DO THEY WANT TO KILL US ALL?
Romain raps Bottas as Lewis motors on
ROMAIN GROSJEAN tore into Valtteri Bottas with an X-rated rant as Lewis Hamilton left himself on the brink of history.
Mercedes man Hamilton kept his cool as rivals lost theirs to move within one of Michael Schumacher’s alltime race wins record.
Seven days earlier Pierre Gasly romped to a shock victory at Monza.
This time Hamilton made no mistake in the first Tuscan Grand Prix to collect his 90th career victory in a race that saw two red flags and a dramatic four-car pile-up.
The first stoppage was cued by Antonio Giovinazzi crashing into the back of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi at the restart following the first of three safety car periods.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz then hit Giovinazzi, sending the Alfa Romeo driver into the air.
Haas racer Kevin Magnussen was also caught up in the accident, with all four cars sent into the barriers. Grosjean was furious with Mercedes man Bottas, who was leading at the time, for driving too slowly at the restart.
“That was f*****g stupid from whoever was at the front,” the Frenchman yelled over the radio.
“They want to kill us or what? This is the worst thing I have ever seen.”
But Bottas was cleared by the stewards of any wrongdoing. Twelve of the 18 drivers still left in the race were warned as not one was found “wholly or predominantly to blame” for the pile-up.
Bottas said: “I was doing consistent speed until I went.
“Yes, I went late but we start racing from the control line, not before that. So the guys behind who crashed because of that, they can look in the mirror. There’s no point whining about it.”
The session was brought to a temporary halt for the second time after 21-year-old Lance Stroll smashed his Racing Point into the barriers and his car caught fire.
This time Hamilton held his nerve at the restart to retain top spot and was largely unchallenged for the remaining 15 laps as his championship lead grew to 65 points.
The 35-year-old is now within touching distance of Schumacher’s record haul and also looks certain to match the German’s unprecedented seven world titles.
Hamilton, followed in by Bottas and Red Bull racer Alexander Albon, said: “It was all a bit of daze. It was like three races in one day.”
Before and after the race Hamilton wore a black T-Shirt with the message “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor”. The 26-year-old black woman was shot dead by police who burst into her Louisville home exactly six months ago.
He said: “No justice has been served. We won’t stay silent.”