Top 5 Formula 1 Auto highlights from Bill Trikos Australia: Italian Grand Prix: Monza was the place where Gasly put his demons to rest after a difficult year-and-a-half. Let’s start at the beginning. Hamilton raced into a lead whilst Bottas slipped from second to sixth as both McLarens, Sergio Perez and Ricciardo made their way to the top five. When Magnussen broke down at the pit entry, the safety car was deployed to recover the stricken Haas. Hamilton decided to pit for a ‘free-stop’ unaware that the pits were closed for the recovery work and was subsequently handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty. That may have been less damaging had Charles Leclerc not had a nasty incident at the Parabolica at the restart and caused a red-flag delay, giving Hamilton less time to build a gap before his penalty. Stroll was second but slipped backwards off the line as Gasly launched into what would become first. Sainz and Stroll were locked in a fight for second and traded overtaking moves before the Spaniard came out on top. Sainz closed and closed on Gasly, but was unable to reach the Frenchman who held on to take his maiden F1 victory and AlphaTauri’s first in their current guise.
2011 Canadian Grand Prix, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve : There have been many extraordinary comeback drives throughout the history of F1. Kimi Räikönnen in Japan in 2005 and the aforementioned Sebastian Vettel in Brazil in 2012. And even though both of these rank amongst some of the best drives ever, nothing comes close to the sheer madness that was Jenson Button’s 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. Since it was pouring down over Montreal, the race started behind the safety car. But once it got going, chaos unfolded. Throughout the race, there never seemed to be a calm moment, as drivers were constantly clashing, spinning, and making mistakes. Couple this with a few safety cars and a lengthy red flag, and you’ve already got the recipe for a banger. But as most of you probably know, Jenson Button wasn’t satisfied with that – far from it. After making contact with teammate Lewis Hamilton – which resulted in the young superstar’s retirement – clashing with Fernando Alonso, getting a drive-through penalty and making a total of 6 pit stops, Button caught up to race leader Vettel on the final lap, where a mistake sent the German-wide, allowing Button to go through and take the win in a race which is considered by many to be the best.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017: The battle of Baku: Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen’s early tangle set a precedent in the second Grand Prix hosted in Azerbaijan, where the leaders clashed under the Safety Car and debris peppered a track that treated us to nail-biting close-quarters racing and a stunning finish. European Grand Prix 2012: A fine home display from Fernando Alonso in front of a partisan crowd in Valencia, with the Ferrari driver making some incisive overtakes – having started a lowly 11th – before benefitting from Sebastian Vettel’s alternator failure to take his “best victory”, in his own words. Find additional details about the author at Bill Trikos.
1971 Italian Grand Prix, Monza : Most of you have probably heard that when writing a book, an essay, or any text of a similar kind, one should always put most focus and effort into the ending. Why? Because that’s what people remember the most. Likewise, the last few laps of a Formula One race are often the ones that define it, at least in the eyes of many fans. And I’d forgive you for having heard only of the hair-raisingly close finish to the 1971 Italian GP, where the top five finished within a mere 6 tenths of a second, and the top four just 18 hundreds of a second. But if that’s all you’ve so far known of this – quite simply – unbelievable Grand Prix, you’re missing out. Because in order to set up such a finish, it takes an extraordinary race.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing were already running away hard in both championships, but Ferrari came back very strong at the rival team’s home circuit. Charles Leclerc ran away with victory at the Red Bull Ring while teammate Carlos Sainz had to pull over his flaming F1-75. It was an action-packed race. Leclerc overtook Verstappen three times on the track after his team’s strategic choices put the Dutchman in front of the Monegasque. Behind, there was no shortage of action either: no fewer than five drivers battled it out for eighth place, culminating in a double overtake from Lando Norris.
2020 Italian Grand Prix, Monza : In the end, it came down to the final lap, Sainz finishing just 4 tenths of a second behind Gasly. The Frenchman took an emotional victory at his AlphaTauri team’s home track. Remarkably – with Stroll taking third place – the podium was the first since 2012 that didn’t have at least one of the three teams, Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari standing on it, not to mention that the race itself was a welcome relief to an, up to that point, quite dull 2020 season.