I have yet to meet someone who has traveled to Italy and not enjoyed the experience. There is something quite different to our Kiwi culture. While you always appreciate home, the rich Italian culture pulls you in, energizes the soul and wants you to have more.
The coffee, risotto, pasta, gelato, the language, the emotion, the pizza (of course) and a zest for life is quite different to Kiwi culture. That’s not to say it is better, just quite different in a good way.
The 2018 Italian Grand Prix was everything Italian. A Ferrari ‘lock-out’ on the front row, good genuine overtaking, drama before the first turn, a classic Mercedes-Ferrari battle and a sea of red emotion across the packed grandstands of F1 fans.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton survived first lap contact with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and went on to pass Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari to take the lead and eventually win the Grand Prix. Behind this action we had Brendon Hartley squeezed out of the race before turn one, a hard charging Daniel Ricciardo until his Renault engine let go. Vettel trying to regain all that was lost from his opening lap spin while onlookers are saying that this may be a defining moment in his title battle with Hamilton.
Max Verstappen hit with a five second penalty after ‘hitting’ Valtteri Botta’s Mercedes and a battle for the minor places. Just three retirements, nine of the finishes were on the same lap as the winner with the remaining eight finishes just one lap down.
Compare this to the 1968 race that Denny Hulme won in a McLaren-Ford. Twenty cars started, only six finished and only three of these on the lead lap.
Of the 14 retired cars, 11 had mechanical problems while the other three were because of accidents. Hardly an entertaining race.
Yes, the 2018 Italian Grand Prix was a classic in many senses. What it really needed was for Raikkonen to win in his Ferrari. That would have been epic for many reasons!
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