France’s Pierre Gasly won an astonishing Italian Grand Prix thriller for Italy-based AlphaTauri on Sunday in a topsy-turvy race packed with suspense and none of the usual top teams on the podium.
McLaren’s Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. finished a close second at Monza, after a nail-biting chase to the flag, with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll third on a podium of youngsters.
Mercedes’ championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished seventh after starting on pole and dropping to last following a 10-second stop/go penalty for entering the pit lane under a red light while leading.
Despite the setback, the six-times World champion retained his 47-point lead over teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was fifth, after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen retired. Hamilton has 164 points after eight races to Bottas’s 117 and Verstappen’s 110.
It was the first time since 2013, when Kimi Raikkonen triumphed with Lotus in Australia, that a team other than Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull had won a race.
“It’s unbelievable,” gasped Gasly, dropped by Red Bull’s main team last year, after his maiden victory. “It was such a crazy race and we capitalised on it. “I’ve been through so much in 18 months, I struggle to realise this.”
“I was so close but yet so far,” said Sainz, who had also dreamed of taking his first win before joining Ferrari next year. “I needed one more lap.”
Leclerc crashes
The race had to be stopped at the halfway mark after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed heavily into the tyre wall at Parabolica. His teammate Sebastian Vettel had already retired with brake failure.
The standing restart from the grid, and Hamilton’s penalty that left the Briton having to make up a 30-second deficit, set up a thrilling 17-car sprint and a glimpse of what a reverse-grid race might look like.
