F1 2020: Mercedes seal record 7th title as Hamilton wins at Imola

Mercedes made F1 history at Imola by securing their seventh straight constructors’ championship as Lewis Hamilton won the Emilia Romagna GP ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas. With this, Mercedes have eclipsed previous record-holder Ferrari’s run of six constructors’ titles from 1999 to 2004.

Daniel Ricciardo clinched the final podium spot for Renault as F1’s return to Imola after 14 years served up a dramatic race.

• Mercedes secure record-breaking 7^th straight teams’ title
• Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2
• Ricciardo 3^rd after Verstappen crashes out

Perfect timing for Hamilton at Imola

The narrow confines of the Imola track make overtaking here a difficult feat, making track position key. But while polesitter Bottas enjoyed a great start, Hamilton actually ended up losing a place to Verstappen into the first corner.

However, Bottas picked up some debris on the next lap, which left him with floor damage and some significant loss of downforce as a result. Hamilton opted to run a longer first stint and delay his pit stop as much as possible. And luck played into his hands as Esteban Ocon retired on lap 29, triggering a Virtual Safety Car period.

This allowed Hamilton to pit and comfortably re-join the race in the lead. With Bottas hampered by floor damage, it was a pretty straightforward race for Hamilton from there on.

Verstappen crashes out

Verstappen had managed to clear Bottas and looked to be well on his way to a 2^nd place finish. But all that work was undone when he suffered what appeared to be a tyre failure with 12 laps to go. This brought out the Safety Car, which was forced to stay out even longer as George Russell spun out moments later while trying to get temperature into his tyres.

This set the stage for some tense final laps as drivers like AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez opted to pit for fresh tyres, while others like Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc decided to stay out and hold on to their positions.

Kvyat charges to 4^th place finish

Taking full advantage of his fresh tyres, Kvyat enjoyed a blistering re-start and had gone from 7^th to 5^th by the first corner. He then passed Leclerc to move up to 4^th place and started applying pressure on Ricciardo as well. But Ricciardo was able to successfully fend him off to claim his second podium finish this season.

Perez was also on a charge on his fresh tyres, but he was unable to find a way past Leclerc and had to settle for 6^th place. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris followed them past the chequered flag in 7^th and 8^th places respectively.

Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen pulled off staggering 49 laps on his first set of tyres to secure a 9^th place result. His teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished behind him in 10^th place to hand Alfa Romeo a double points finish.

Mercedes make F1 history

But the day belonged to Mercedes as they wrapped up the F1 2020 constructors’ championship with four races to spare. Just last week, Hamilton won the Eifel GP to become the most successful F1 driver ever in terms of wins. With a seventh consecutive title in the bag, Mercedes have once again re-written the F1 records book.

The team has won every single championship in F1’s current hybrid era and team principal Toto Wolff reckons they can push the benchmark even higher. “This is something to be proud of. We have a group that is just amazing together, we've tried to push the benchmark to new levels and we've achieved that. If we stay motivated and energised, we can push it even more,” he said.

F1 2020 drivers’ championship

Hamilton has now extended his championship lead to 85 points. With just four more races to go, the Briton already has one hand on the title.

Verstappen’s retirement, meanwhile, guarantees Mercedes a record-extending seventh successive title double with Bottas the only driver who can deny Hamilton, if only mathematically.

2020 Emilia Romagna GP results

POS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	63	1:28:32.430
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	63	+5.783s
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	63	+14.320s
4	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri	63	+15.141s
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	63	+19.111s
6	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	63	+19.652s
7	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	63	+20.230s
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	63	+21.131s
9	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing	63	+22.224s
10	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	63	+26.398s
11	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	63	+27.135s
12	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	63	+28.453s
13	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	63	+29.163s
14	Romain Grosjean	Haas	63	+32.935s
15	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing	63	+57.284s
NC	George Russell	Williams	51	DNF
NC	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	50	DNF
NC	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	47	DNF
NC	Esteban Ocon	Renault	27	DNF
NC	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	8	DNF

Also see:

Honda to leave F1 at the end of 2021 season