'Crazy’ Tuscan GP like three F1 races in one day - Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton says his heart was left racing after “one of the craziest” wins of his Formula 1 career, likening the Tuscan Grand Prix to having three races in one day.

The Mercedes driver prevailed to victory in a chaotic, incident-strewn race that was halted twice for red flag stoppages as Mugello delivered one of the sport’s most dramatic races in years on F1’s first ever competitive visit to Tuscany.

Hamilton initially lost out to Valtteri Bottas with a poor getaway at the original start but aced the following two standing starts to first pass, and then hold off his teammate as he scored his sixth win in nine races so far this season.

A 90th career victory edges Hamilton ever closer to Michael Schumacher’s all-time records and sees the Briton surge into a 55-point championship lead over Bottas.

"That was definitely one of the craziest races I've had," an exhausted Hamilton said reflecting on the race.

"It was all a bit of a daze. It was like three races in one day. It was incredibly tough. This track is phenomenal and the heat and keeping Valtteri behind was not easy.

“All those restarts, total focus was needed. It was really, really hard. Valtteri appeared out of nowhere when I saw Danny was behind. I didn’t want him to have DRS.

“My heart is racing. It is crazy to be here and to have 90 grands prix wins.”

Hamilton also picked up the bonus point for fastest lap late on as he enhanced his stranglehold on the top of the drivers’ championship with eight races remaining this year.

"Of course anything could happen on those starts, but fortunately I got the best start finally of the day," he added. 

"After that, Valtteri was still right there the whole time, so if I made any mistake, he would have slipstreamed me up this 1,000 metre straight.

"Today was physically and mentally one of the most challenging days I've experienced.

"Valtteri was so quick all weekend, so keeping him behind, the starts and stops that we had, I wouldn't say it was very easy to stay in the zone.

"But [I'm] really, really grateful to the team for running up an down the pit lane. We had the furthest to go, and with their composure, I think they did an amazing job.

"Just proud to be a part of it, and really proud of the performance today. It was not easy keeping these guys behind."