Twelve drivers warned over spectacular F1 crashes in Tuscany

A dozen drivers copped the stewards’ wrath after a wild Tuscan GP as Valtteri Bottas hit out at anyone blaming him for the chaos.

Twelve drivers have officially been warned for their roles in a chaotic Tuscan Grand Prix that was interrupted by two spectacular crashes which wiped out nearly half the field.

Only 12 cars made it through all 59 laps at the Mugello circuit but despite the carnage, no one was seriously injured as Lewis Hamilton won, joined on the dais by Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas (second) and Red Bull young gun Alexander Albon (third).

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Aussie Daniel Ricciardo — who narrowly missed out on his first podium with Renault by coming fourth for the third time in 2020 — was among the dozen stars to be pinged by stewards for “inconsistent application of throttle and brake”.

He was joined by: Albon, Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat, Nicholas Latifi, Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, George Russell, Antonio Giovinazzi and Carlos Sainz.

Drivers lined up on the grid three times as the race restarted twice because of the turmoil. An opening lap crash took out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and last Sunday’s Monza winner Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri, leading to six laps behind the Safety Car and repairs for Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen.

When the race restarted at the beginning of lap seven, as the Safety Car came in, another bigger and more spectacular multi-car smash saw six more cars eliminated.

It appeared the drivers at the back of the pack anticipated race leader Bottas pulling clear and accelerated before he did — many of them colliding with cars ahead of them on the track.

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There was carnage in Tuscany.

Max Verstappen was knocked out early.

Romain Grosjean’s Haas didn’t fare so well.

Bottas, who led from the start after making a better getaway than Hamilton, had been weaving slowly to warm up his tyres before he began racing again.

The crash resulted in elimination for McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, Antonio Giovinazzi of Alfa Romeo, Kevin Magnussen of Haas, Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi and Renault’s Esteban Ocon — and a stewards investigation.

Italian Giovinazzi appeared to smack into Magnussen and Latifi, which triggered a further collision with Sainz.

The stewards pointed out Bottas and Co. who weren’t among the 12 drivers warned had abided by the rules.

“Car 77 (Bottas) had the right under the regulations to dictate the pace,” the stewards said.

“The stewards acknowledge the challenges the location of the Control Line presents at this circuit and the desire of drivers to take advantage of the restart.

“However this incident demonstrates the need for caution to be exercised in the restart situation and note that there was an extreme concertina effect which dramatically increased as it moved down the field.”

Bottas defended himself after the race, adamant he was not to blame.

“Of course when you’re in the lead, you try to maximise your chances and I’m not at all to blame for that,” he said. “Everyone can look at everything they want for it.

“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.”