MOTORSPORT: Hamilton wins in Italy, then hints at F1 exit

Lewis Hamilton won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to extend his Formula 1 drivers’ world championship lead and then declared he might not race on in 2021.

The Mercedes-AMG driver’s revelation diverted attention away from what had been an entertaining 63 laps of the historic Italian Imola circuit, which also delivered Australian Daniel Ricciardo third place for the second time in three races in his Renault R.S.20.

“I would like to be here next year, but there's no guarantee of that for sure,” Hamilton said post-race.

Hamilton has been the dominant driver of the past decade in F1. Imola was his record-setting 93rd win and he leads teammate and second place finisher Valterri Bottas by a crushing 85 points in his pursuit of a record-equalling seventh drivers’ title he can secure in Turkey in two weeks.

The Mercedes-AMG 1-2 delivered the team its seventh consecutive constructors’ championship – another record – and the team has won 100 races and scored 104 poles since 2014.

Hamilton revealed his doubts about racing on when he was quizzed about the future of team principal Toto Wolff, who is seeking to change his role and step back from his current responsibilities.

"I don't even know if I'm going to be here next year, so it's not really a concern for me at the moment,” Hamilton said.

"I've been here a long, long time. I can definitely understand wanting to pull back a little bit and giving more time to family and those sort of things."

Hamilton has engaged deeply in issues such as the anti-racism Black Lives Matter campaign this year. Wolff acknowledged that, but suggested Hamilton would sign a new deal and continue.

“I completely relate to his feeling, that you question yourself, that you think about all the other things that matter,” he said.

"I guess if he were to decide to step out of Formula 1, which I don't think it's going to happen, and I hope it's not going to happen, then I think we're going to have a pretty frantic driver market out there," Wolff said.

Hamilton combined stunning speed with a touch of luck to win the GP on a track where F1 hasn’t raced since 2006 and passing was difficult, especially because the single DRS zone was mostly ineffective.

He qualified second and ran third early. But when teammate Bottas and Red Bull-Honda’s Max Verstappen pitted from in front of him, he set a series of fastest laps and then was granted a ‘free’ pit stop because of a virtual safety car that fell perfectly for him to claim a clear lead.

Pole qualifier Bottas, battling floor damage after running over debris from Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari on lap two, subsequently surrendered second to Verstappen.

But the Dutchman ran over debris, suffered and instant right-rear puncture and spun off into a gravel trap and out of the race on lap 52.

That prompted the safety car that delivered Ricciardo’s shot at a podium. He had qualified fifth – he rated it his best qualifying lap of the year – and rose to fourth at the start, but then got held up after his pit stop in traffic, allowing Racing Point’s Sergio Perez to gain track position.

But Racing Point erroneously called the Mexican in for fresh soft tyres during the safety car period and in the five-lap sprint to the line he could make only limited progress forward to sixth.

Renault kept Ricciardo out on his worn hard Pirellis and he held onto third from the fast-charging AlphaTauri of Daniil Kyvat, with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in fifth.

“I’m very happy and I didn’t forget to do the ‘shoey’ this time around!” said Ricciardo. “We were pretty settled in fifth but then Max triggered the safety car. It was the right thing to stay out, especially after Perez pitted. It is pretty difficult to overtake here and it was worth the risk today: it paid off.”

The result solidified Ricciardo’s fourth position in the drivers’ championship and moves Renault into third in the constructors at the head of ‘Division B’ battle.

It wasn’t all good news for Renault though, as Esteban Ocon’s race ended with a clutch failure (and triggered the VSC that aided Hamilton so much).

Plenty of other teams suffered setbacks: Alex Albon did his renewal chances no good at Red Bull by spinning out unaided from the late-race battle for a top-six finish; George Russell appeared on for the first points finish of his career only to spin his Williams-Mercedes off into the wall while warming his tyres behind the safety car; AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified a brilliant fourth but had to retire early with a coolant leak; Vettel’s horror season continued with a botched pit stop that dropped him out of points contention.

Finally, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll continued a run of clumsy errors by knocking over one of his pit crew during a stop. The decision to bump Perez rather than him for 2021 to make way for Vettel just looks sillier and sillier.

On the flipside, Alfa Romeo benefited with a double points finish for Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi in ninth and 10th respectively, behind the two McLaren-Renaults of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.