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Lap 1 second corner 3 cars are taken out in the first accident.
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Verstappen pushed into the gravel and had no chance.
After what we experienced today Mugello needs to be added to the racing calendar as a permanent fixture. This track is a real test on the cars and drivers and is by no means boring. This would make it the third fastest track after Monza and Silverstone.
The race was under a safety car within 10 seconds of the race getting under way after 3 cars including Verstappen and Gasly crashed out. The race was under a safety car to lap 8 and within seconds of restarting another 3 piled into each other. This was action packed and making this race really interesting. No one was hurt which is brilliant to see showing the cars are fairly safe these days.
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Chaos reigned at the back of the restart as they thought racing had started already and jumped the gun ramming the cars up in front of them. Bottas had the right to choose when the race started backing the field up and took it as late as possible as they were on a straight. This meant the cars behind him could use his slipstream and catapult themselves ahead of him by the first corner and why he slowed it all down.
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This was a decent shunt by Sainz.
What this meant was the field was reduced to 14 making it a race for the lower placed teams an opportunity to get some crucial championship points. We haven't had a race at this track before so no one knew what to expect. Two red flags in one race is so unusual as there have only been 5 in the last 40 years. There have now been 3 red flags in the last two races and we may never see another one for the next 10 years.
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Not much left of the car after this smash. This shows you how important the driver cells are as Stroll didn't even have a scratch.
Lance Stroll was then next to be introduced to the crash barriers after having a puncture on the one fast bend whilst doing 170 mph. He was ok as the tyre barrier did it's job forcing the race to stop again. Mercedes had warned their drivers to stay off the curbs for this very reason as data showed that punctures were a real possibility. It is not yet known whether carbon debris caused the puncture or it was tyre failure. Pirelli will no doubt carry out testing and confirm what was the cause of the high speed crash.
I think everyone was routing for a Riccardo podium as the Renault boss has promised a tattoo if this happened. Twitter came alive with the closest Tattoo parlors close to the Mugello circuit. I am sure it will happen this season as he eventually finished 4th the same position as last week.
This year we have seen so many different things happen already and we are only half way with 9 races still to come. Hamilton looks as though he will be crowned champion yet again even though it is still mathematically possible for Verstappen and Bottas to catch him still.
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He wins again and was routing for Bottas as we need a closer championship.
This race was really tough on the drivers as they face 5.6 G's in some corners. The race being stopped twice would have helped them as it broke it up for them making it a little easier.
This was the last of the triple header and next is Sochi in Russia in two weeks time. Down force now comes into play again which will bring other teams back into contention.
