© Getty ImagesAlex Takes First F1 Podium In Mugello!Alex scored a sensational first Formula 1 podium as he took P3 at the end of a hugely dramatic Tuscan Grand Prix.
Alex With His P3 Mugello Trophy© Vladimir Rys
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton took the race win with teammate Valtteri Bottas was P2, in a which involved two lengthy red flag periods.
Max exited the race on lap one but his disappointment began on his laps to the grid. He reported a power unit issue and on the grid the crew were quickly into action to remedy the issue.
It seemed to have been cured ahead of the start but after making a good start to put pressure on Hamilton, who had been passed off the line by Bottas, Max suddenly lost power and dropped into the midfield pack.
He tried to find safe passage through the opening half of the first lap but in turn two Haas’ Romain Grosjean collided with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who vaulted over the rear right wheel of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen. Out of control, Räikkönen skidded into the back of Max’s car and the Dutchman was pitched into the gravel where he lay beached.
The safety car was released and behind it, Alex found himself in P4 behind the leading Mercedes pair and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
The safety car left the track at the end of lap six, but as Bottas backed up the field until the last second, in order to power away from the safety car line, the rear of the field was unsighted and approached racing speed.
Antonio Giovinazzi slammed into the back of the slower Haas of Kevin Magnussen and a chain reaction of collisions also took out McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and damaged Nicholas Latifi’s Williams.
The safety car was immediately redeployed and with stricken cars at the edge of the circuit and debris scattered across the pit straight the remaining cars were funnelled through the pit lane. Within moments, however, the debris was deemed to extensive and the red flags were shown. Cars again streamed back to the pit lane where they stopped, awaiting a new start.
Cars Line Up In The Pit Lane For The Restart© Getty Images
After an almost half-hour stoppage the cars reformed on the grid for a standing start, with Bottas ahead of Hamilton, Leclerc and Alex.
When the lights went out Hamilton made a good start and outdragged Bottas to take the lead through turn one. Alex, though, got a poor getaway and he fell to P7 as Leclerc held P3 ahead of Stroll, Pérez and Ricciardo.
Leclerc held on as bravely as he could, but with his Ferrari down on power compared to his rivals it wasn’t long before he was passed by, first, Stroll and then by Ricciardo and Alex, with the Thai driver rising to P5.
The first round of regulations stops saw the Mercedes drivers both take on hard tyres as they continued to hold the top two positions. Behind them, though, Ricciardo successfully undercut Stroll to steal P3.
pitted for medium tyres on lap 32 and he was soon outpacing Stroll by over a second a lap. He cut the gap to just 1.1s but on lap 42 the took another dramatic twist when Stroll crashed out at Arrabbiata 2. The Canadian appeared to suffer a puncture as he entered the 170mph corner and his Racing Point slid off track and across the gravel trap before hitting the tyre barrier hard.
For a second time the race was red-flagged and the remaining cars streamed back to pit lane to await a third standing start.
A Busy Pit Lane As The Race Is Red Flagged© Getty Images
When that came, with just 14 laps remaining, Hamilton got away well, but Bottas was passed by Ricciardo. Alex again had a tricky getaway and he was passed by Pérez into turn one. The Red Bull driver was in no mood to give up P4, however, and powered past the Mexican around the outside of turn three to retake P4.
He quickly set off after Ricciardo and on lap 50 he got close enough to make DRS work and he powered around the outside to turn one to complete the move on the Australian.
With P3 sealed, the remaining laps were about safely bringing the car home and just three seconds after Lewis Hamilton had crossed the line to take his 90th Grand Prix win ahead of Bottas, Alex took the chequered flag to seal his first F1 podium finish and the Team’s 177th.
Behind him Ricciardo took P4, with Pérez P5. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished P6 ahead of AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat, while Leclerc was P8 for Ferrari. Räikkönen managed to hang to a points finish with P9 despite incurring a five-second time penalty for a pit lane infringement and the final point on offer went to Vettel who sealed a double points finish for Ferrari at its 1000th grand prix.
“I’m really happy and it took a while to get here! It’s something I’ve always wanted and one way or another we haven’t been able to get it so to be there today is pretty special. It’s really nice to give the Team something back after they’ve supported me since day one and show them what I can do. It was a tough race and definitely not one of the easy ones. This track is brutal, especially the high speed corners in sector two, and with so many re-starts to manage we had our work cut out.
"We struggled to get off the line so I knew I had to be aggressive to get all the overtakes done but we had a really good car and we know it’s good on the brakes so we used that to our advantage. When we lost two positions on the final re-start, I was fired up as I wasn’t going to let the opportunity of a podium go by so I pushed hard to get third and I’m over the moon with today’s result.”
“I am of course very disappointed as I know this could have been a really good race for us. I had a good launch at the start of the race and went around Lewis but then the car just didn’t accelerate so I lost a lot of speed and had no power. I then dropped back into the midfield and got hit from behind.
I am of course very disappointed as I know this could have been a really good race for us.
Max Verstappen"When you drop into the middle of the pack in the first few corners like that it’s quite easy to get involved in a crash so I’m not disappointed about that, we shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place. There isn’t much more to say but it is just really disappointing for the Team that we had to retire again, especially when we looked so competitive but it is of course good to see Alex maximize the result and get on the podium.”
“A bittersweet day but it’s fantastic to see Alex take his first F1 podium. He’s done a great job all weekend and he had to pass some tough competitors to fight his way back through the field after a couple of difficult starts. All credit to him because he hasn’t let the negativity or external criticism get him down, he’s picked himself up and put in a first class performance. I think this podium will give him a boost of confidence and self-belief and I’m sure he will only get stronger from here.
A bittersweet day but it’s fantastic to see Alex take his first F1 podium.
Christian Horner CBE "Unfortunately, Max was unable to show us what he had today after such a promising qualifying and positive feeling ahead of the race. He did the hard bit with a great initial launch and was alongside Lewis, but then he experienced a loss of power which caused him to drop into the middle of the pack where he was hit from behind, ending his race in the gravel. It is enormously disappointing for him because he was really up for it today and you could see we had a good overall package. The issue is being looked into by Honda and the Team in order to ensure this does not happen again.”
Celebrating His First F1 Podium© Vladimir Rys
TuscanGrandPrix-RaceTop10
| Position | Driver | Team | | 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6. | 7. | 8. | 9. | 10. | … | DNF |
| Lewis Hamilton | Valtteri Bottas | | Daniel Ricciardo | Sergio Perez | Lando Norris | Daniil Kvyat | Kimi Räikkönen | Charles Leclerc | Sebastian Vettel | … | |
| Mercedes | Mercedes | Aston Martin Red Bull Racing | Renault | Racing Point | McLaren | AlphaTauri | Alfa Romeo Racing | Ferrari | Ferrari | … | Aston Martin Red Bull Racing |
