If we thought last week’s Grand Prix at Monza was crazy, I think today’s race at Mugello literally turned round and said: “Hold my beer!”
In the 1st nine laps we had precisely 700m of actual racing before chaos saw last week’s winner Gasly get punted off the track, taking out Verstappen, who had gone backwards when the lights went out. In his defence, he had had engine issues on his way to the grid, which seemed fixed, as the Red Bull engineers had done the old ‘turning it off and on again’ trick.
Bottas jumped Hamilton at the start, and after 9 laps behind the safety car at the restart he scampered off again. However, no sooner had Bottas bolted. there was carnage in the midfield which took out Sainz, Giovanazzi, Latifi, Ocon and Magnussen. There are some that say it was Bottas’s fault for his restart, as lights were green but he left it until the last moment to put his foot down, however those at the back went as soon as they saw the green light. I’m on the fence with that one though, what about you?
Of course, this carnage meant that Bernd Maylander simply had to turn the safety car around and head back out again. This crash, however, brought out a red flag. Race stopped and everyone went back to the pits.
So for the 2nd time in two races, we were to have a standing restart. This time, a smoking Hamilton (literally), in 2nd place beat Bottas off the line to take back 1st place. The midfield were jostling and tussling.
And that’s how it remained, pitstops completed smoothly, well apart from Kimi’s who seemed to be waiting for a bus … until … 14 laps from the end Stroll spun and crashed into the tyre barrier. Which brought out the safety car again, and then, because of the damage to the tyre wall the race got red flagged. This was the the first time since the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, and only the 4th time in F1 history a race has been red flagged twice.
Another standing restart followed. Would Bottas get the jump on Hamilton? Um, no he didn’t, he actually got jumped by Danny Ric, who found himself in P2. Well, for the next few corners at least. Then it was a 13-lap sprint to the finish. Bottas couldn’t catch Hamilton, but Albon did catch Danny Ric, which meant he finally collected his maiden podium.
And whilst this was all going on on track, I was busy collecting funny tweets. Having had a well-earned cup of tea, I have finally judged gthem and chosen my favourite 10.
So without further ado, as I’ve wittered on for far too long, here are the Top 10 Funniest Tweet Awards for the Tuscan Grand Prix 2020:
10th place
@drummerJoshG with action from the Mercedes pit wall as both Hamilton and Bottas were told to stay off the kerbs to avoid damaging their tyres. But the big question was, would they comply?
9th place
@stargateoracle with live onboard footage from Kimi’s car as he was informed he had been given a 5-second time penalty. Kimi FM at its best!
8th place
@ChrisJKenworthy with around-the-world footage of F1 fans as they witness the 2nd crash, at the restart, after the 1st safety car which saw the field drop from 18 to 13, and red-flagged as the marshalls cleared up the debris.
7th place
@timwagner66 with the real winner for Driver of the Day at the Tuscan GP. Do you agree?
6th place
@virtualstatsman with a live view of Bottas’s strategists following his call that he wanted to go on the opposite strategy to Hamilton, so he could race him. Fair play, but that would only work if Hamilton pitted first. He didn’t, so of course what happened was that Hamilton put on exactly the same tyres as Bottas … oops!
5th place
@TarasDemerson with live track footage as Bottas and Hamilton squared off against each other at the 2nd standing restart. (The one that signalled the start of the 13-lap sprint to the end, just in case you were wondering)
4th place
@Jontys_Corner with live footage from Grosjean’s car as he crossed the finishing line.
3rd place
@jharrington07 with live footage from the Renault pitwall as the realization suddenly dawns on Cyril Abiteboul that Ricciardo is up into the podium places, and having to get a tattoo is looking very likely. In the end Danny Ric got pipped by Albon … I wonder if Cyril will be buying Alex a drink later to say thanks??
2nd place
@TomTheMadHatter with live footage of the track marhsalls as they realise that Stroll’s car is smoking, and they stand around yelling at each other to put the fire out. This actual on-track moment made my dad giggle.
1st place
This week’s winner is @AlphaSpookster with live footage of the safety car restart … this made me properly laugh out loud.
And there you have this week’s Top 10 Funniest Tweet Awards.Which ones are your favourite? Let me know in the comments below.
The next round of the Funniest Tweet Awards will be in two weeks time at Sochi.
Til next time, stay safe.
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