The winners and losers from F1’s Italian Grand Prix

The Temple of Speed certainly did not disappoint today, with a wild race seeing Pierre Gasly take a magnificent maiden Formula 1 victory at the Italian Grand Prix.

Erstwhile race leader Lewis Hamilton’s race turned upside down when he received a 10-second stop/go penalty for entering the pit lane despite it being closed after missing the red lights signalling they were closed, though he was able to recover into the points to maintain a healthy championship lead.

Meanwhile, there was another disaster for Ferrari as the Scuderia suffered a double DNF for both Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, with the latter’s heavy crash at the Parabolica leading to a red flag.

If you’ve got your breath back after those crazy laps, here are our winners & losers from the 2020 Italian GP…

Winner: Pierre Gasly & AlphaTauri

Demoted from Red Bull, lost his best friend Anthoine Hubert soon after, yet just over 12 months later Pierre Gasly took his maiden F1 win in Monza.

After Hamilton’s penalty forced the Brit into the pits, Lance Stroll would run wide into Turn 1 handing Gasly the lead.

Powered by a strong AlphaTauri package, Pierre held off a charging Carlos Sainz all the way to the finish line to seal a sensational win, handing the team its second F1 triumph – the first of which came at the same circuit in 2008.

AlphaTauri deserves a special mention, with team boss Franz Tost certainly a silent achiever in getting the best performances out of his drivers.

Loser: Valtteri Bottas & Mercedes

It was another weekend to forget for Valtteri Bottas. A slow start off the mark led Bottas to be overtaken by four cars in the first lap alone.

Despite the race being red-flagged and his teammate being penalised, a fifth place finish was the best the Finn could manage after struggling with overheating issues as he failed to overtake Lando Norris.

All in all it was a Sunday full of shambles for the Mercedes squad who had their day compounded by Hamilton’s stop/go penalty as it fell to its second defeat of the season and its worst result of 2020 so far.

Winner: McLaren

The dream team combination of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris reigned supreme with absolutely superb starts off the line for both drivers.

In the end, Sainz was unlucky to not grab first place, but will be incredibly happy to score his second podium in McLaren colours.

The Spaniard was just 0.415s away from claiming his own first grand prix victory but the McLaren driver ultimately had to settle for his first podium of the season.

Norris did well to hold off a determined Valtteri Bottas and take a fourth place finish to secure a big points haul which has helped McLaren strengthen its grip on third place in the constructors’ championship with a 16-point lead over their Racing Point rivals.

Loser: Red Bull

The Bulls were nowhere to be seen across the Italian GP weekend. Monza is notorious for being a weak track for the Milton Keynes team, and they definitely felt it on race day.

Verstappen was forced to retire at mid-distance after engineers spotted a problem with his Honda engine and chose to retire the Dutchman to prevent a full failure.

Meanwhile, Alex Albon clashed with Gasly at the start of the race and went off-road, picking up big damage to his floor which hampered his race.

The Anglo-Thai was then given a five second penalty, and continued his race from the back of the grid, finishing in 15th, second-to-last with all the retirees.

Winner: F1

F1 lends their name to the winner’s list today after producing what is by far the most exciting race of the season – and possibly the decade - at Monza today.

Whilst many were expecting a Hamilton-Mercedes whitewash, the excitement and speed of the tricky Italian circuit caught out many, and allowed some unusual suspects to shine.

A special mention must also go out to Formula 1 for their incredible efforts in organising a 17-race season despite all the troubles caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Loser: Ferrari

Just when you didn’t think Ferrari’s season couldn’t get any worse...

Vettel’s race came to a close after a brake failure on lap 6 saw him smash through the polystyrene barriers at Turn 1. Meanwhile, Leclerc’s race was over after a huge crash at the Parabolica that led to the race being red-flagged for barrier repairs.

It was another disappointing weekend for the Italian team, but especially for Vettel who had a miserable exit from Q1 due to traffic issues in qualifying yesterday before his race mishap today.

Ferrari will be thanking their lucky stars the Tifosi were unable to be in attendance today, as the crowd noises might not have been as pleasant after recording its first double DNF at Monza since 1995.

Winner: Nicholas Latifi

It was an emotional weekend in the F1 paddock which marked the end of the Williams family’s involvement in the running of the famous British squad.

Nicholas Latifi had arguably the best drive of his F1 career to date as he led Williams’ charge at Monza on Sunday, picking up his joint-best result of 11th place and finishing less than 10 seconds off scoring the team’s first points of the season.

Sneaking into the top 10 would have been the perfect leaving present to outgoing deputy team principal Claire Williams, but it was a strong performance nonetheless from the Canadian, who beat his highly-rated teammate George Russell.

Loser: Lance Stroll

Oh what might have been for Lance Stroll and Racing Point.

On the face of it, third place is a brilliant result for both driver and team and was certainly an unexpected result heading into the race, but Stroll was left to rue a poor start at the red flag restart that could have cost him a maiden F1 victory.

Had Stroll not fluffed his lines at the restart and dropped a handful of positions, it might well have been the Canadian who stood atop of the podium and not Gasly.

As he conceded himself after the race, Stroll said the Italian GP victory was “mine to lose”, and lose he did.

Jordy Gray contributed to this article...