualifying to pick up a decent tow but admitting that he could have been one place higher, having battled understeer on his one shot on fresh softs in the second stage of qualifying. But looked clearly more comfortable with the car in this configuration than his team-mate did.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 2
1 stop – medium/hard/soft
Raikkonen had a strong first stint, sitting 12th in the queue, and gained a big track position boost thanks to the timing of the safety car having made his pitstop on lap 18 to cover the chasing Leclerc’s early stop. But under the safety car, the only sets of tyres he had left were softs, which didn’t help his cause as he tried to preserve a points place but faded to 13th.
VERDICT: A decent qualifying performance and solid race drive but couldn’t turn track position into points.
Started: 18th Finished: 15th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 71
Gap to team-mate: +0.196s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
While the traffic madness ruined his final run, he had an equal shot at the tow to his team-mate and never really looked like matching Raikkonen’s pace. The result was another Q1 exit as he remains the only driver yet to reach the second stage of qualifying in 2020.
Race
Penalties: 10s stop/go penalty (entered pits when closed)
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 4
1 stop – medium/hard/soft
Did a great job at the start to squeeze up the outside of the queue and establish himself in 15th place. But an illegal pitstop when the pits were closed meant his lofty position for the restarted race was an illusion and he was condemned to driving around at the back after serving his penalty.
VERDICT: Not as quick as Raikkonen but, a brief cameo at the front aside, not much to write home about beyond his precise place gains through the first corner.
Started: 16th Finished: 12th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 68
Gap to team-mate: +0.270s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.024s
A ride height change for qualifying didn’t leave the car to his satisfaction as he seemed to struggle a little with the response of the front end. Overall, he didn’t appear entirely comfortable with the car in low-downforce trim, not helped by traffic at the start of the final preparation lap that contributed to not improving on his final run.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: none
1 stop – medium/hard/hard
Had a decent first lap, but then picked up some damage when he was squeezed by Albon on the second lap. Took the restart at the back, having lost out badly during the pitstops under the safety car thanks to traffic in the pitlane. But did pass Russell, Raikkonen, and Albon, as well as moving ahead of Giovinazzi when he served his penalty and the retired Verstappen, to recover from 17th to 12th.
VERDICT: While he was only a bit-part player, this was actually a pretty good weekend’s work in limited machinery.
Started: 15th Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 66
Gap to team-mate: -0.270s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.771s
Did a good job to reach Q2, but he had to abandon his one lap on fresh rubber after a trip through the gravel at Lesmo 2 on a “nothing to lose” lap that ensured he qualified behind Raikkonen, having had to fall back on his old-tyres run.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: down 5
1 stop – medium/hard
Slight front wing damage picked up when he was squeezed between Grosjean and Giovinazzi through the first chicane led to a lap-one stop. He then retired with an engine problem after showing a handy turn of pace in recovery.
VERDICT: In both qualifying and the race aggression bit him, although there was nothing he could do about his retirement.
Started: 20th Finished: 11th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 69
Gap to team-mate: +0.130s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.008s
This was Latifi’s best qualifying performance of the year in terms of the gap to Russell, although he was disappointed by his best lap and the fact that traffic ruined his final run. Even so, it’s a positive that he got closer to Russell, who had a similar session.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 1
1 stop – medium/hard/medium
Latifi benefitted from stopping before the safety car, which led to him taking to the restart grid in ninth place. He was quickly passed by the Renaults, Kvyat and Perez but held on to 11th, having passed Raikkonen along the way. Although the struggles to ‘switch on’ the Williams at starts hurt him, the car wasn’t quick enough to have taken a point without one more retirement.
VERDICT: Another decent weekend’s work from Latifi, who had a little luck but did well to finish ahead of Raikkonen and Grosjean.
Started: 19th Finished: 14th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 50
Gap to team-mate: -0.130s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
The combination of the draggy Williams, Monza and the change of engine mode regulations was always likely to be bad news for Russell’s hopes of making Q2, but even with a perfect session and without getting caught up in traffic on the final run, it was hard to see the car escaping the first stage of qualifying.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: up 2
1 stop – medium/hard/medium
Did a good job through the first corner on his way to making up two places on the first lap, although did rattle across the kerbs at the second chicane. Any hope of points was stymied by his orthodox strategy and the draggy Williams meant that he couldn’t make a pass on Grosjean stick for good.
VERDICT: A better race than it appeared given the strategy he was on worked against him.
