Mugello made a dramatic one-off appearance on the calendar during the 2020 season, and despite being beloved by most of the grid, it has never returned.

The COVID-19 pandemic came with obvious disruption to Formula 1, with most of the original calendar cancelled early in the year, forcing organisers to create a revised season in order to keep racing.

2020’s new calendar focused predominantly on European races, with Formula 1 bosses searching for new venues to race at.

The disruption saw the creation of the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, which was held on 13 September at the Mugello Circuit in Italy.

The track has been owned by Scuderia Ferrari since 1988 and used as a testing circuit for their Formula 1 cars. It came as no surprise then that the Tuscan Grand Prix was held at the circuit to commemorate Ferrari’s 1000th Formula 1 world championship race.

The 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix was the first race of the season to allow spectators during the pandemic, and has sadly remained the only F1 race to be held at the iconic track.

Lewis Hamilton and other drivers rave about Mugello track

The Formula 1 drivers spoke highly of their time at the Mugello circuit for the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, with Hamilton telling Formula 1: “It’s intense. I have to say it’s amazing to experience it.”. The Brit also described the Italian track as “one of the most physically demanding circuits that we’ve been at for a while”, adding: ” it’s just holding your neck [up] the whole time. I love that”.

Max Verstappen echoed the praise for Mugello, saying: “It’s a very cool track” before adding: “There are so many fast corners, and in a Formula 1 car, to take especially Arrabiata 1 and 2 (Turns 8 and 9) flat out easily is quite incredible, so it’s really nice and really enjoyable to drive. It’s just very flowing, which I like. There are no slow corners so that’s good.”

Other drivers were also quick to praise the grand prix, with Daniel Ricciardo saying: “It’s nice to have a new track, something fresh for everyone. But it’s certainly a good one” and Lando Norris revealing: “It’s probably a bit trickier than we were expecting, but it’s a good challenge in this car: it’s very fast, very high speed, quite physical but it’s a good, fun challenge.”

Photo by Clive Mason – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

A dramatic Tuscan Grand Prix sees almost half the grid out in the first six laps

Chaos at the Tuscan Grand Prix began on the first lap, heading into the second corner. Heading towards the Luco Corner, Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri was squeezed between Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, with Gasly’s front left tyre catching Raikkonen’s front right and tipping him up into the air.

Gasly’s car then collected Grosjean’s Haas, whilst Raikkonen crashed into the back of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, sending all four cars into the gravel trap. The crash saw both AlphaTauri and Red Bull cars beached in the gravel and out of the race.

At the same time as the incident between the four drivers towards the back of the pack, a separate incident involving Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll saw Sainz’s McLaren spun round sideways on the circuit. The incident also collected Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari, who sustained damage to his front wing.

Miraculously, only two drivers were out of the race during the Turn 1 incident, but the safety car restart at the beginning of Lap 7 saw a massive crash involving the midfield drivers. Grosjean initially blamed race leader Valtteri Bottas for causing an accordion effect, which saw Antonio Giovinazzi hit the back of Kevin Magnussen, while also catching Nicholas Latifi and Sainz in the incident.

The crash saw the first red flag of the day and seven cars out before the restart on lap 10, with Esteban Ocon in the Renault also retiring with brake issues.

A second red flag was later caused on Lap 43 when Stroll’s Racing Point tyres failed, sending him into the barrier at Turn 9. The RP20 then caught fire, making the recovery operation more difficult and triggering a break in the racing.

The 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix was the first time that a race had had two red flags since the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, as well as seeing three standing starts.

Lewis Hamilton edged closer to Schumacher’s win record with an impressive victory

Hamilton won the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, securing his 90th career victory and leaving him just one win away from matching Michael Schumacher’s record. He equalled the German world champion’s impressive feat just two races later and now holds the record himself with 105 grand prix victories.

Alex Albon crossed the line in third place for Red Bull Racing, taking his first career podium. Albon was under intense scrutiny at the team during the 2020 season, and after the race told F1 Nation: ““We had a couple of chances to get this podium, and definitely I would have liked it to have happened sooner than it did, but it’s nice. It was a nice time to happen as well if I’m honest, because there’s been a lot of talk and everything.”