Formula 1 needed Pierre Gasly’s Italian Grand Prix win

A football cliche of a tale of two halves best describes the Italian Grand Prix, which saw AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly net his maiden win in Formula 1 and provided the perfect tonic for the sport this season.

The Monza Formula 1 stage looked set for another dominant Lewis Hamilton display: pole position, a good start off the line to maintain the lead and a steadily growing lead that would not be overcome except for mechanical failure or a pit stop problem.

Not to deter from just how impressive Hamilton and Mercedes have been this season, because their excellence should be commended, but from a spectacle point of view, fans were rewarded with the latter at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

The Italian Grand Prix was drifting along, with that feeling of “here we go again”, until Kevin Magnussen stopped his Haas just before the pit lane entry after “something broke”, he said over team radio.

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Up until then, cars were struggling to overtake each other and remain close due to overheating, even though very little separated the chasing pack behind the second place Carlos Sainz Jr. of McLaren. As an example, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was often seen moving out of the beneficial slipstream of the car in front to keep his own car cool.

The safety car was eventually deployed to get Magnussen’s Haas to safety, as it would eventually have to be maneuvered back into the pit lane with no access road available.

With Hamilton approaching the pit lane entry when the safety car was deployed, Mercedes made the call to make his one and only stop of the race, thinking they could get him in and out of the pits while losing much less time than if they had pit him under racing conditions. It seemed a sensible move at the time.

Without knowing what was about to happen, it seemed very odd that the only other car to benefit from a “cheap” pit stop was the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi.

And then came the announcement that the stewards were investigating both Hamilton and Giovinazzi for pitting while the pits were closed.

It emerged that the timing board said the pit lane entry was closed at the same time when the safety car was deployed. Video footage on board Hamilton’s car showed two flashing warning signs with red Xs on the left-hand side of the track around the outside of Parabolica, just before pit lane entry.

Before a decision was made by the stewards regarding either driver, the pit lane opened up and cars scrambled to make “cheap” pit stops. With some teams having to double stack, meaning they had to bring in one driver after the other in very quick succession, it provided quite the spectacle.

Mechanics had to be on their A-game to keep their cars up there with a chance. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez suffered from a front right tire that momentarily refused to come off, and it plummeted him down the order. He would finish the race in 10th place.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was investigated for holding the pack up entering the pits so that teammate Sainz could get his new tires on with Norris losing as little time as possible. The stewards decided no further action on that one.

Just as the pits were opened, the safety car was called in the lap after, meaning cars had to scramble to catch up to the back of the leaders. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll had not yet pitted, nor had a handful of drivers who had already pitted now right behind him, including AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.

Moments after the race was given the green light and Hamilton bolted, leaving the pack trailing once again, the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was seen careening into the tire barrier on the outside of Parabolica at a frightening speed.

The back end of his car stepped out on him and he tried to correct it, but he couldn’t rescue it in time before a huge crash.

Thankfully, moments after the big impact, he was seen out of the car and running. His Ferrari was beached in the tire wall, but most importantly, he was OK.

The safety car was immediately deployed. During this time, Giovinazzi was given a 10-second stop and go penalty for entering the pits when they was closed.

A red flag was then shown, stopping the session so that the tire barrier could be repaired. And sure enough, Hamilton was then given the same penalty as Giovinazzi.

During the break, he was seen racing around the paddock on his scooter to chat with the team and work out a strategy and to talk with the stewards about his penalty.

This penalty, twinned with the race being red flagged, served up a mixed grid for the restart.

Who would have thought at the halfway point of the race that Hamilton would have a penalty that would drop him to last place and that Stroll would sit in the provisional lead with Gasly and the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Giovinazzi just behind?!

All of those ingredients served up a Monza classic in part two.

Hamilton made a good getaway from the standing start, yet again, with Stroll getting bogged down. Gasly took full advantage and sat in the provisional lead of the race, which turned into a proper first place once Hamilton pitted on the first tour to serve his penalty.

Stroll fell behind the two Alfa Romeos and ended up tussling with Sainz over the course of the first lap after the restart, but the McLaren soon dispatched the Racing Point.

But this tussle and the two Alfa Romeos held up Sainz enough for Gasly to open up a four-second lead at the front. Giovinazzi eventually peeled off to serve his penalty at the last possible opportunity to try to hold up the pack for as long as possible in order to give Raikkonen a shot at a good result.

Sainz had another good tussle with Raikkonen before getting the better of him and setting off to hunt down Gasly.

Meanwhile, Hamilton emerged from his stop and go penalty 30 seconds behind the leader. He closed the gap by around 1.5 seconds per lap until he reached the back of the pack. Who would have expected Alexander Albon’s Red Bull to be the first car he faced?!

With DRS not being as effective due to all of the cars running more drag, Hamilton still didn’t waste any time in showing just why, even though he is unquestionably in the best car on the grid, he is one of the best drivers out there.

While Bottas toiled all race and struggled to make moves happen, limping home in fifth place, Hamilton continued dispatching car after car, and eventually finished an impressive seventh.

As Raikkonen continued to slip down the field, the race up front kept hotting up. Sainz was catching Gasly, with the gap creeping down steadily lap by lap.

Two laps from the finish, Sainz fluctuated with being within that all important one-second DRS range, but he wasn’t close enough when it mattered for him to be able to deploy it.

He eventually got within DRS range on the final lap, and he gave it absolutely everything. But Gasly had done just enough to hold on and secure his maiden win in Formula One.

This was a very popular result within the paddock, given how he was dropped from Red Bull, tragically lost his close friend Anthoine Hubert in last year’s Formula 2 support race at the Belgian Grand Prix and still dusted himself down every time to perform at his best for AlphaTauri.

It was a feel-good win not just for him, but for the sport as well.

Speaking to Autosport after the race, Gasly said: “I’ve been through so much in the space of 18 months. My first podium last year, I was already like wow with AlphaTauri, and now my first win in Monza. I’m struggling to realize [it].”

The race had provided something different for fans. The top four drivers entered the race on zero wins. The last time that happened was when Lewis Hamilton won his first race in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

It had been 146 races since Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull were knocked off the top spot of the podium, a feat last achieved by Kimi Raikkonen when he drove for Lotus in the 2013 season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.

Ferrari had a race to forget with a double retirement, including Leclerc’s crash and Sebastian Vettel’s brakes failing in spectacular fashion, which saw his car destroy the plastic barriers at the first chicane. They will be hoping that they can somehow turn their form around in their 1,000th race at Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello this coming weekend.

Red Bull toiled as well, with Max Verstappen retiring shortly after part two started with an engine problem and Albon finishing in 15th place after colliding with Gasly and the Haas of Romain Grosjean, the latter of which saw Albon pick up damage and a five-second penalty.

Given how Hamilton has been running away with the title this year, the Italian Grand Prix served as a reminder of the excitement Formula 1 can throw up.

During the race, commentators David Croft and Martin Brundle discussed reverse grid qualifying races being brought in if that much excitement would be made on a regular basis.

That view has been shared at the top as well. Formula 1 managing director Ross Brawn has said in his latest column that “reverse grid races are worth considering again” because of how “brilliant” the Italian Grand Prix was.

The 53-lap race around the 11-turn, 3.6-mile (5.794-kilometer) road course in Monza, Italy has prompted these conversations on how Formula 1 could be made more exciting while we wait for the rule changes in 2022, designed to save money and close the running order.

And at this stage of the season, that race and those conversations feel like exactly what were needed.

The next race on the 2020 Formula 1 schedule is the Tuscan Grand Prix. This race is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, September 13.