Hamilton wins to secure seventh consecutive championship for Mercedes!
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Lewis Hamilton won a dramatic Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to secure Mercedes' seventh consecutive constructor's championship. The race had it all with safety cars, crashes and an unexpected podium finish for Daniel Ricciardo who finished P3 behind Valterri Bottas in P2 and Hamilton in P1.
It has never looked in doubt. Mercedes have dominated since the start of the season and their impressive running streak in the hybrid era continues as they win the constructor’s championship after 13 rounds of this 2020 season.
After an impressive performance in qualifying, many would have thought that the Mercedes driver standing on the top step of the podium would have been Valtteri Bottas and he would have been feeling hopeful after the opening laps as he led the race with Hamilton dropping down to third behind Max Verstappen.
However, it was Lewis Hamilton who produced a drive to cement his team and himself into the history books to take the victory and secure Mercedes’ seventh consecutive constructor’s title, the first team to win that amount in a row.
The start
Both Mercedes got away well initially but Hamilton struggled in the second phase of the getaway. Verstappen managed to get past the six-time world champion and Hamilton was even under pressure from Pierre Gasly.
Unfortunately for the Frenchman, who had been in fine form all weekend, he was forced to retire his car due to a coolant leak, something with Alpha Tauri has pinned on Honda.
The pit stops
Verstappen was the first of the front runners to make his pit stop and came in on lap 19 for the hard tyre from P2. The current race leader, Bottas, came in for the same compound the following lap but Hamilton, who was in P3, stayed out on track.
Hamilton put in a few laps that prove why he is such a successful F1 driver. He was able to set fastest lap after fastest lap on his medium tyres and waited for the perfect opportunity to pit...
Virtual Safety Car
Esteban Ocon was forced to retire on lap 29 lap and was unable to get the car back into the pit lane so the virtual safety car was brought out. This gave Hamilton the perfect opportunity to pit and he went in on lap 30, pitted for the hard tyre and came out in front of both Bottas and Verstappen.
Bottas vs Verstappen
The Finn was told over the radio that he had picked up damage to his floor on lap two and was coming under serious pressure from Verstappen. Bottas ran wide a few times and after a few laps the Dutchman capitalised on an error from the Mercedes and managed to get through and take P2.
However, Verstappen was early to celebrate the overtake but on lap 52 his went from a high to a low as he crashed out of the race on lap 52. It looked like the tyre burst on the straight and the incident brought out the safety car which brought with it more drama…
Safety Car drama
Whilst driving under the safety car George Russell crashed his Williams whilst trying to get some heat into his tyres.
The safety car went in on lap 58 and there was plenty of exciting racing for the final five laps. Alex Albon did himself no favours and spun whilst battling with Sergio Perez.
It was a hectic end to the race. Perez had decided to pit when the safety car came out and will be regretting that decision as it was Ricciardo who had stayed out who took the podium place for the second time this season.