No one has ever won 7 constructors titles in a row. Not until 2020, when Mercedes secured their seventh consecutive constructors title at today’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, breaking the record for the most consecutive constructors titles.
The start wasn’t good for Lewis, as he lost out to Max Verstappen going into Tamburello, and as it was tricky to overtake he had a difficult job trying to get the position back. However Valtteri Bottas seemingly hit debris on lap 2 which damaged his floor and hurt his performance.
Both Bottas and Verstappen pitted early, leaving Lewis out in front. Now released, he put in some great laps and was faster than Bottas and Verstappen who were on fresher tyres, and had possibly enough of a gap back to them to rejoin in the lead. That was made easier for him when Esteban Ocon brought his car to a stop with engine issues and brought the VSC out, allowing him to pit and rejoin in the lead with a solid gap.
Bottas was continuing to struggle with his floor damage and Verstappen was right behind. He made a handful of mistakes at Rivazza, one of which was the invitation Verstappen needed to get through. However that didn’t last long as he suffered a dramatic tyre failure going into the Villeneuve chicane, putting him out of the race and bringing out the safety car.
After that the main interest was in the battle for the final podium position, that Sergio Perez looked to have after a great first stint, but he pitted under the safety car putting Daniel Ricciardo in third. On the restart, both him and Daniil Kvyat on fresh tyres progressed, but it was not enough.
At the front and Lewis Hamilton mastered the restart and crossed the line to take his 93rd grand prix victory, ahead of Valtteri Bottas in second place. This result was enough to clinch the constructors title for the seventh time in a row.
Daniel Ricciardo finished in third, to take his second podium of the season, this time remembering to do a shoey on the podium ahead of Daniil Kvyat, who drove one of the races of his career to finish in fourth, which was good consolation after what happened to Pierre Gasly, where he was heartbreakingly forced to retire early on from a strong position as a result of a water leak, he will feel it could’ve been him on the podium.
Charles Leclerc just managed to fend off Sergio Perez to finish in fifth place. Both finished just ahead of the two McLarens of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, with the two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi rounding out the points, with Kimi pulling off a great strategic drive.
Nicholas Latifi finished in eleventh, just missing out on points. George Russell looked like he could have a solid chance of scoring points but he dropped it under the safety car and went into the wall, putting him out of the race. Whilst Alexander Albon finished in fifteenth, rounding out the finishers after a spin on the restart put him out of the points.
Lewis Hamilton has now extended his lead to 85 points meaning he has a strong chance of securing the title at the Turkish Grand Prix in 2 weeks time.
Here is the result of today’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
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