The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team claims the FIA Formula One Constructors' Championship for the seventh time in a row - setting a new world record for most consecutive Constructors' Championships in the sport.
Lewis and Valtteri are the only two drivers who can still win this year's Drivers' Championship, securing the seventh consecutive Drivers' Title for the team as well.
Lewis claimed his 93rd F1 victory - his ninth of the 2020 season and his first at Imola and also led his 5,000th lap in Formula One at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Valtteri came home in P2, securing the 58th 1-2 finish for Mercedes in Formula One.
Today's result marked the 100th win for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team in the hybrid era as well as the 500th podium place for Mercedes-Benz power.
The result also marks the 100th victory for Toto Wolff as Team Principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.
Lewis (282 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by 85 points from Valtteri (197 points). The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (479 points) leads Red Bull Racing (226 points) by 253 points in the Constructors' Championship - an unassailable lead in the Constructors' Championship with four races to go.
Leo Stevens, No. 2 Mechanic on car #44, accepted the Constructors' trophy on behalf of the team.
Toto Wolff: This is an unbelievable moment, this afternoon feels like a culmination of everything. This has been an unusual season in so many ways and it makes me very proud that we've been able to achieve this. Lots of blood, sweat and tears went into this behind closed doors, a lot of people have made great sacrifices to achieve this, so a massive thank you to everyone in the team, here at the track and back at home in Brixwoth and Brackely. We have an amazing group of people that keeps pushing and raising the benchmark to new levels, but what stands out the most is the comradery in this team and the right values at the core of it. A big thanks as well to everyone at Mercedes for the continuous support and their trust in this team - when I think of the support we have in Germany, it just puts a smile on my face. Thank you as well to everyone at Petronas - we could not have done this without you! Petronas played a big role in this achievement; they've been with us since Day 1 and we're very proud to represent them on the track. I don't know where this team will go next, but I'm excited to see what the future holds for this inspiring group of people, that is still motivated and energised and wants to set the bar even higher.
Andrew Shovlin: Well done to the whole team, everyone in Brackley and Brixworth on the 7th double, it's just amazing and so nice to do it with a 1-2 finish although it's not sunk it yet. The race wasn't easy, Valtteri picked up someone's barge board on lap two which got jammed in our bargeboard area and was pretty disastrous for the aerodynamic performance. His pace was impressive considering and he was managing the stint well but he couldn't pull away from Max by more than just enough to just protect the undercut. When Max stopped we had to cover with Valtteri and had a go at pulling the part out but we couldn't afford to slow the stop down and had to send the car with it still jammed in there. Lewis stayed out and was doing a good job on the older tyres, working his way through backmarkers and trying to get the pit window to Max and Valtteri. We then had the VSC which worked in Lewis's favour and he was able to stop comfortably into the lead. Valtteri had his work cut out trying to defend against Max but on the Hard tyre it was tricky and eventually he lost the position. Later in the stint, we were monitoring a bit of vibration on Lewis's tyres when Max had his puncture 12 laps from the end; given that we had free stops we were going to come in on a safety car. The timing was not great for Lewis, he'd just passed the pit entry when it was called so he was stuck behind it for the lap. With Valtteri we got him in and finally managed to remove the competitor's part that had been holding him back all race. We made the call to stop Lewis anyway, even though it risked the win we were concerned the vibrations would grow and amazingly he just managed to hold onto the lead. From there it was just a case of counting the laps to the finish but it was great to get both over the line and secure both championships for Mercedes with a first and second.
Markus Schafer, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research, COO Mercedes-Benz Cars and Non-Executive Chairman at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team: Huge congratulations to the entire Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team! Setting a new world record with seven consecutive Constructors' Championships is an amazing achievement - one that goes far beyond our boldest dreams when we embarked on this journey ten years ago. Thank you to every single member of the team in Brixworth and Brackley for your passion, your determination and your continuous hard work. Our Mercedes-AMG works team has truly earned its place in the history books of Formula One this year. They've built a car that is already considered to be one of the best F1 cars ever created, highlighting how we're constantly trying to push the boundaries of innovation at Mercedes - on the track and on the road. A special thanks to the team at Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains who have developed the best hybrid engine in motorsport, powering us to this historic success. But it's not only the technical and sporting achievements that are remarkable. Our F1 team has risen to many challenges this year, showcasing the values that are at the core of this inspiring group. When the F1 season was interrupted at the start of the year, they produced 10,000 breathing aids to help in the fight against COVID-19. And when the F1 season continued, our team returned to the track with renewed purpose, taking a clear stance against racism and discrimination and challenging itself and the sport to become more diverse and inclusive. Our F1 team is also pioneering sustainability in the sport and will achieve a net-zero carbon footprint this year. This has been a challenging season in every aspect, but we have seen what champions are truly made of. In the name of the entire Mercedes family: Great job - we're very proud to have you in our team!
Today's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was the last of three races to be held on Italian soil in this unusual season and Scuderia Ferrari leaves Imola with a fifth place courtesy of Charles Leclerc, while Sebastian Vettel's 12th place is not a fair reflection of his performance. He would have finished in the points, but for a problem at his pit stop that cost him several places. Overall, the SF1000 showed further signs of gradual and continual progress, even if the points haul does not truly show it.
At the start, Charles managed to pass Alex Albon in the Red Bull, to go sixth. Sebastian was involved in a collision with Kevin Magnussen's Haas and he lost a place to Antonio Giovinazzi. Apart from that, there was not much going on in the first part of the race. Charles moved up one spot when Pierre Gasly retired the AlphaTauri and he pitted slightly earlier than planned to try and undercut Daniel Ricciardo. But the Renault driver managed to stay ahead, even though his pace was not that quick. Because of that, Racing Point's Sergio Perez who had started on the Hard tyre, managed to get ahead of the two of them after his pit stop, to be fourth.
After the early collision, Sebastian had a strong pace on the Mediums and he was able to work his way right up to fourth, as those running Softs pitted. The German was in a battle with Carlos Sainz for tenth, when he was called in for his pit stop. Unfortunately, a stripped wheel nut meant the stop took over 13 seconds and Seb thus lost several places, dropping down to 14th.
With just over 10 laps to go, a tyre failed on Max Verstappen's Red Bull, after he drove over some debris, while he was lying second. The Dutchman was stuck in the gravel at the Villeneuve corner which brought out the Safety Car. Given the difficulty of overtaking at Imola, the team decided to leave Charles out on track, despite the fact he was on Hards, even though that meant he might struggle to defend from others on softer tyres. However, as Sebastian had nothing to lose, he came in for a set of Softs to try and make up some places.
Thus, when the race resumed, Charles was fourth behind the two Mercedes and Ricciardo, but on that first lap, he had to give best to Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri) who had the benefit of Soft tyres. However, once Leclerc managed to get his tyres back up to temperature he did an excellent job of fending off Perez to bring home an important fifth place. Vettel made up two places but that still saw him only 12th. Sainz, with whom Vettel had been fighting in the first part of the race, finished seventh, therefore, but for the problem at the pit stop, Seb should definitely have finished in the points.
After two back-to-back races, the Formula 1 World Championship will be back on track in a fortnight's time at Turkey's Istanbul Park circuit, last used back in 2011, when Sebastian Vettel was the winner.
Mattia Binotto, Team Principal: "It's clear to see that we are consolidating the progress we have made in recent races, especially in terms of race pace at a variety of tracks with very different characteristics. That's important for the rest of this season and for the next one. Once again, Charles did a very good job, both in managing the tyres and when it came to defending position in the closing stages.
"Seb also had a strong race and we are very sorry for the problem at the pit stop that robbed him of a top ten finish, thus losing the chance to pick up valuable points.
"Finally, I wish to congratulate Mercedes for winning the Constructors' championship. We know we have a very long way to go to be fighting once again for those same goals, something we have achieved so often in our history, but we firmly believe we can do it."
Christian Horner: "We've had three races in Italy this year and three DNFs for Max so it's not been kind to him. Max got a very good start, getting ahead of Lewis and it was a game of chess in the first stint being sandwiched between the two Mercedes cars, seeing who would pit first. It became apparent that Valtteri had damage and after the stops Max was right on him. Max waited for his moment patiently and passed him on the main straight. He then pulled away from Valtteri and was on track for second place until his tyre let go, possibly due to some debris, which ended his race. It's very frustrating, especially as today we felt we had pretty strong pace, so it's annoying not to get second with Max. For Alex, it's a difficult one because he was in a race with Charles and Daniel all afternoon, stuck in a bit of a train, and then at the re-start he tried to cover the cars behind who'd just had a free stop for new tyres under the safety car, and he lost it at the second chicane. It's incredibly unfortunate to come away from this weekend with zero points but we'll build back up for Turkey, a track we had good success at last time out. Congratulations to Mercedes and Toto for achieving seven consecutive Constructors' Championships, an amazing achievement and we certainly hope to be able to give them more of a challenge next year."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "This was a challenging afternoon for us - but a big thank you to the entire team and the drivers for fighting hard, getting both cars home in the points and delivering 10 vital points in our Constructors' Championship battle.
"Our race was compromised by our qualifying positions, which caused us to be stuck in traffic for the entire race today. Before heading to Turkey, we'll go home and spend the next 10 days looking at every detail of how we can extract more pace from the car - particularly on Saturday. Congratulations to Mercedes for a seventh consecutive Constructors' title. They are the benchmark the rest of F1 must strive to emulate."
Renault DP World F1 Team secured its second podium of the year following a strong drive from Daniel Ricciardo and daring strategy from the pitwall in today's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The result moves the team to third in the Constructors' Championship.
Esteban Ocon unfortunately retired from the race on lap 28 following a suspected transmission problem, which is still to be investigated. The Frenchman had been running close to the top ten in the early stages of the race but developed an issue that dropped him down the field and ultimately led to his retirement.
Daniel had started the race from fifth on the grid and immediately gained a place off the line. Running in fourth on the Pirelli Soft tyre compound, he maintained a gap over Gasly and Leclerc. After Gasly retired, Daniel was able to pit for new Pirelli Hard tyres and keep position over Leclerc despite strong pressure from the Ferrari driver. Perez had nipped in ahead of the pair, but luck turned on lap 51 when the safety car came out for Verstappen's retirement ahead. As Perez stopped for new tyres, Daniel gained two positions and held his nerve on older tyres until the flag to claim Renault DP World F1 Team's second podium and Daniel's 31st of his career.
Esteban started the race strongly from twelfth on the grid on Pirelli Medium tyres. He held position off the line and was just two seconds from the top ten when he boxed for a set of Hard tyres. His issues started soon after and despite several in-car fixes he ultimately retired from the race on lap 28.
Renault DP World Team now has a total of 135 points, placing it third in the Constructors' Championship with four races to run.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "I'd like to start by apologising to Esteban as it was another retirement due to a technical issue. He was not far off yesterday and had a decent start to be in the mix despite the early stop to remove the tear off from his ducts. He then suffered from an issue that caused some trouble with his gearbox and he had to retire. It's a shame as Daniel has shown that when the car is working there is pace and competitiveness. Once again, the race went our way: it looked like we were up for P5 as Perez could benefit from his start on medium tyres and we were going to settle for that, but Verstappen's retirement opened things up. Our strategy team made the bold decision not to stop again, assuming that we had enough life and pace to contain the threat from behind. It was very brave, but it paid off thanks to a fantastic drive from Daniel. With his engineers he managed to keep the exact tyre temperature required during the long safety car and then managed an amazing last few laps to get to the end and give us another podium. We are now third in the Championship and need to own it and focus on the weekends that will come very quickly. Finally, I would also like to offer my congratulations to Mercedes on their seventh World Championship; it's a phenomenal achievement, one that will continue to inspire us for all the work still ahead."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "After today's race, we can probably still say we like the two-day GP format! The race certainly came alive in the closing stages, with the safety car allowing us to roll the dice with the strategy and get Daniil onto some fresh tyres for the final laps. This allowed him to attack at the restart, which worked out very well with him making some strong passes and taking him so close to a podium today. On the flip side, unfortunately, we had to retire Pierre's car from the race early on, which meant we were not able to take what would have almost certainly been a very strong points finish today with him. This is sometimes how it goes, and we will now focus on the next race, pushing to take our current strong form into the remaining events of the season."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "It was a fantastic feeling to be here in Imola at our home track. We enjoyed yesterday's Qualifying, as it was our most successful one this season so far, finishing P4 with Pierre and P8 with Daniil. Both of them had a good start to the race. Pierre got blocked by Hamilton before the first corner so Ricciardo was able to overtake him, which put Pierre back into fifth. Unfortunately, a radiator failure put a stop to his race. It's a shame as I'm sure he could have achieved a very good result today. As for Daniil, he had a good race today, he spent quite a while in eighth position until we decided to bring him in on lap 14 while he was in sixth, to put him on the Base tyre. From then on, he did very fast lap times and was one of the fastest on track. He was able to control Sainz quite well and he was closing the gap to Albon. On lap 55, the Safety Car was deployed and we decided to bring him in for the Option tyre, which was a fantastic decision from the strategy group because this allowed Daniil to overtake Perez and Albon immediately before the first corner, followed by Leclerc a few corners later. At that stage, Daniil was in P4, but unfortunately, the race finished too early - he would have needed another couple of laps to overtake Ricciardo. Nevertheless, fourth is the best race result for Daniil this year, and the team showed a very good performance in both Qualifying and the race. I think we are well prepared for the remaining races of the season and we're looking forward to going to Istanbul to continue our momentum."
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: "A challenging afternoon that didn't end quite as we had hoped, despite scoring eight important points. Sergio was well placed to finish on the podium after Max [Verstappen] retired, but, with the benefit of hindsight, we shouldn't have pitted and instead tried staying out on the hard tyre. We chose to pit because we were concerned it would be difficult to switch on the hard tyres after the safety car. Those cars behind could do the opposite and were able to stay out on their very old tyres, gaining track position. Unfortunately, George Russell's crash resulted in an extended safety car and gave Sergio even less laps to use his tyre advantage. In the end, he had to settle for sixth place. For Lance, his race was pretty much over on lap one after the contact with Ocon, which broke the front wing. He had to pit and was playing catch up all afternoon, which made it difficult to score points."
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix delivered a third race of lights-to-flag thrills on Italian soil this season; it also, most importantly, delivered the team's first double-points finish of the year as Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi finished ninth and tenth respectively.
Another great start by our drivers, who leapt from 18th and 20th on the grid to 16th (Kimi) and 14th (Antonio), set the scene for a true comeback tale. Antonio, starting on softs, was among the first to stop while Kimi managed to stretch his stint on medium tyres all the way to lap 48. A late Safety Car, just minutes after Kimi's stop, seemed to scupper our chances to rescue points from the race, but there was going to be a happy ending for our afternoon this time around.
Kimi and Antonio kept their cool in the chaotic restart stages, climbing to P9 and P10 and defending their position to the chequered flag, bringing home the best team result of the season so far. The three points gained today bring our total to eight, cementing our P8 in the championship with four rounds to go.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "The team has delivered a strong performance as a whole. The strategy calls were good, the pit-stops went well and, of course, the drivers executed their races without putting a wheel wrong. Bringing home our first double-points finish of the season is a good reward for our efforts today. There is still a lot of work to do, of course, but we are making progress and we were in the right place to take advantage of how the race unfolded."
Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean finished 14th while Kevin Magnussen was unable to reach the checkered flag at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, held at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Sunday.
Grosjean lined up from 16th spot on Pirelli's P Zero Yellow medium tires and on a frantic first lap lost out, slipping to 17th position, and came in on lap 10 of 63 to change to the White hard tires. A safety car period, caused when Max Verstappen suffered a high-speed failure, bunched the pack and Grosjean came in on lap 51 to take on a set of Red soft tires for the short blast to the finish. Grosjean rose to 12th but was unfortunately handed a five-second time penalty that dropped him to 14th.
Magnussen started from 17th on the grid on medium tires but his prospects were thwarted straight away as he was caught up in an incident. As Magnussen rounded the left-hander of Tosa he was tipped into a spin by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and dropped to the rear of the field. Magnussen persevered and rose as high as eighth through the pit stop phase before he too came in for fresh rubber, taking on hard tires on lap 28. Magnussen continued to circulate before the team opted to retire him on lap 48 with a gearbox issue.
Haas F1 Team holds ninth position in the Constructors' Championship with three points.
Guenther Steiner: "A somewhat frustrating Sunday afternoon, but nothing goes our way it looks like at the moment - not just the moment, it's been a while actually. Kevin (Magnussen) getting together with Sebastian (Vettel) at turn seven, well that put him in a place where there's not a lot to do. But he caught up pretty well in the end. He then had the gearbox issue which we had since after qualifying, but we were not allowed by the FIA to change the sensors without penalty - so that went against us. Romain (Grosjean), well if you start from those positions, you're just always in dirty air and in trouble with other cars, it's just always very busy there. We tried different strategies, we at least tried to play, but we couldn't get them playing as things happened too quick. In the end it was a long frustrating afternoon. There are four more races to go so there's four more opportunities to score points."
Nicholas Latifi finished 11th in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, whilst George Russell unfortunately crashed out of the race under the safety car. George started 13th, with Nicholas lining up 19th, both on the medium compound tyre.
Nicholas ran a one-stop race, pitting on lap 34 for the hard Pirelli tyre. After stopping on lap 11 for the hard compound tyre, George was running P10 before his race came to an abrupt halt.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: We need to get home and unpick what happened today. After a good performance yesterday and a decent first lap, we were well placed. We opted to pit George early to attack the cars ahead and this allowed us to undercut Ocon. With Nicholas, we decided to leave him on a longer stint on the Medium tyre whilst we allowed the race to unfold and waited for an opportunity. Once Perez got close, we brought him in before we lost time. The late safety car caused some chaos in the final laps, bunching the pack back up and allowing several cars to make cheap pitstops for fresh tyres. George stayed out and held track position but unfortunately lost control of the car whilst trying to keep his tyres hot. This extended the safety car period further and once Albon went off, elevated Nicholas to his third 11th place finish of the season. He came very close to beating Giovanazzi for the final point scoring position whilst also mounting a robust defence with the Haas. Unfortunately, the race was one lap too short for Nicholas to score the final point.
Overall, we are very disappointed with the result as we worked extremely well and effectively throughout this weekend and have shown good pace in both qualifying and race trim. Considering how much track time Nicholas lost on Saturday morning, he has had an excellent weekend and showed very good pace and race-craft today. George will be very disappointed with today's result, but he had good pace and was able to race competitively with the midfield for much of the race. It has been a tiring but rewarding couple of weeks during which we have raced at some superb venues. We will now head home, regroup and prepare for the final races of the season.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took a step closer to a seventh world title by winning the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix using a two-stop strategy. Mercedes clinched the 2020 constructors' title with a double podium, after Valtteri Bottas finished second: mathematically the only man who can now deprive Hamilton of the title. Both drivers ran all three compounds after a late safety car.
Hamilton's win was secured thanks to an overcut strategy, where he completed a longer first stint than his direct rivals on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre, while pumping in some fast laps before his pit stop. He made his first stop onto P Zero White hard tyres under a virtual safety car, which helped him to pit without losing the lead.
During a final safety car period with 10 laps to go, the majority of drivers pitted once more, including Hamilton and Bottas, who went onto the P Zero Red Soft tyre for the final stint.
Most drivers selected a one-stop strategy, which then become a two-stopper as a result of the safety car. The highest-placed driver to start on the soft tyre was Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, on the podium in third.
The weather remained temperate throughout the race, starting in 21 degrees centigrade ambient, with 24 degrees of track temperature.
Mario Isola: "The safety car late in the race influenced the strategy heavily: up until then it was looking like one stop for the majority of drivers; also because there is a big pit stop time loss at Imola. Due to some graining seen on the soft, the previously envisaged strategies involving the soft then largely changed in favour of a medium to hard strategy. The medium tyre was chosen by the top two to start the race on, and showed minimal degradation even over very long stints. The hard tyre was also run by many drivers in excess of 40 laps. Obviously we need to look at the medium tyre that had completed 32 laps with Red Bull's Max Verstappen to understand exactly what happened; it seems that some debris on the track could have caused a puncture. Congratulations to Mercedes for clinching their record seventh consecutive manufacturers' championship: once more after an intensely strategic race, where Hamilton was able to take perfect advantage of the virtual safety car."
