What… Did just happen? What did I just witness? It’s been a few hours now but it’s still hard to process and believe that this has just happened in Formula 1.
I’ve had a bad start to this day. Really wasn’t in a good mood. But Formula 1 provided the distraction that I needed. A massive, unbelievable, surreal turn of events. Thank you F1, I love you.
What’s interesting is how at the start of the race, I was just thinking about how exciting the battle for the lead would be if somehow something happened to the leading Mercedes. Really no disrespect to Lewis, it’s just my wish for close racing at the top speaking. Little did I know that exactly that is what Formula 1 would provide me from the halfway point onwards.
What we just witnessed (did we really, it’s real life is it?) reminded me of Le Mans 2017. That was a crazy race full of attrition from the top LMP1 cars, and it saw the LMP2 cars of Jackie Chan DC Racing lead the race overall, and for quite a long time. It was a position you would not expect an LMP2 car to be in normal circumstances, and especially not for as long as that team was. Eventually the faster Porsche catched up and passed them but still, it was a hugely memorable moment. A moment for the underdogs, getting close to achieving something remarkable.
Only this time, in Formula 1, the underdog didn’t just get close. The underdog actually did it.
Monza 2008 was the first time Toro Rosso, today known as Alpha Tauri, won a Grand Prix. That time it was with Sebastian Vettel, in the rain, who remarkably also started from pole position. I was 8 years old and even I was aware that it was a special moment. At the same circuit, 12 years later, Gasly came from P10 to a victory.
Talking about Gasly I’ve always been mentioning (not in blog posts, but other places) how I’m not the biggest fan of Gasly before adding the “but” and continuing my sentence. I guess it was because I don’t like some things he did when he was a teammate with Brendon Hartley. But putting that past aside, I did think that the way Gasly came back after everything he had against him was admirable. It’s something to look up to.
He was demoted from Red Bull and on the first weekend back for Toro Rosso his best friend lost his life. I really felt bad for him at the time, and the fact he came back stronger after that is proof of his mental strength. It was a nice moment hearing him with so many emotions after that crazy Brazilian GP podium.
And then today happened. During the broadcast, Brundle and Croft mentioned reverse grid races multiple times. I’m not sure if I actually want that to become a thing. Yes, absolutely, today was an extraordinary, incredible day. But if seeing the Alpha Tauris or Alfa Romeos at the top positions becomes a regular thing, these kinds of unexpected days would lose their magic. The fact reverse grid races aren’t a thing is exactly what makes this race so memorable and extraordinary. I knew that I was witnessing something that would happen once in a few decades, the midfield teams fighting for the race win. I’ve been watching F1 since 2007, and these may have been the craziest results I’ve ever witnessed. No “top” team at the podium. A battle for the win where you knew that whoever gets on top will get their first ever victory.
The only sad thing is how the guys on the podium didn’t get to have the “proper” Monza podium with the fans. Seeing the Monza podium without fans kinda made things even more surreal. Are we sure this wasn’t some crazy race in the F1 2020 game or something? The results table kinda looks like one of those free practice sessions where a few cars went out but the session got cancelled due to heavy rain.
Anyways, this was a bit of a pointless post but I just had to put some thoughts out on that race and those results. I am grateful to F1 for making this a better Sunday than it looked like it would be…
