Carlos Sainz, second in Monza, close to winning the Italian Grand Prix

The Madrid native finished behind Gasly, who won after a race that had to suspend. Hamilton sanction and had to come back.

It could not be. Sainz rushed all his options and came very close to winning. But he lacked some luck because of Gasly. Who made a sharp end of the race, suddenly found himself in the first position after a series of circumstances and, of course, with some luck. It was a strange race, with two stars from a standstill and an agonizing finish in which Sainz cut tenth to tenth.

Sainz started from third place and overtook Bottas at the time of the start. Something that was part of his strategy because it put a car ahead of his theoretical rivals, Verstappen and Perez. Besides, the move went even better because Norris also snuck ahead of the Mercedes. And he contained the invites of the Nordic while the Spaniard took some advantage.

The laps advanced, Hamilton escaped, and Sainz remained in a comfortable second place ahead of Norris, Bottas, Perez and Verstappen. However, minutes later, a somewhat confusing situation arose.

Magnussen’s car broke down a few meters from the entrance of the pit lane and, unable to remove the vehicle. The race management neutralized the test by removing the safety car. This alert “caught” Hamilton entering the finish line and that’s when he decided to join the pits and replace the wheels, something that, on the contrary, did not do the rest of his rivals except Giovinazzi. And they didn’t do it because at that moment the referees “closed” the entrance to the pits. So as not to interfere with the work of removing the damaged car a question of safety.

At the next turn, everyone changed wheels, and the situation in qualifying seemed not to change until, seconds later, Leclerc suffered a severe accident. The Monaco driver was not injured but left the protection area of the wall of the parabolic curve destroyed, which caused the suspension of the race to repair this part of the circuit. There would be a break and a new start from a standstill, again on the starting grid. Also, the stewards sanctioned Hamilton with a stop&go for not complying with the rule.

GP Italia 2020 classification:

At the moment of the red flag take out of the suspension. Sainz started from a sixth-place because, before, other cars had stopped in the pits and found themselves in front by chance. The Spaniard began to well again, overtook Raikkonen in a hurry and ahead Hamilton fell in the classification to fulfil his sanction. Sainz immediately reached second place and started a brutal chase with Gasly, who was first for having changed wheels shortly before the suspension. The Spanish were cutting tenth to tenth. But Gasly held on well. There were only three laps left, and the difference was only 1.2 seconds. Finally, the Frenchman was holding, and Sainz finished second. His best result.