Italian Grand Prix: Pierre Gasly Wins First Race As Lewis Hamilton Finished Seventh

 

Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly, first the first time in his F1 career, won his first-ever race in a dramatic race that saw Lewis Hamilton finished in seventh place behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas in Monza. 

Italian Gand Prix last was suspended for 10 minutes midway of the race, saw unfamiliar faces making the podium while favourite teams miss out with the two Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc crashing out of the race like Max Verstappen and his teammate Alexander Albon finished 15th. 

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz made his first podium appearance for McLaren in second place behind Gasly and Lando Stroll who initially stood a chance of winning ended up in the third-place - the Canadian driver's third podium appearances. 

Amazed by the victory which ended the French racing team race-win drought since 1996 - their last winner was with Olivier Panis at Monaco, Gasly said afterward: "I'm not realizing what's happening right now. It was such a crazy and the car was so fast. This team has done so much for me." 

Hamilton was poised to win the race having started in pole but lost the chance for penalty served him for driving by two red crosses coming out of the pit lane. The defending champions fought back from behind to finish seventh. 

Sebastian dropped out early into the race for suffering brake failure at Lap 6 and his teammate Leclerc hit the red flag for tires repairing and retired from the race at Lap 26. At the qualifying session, the Ferrari duo first the time since 1984 failed to make the top 10 of the qualifying. 

Hamilton retained his lead in the driver standings with 164 points in the quest for his record-equalling seventh world championship title followed by Valterri Bottas with 117 points and Max Verstappen with 110 points.