THE BIG PICTURE: You can't say the Italian trip has not been exciting. Sure, unique circumstances caused most of that excitement, but in this crazy and sad year, we'll take excitement wherever we can find it.

EVENT: For a celebration of Ferrari's 1,000th race, it never seemed like it. Not because of their performance. But because of the lack of buzz in the air.

TRACK: This is a wonderful track which really shows off F1 cars' speed and amazing handling. It's a joy to watch even on TV.

QUALIFYING: Anticlimactic finish as Bottas is unable to challenge, Albon finally slots in behind Verstappen, Vettel once again fails to get to Q3 while Leclerc does, and Racing Point's speed returns.

RACE: A three act play. With each getting a positive review.

START, PART UN: This time Hamilton has a poor start and Bottas takes advantage of it, Verstappen does indeed have a power issue and then goes from bad to worse when his slowing car causes a pileup knocking him out of the race, and Leclerc gets a wonderful start.

START, PART DEUX: Typical Bottas luck as he was in the sitting duck position, which meant Hamilton easily drafted by him, Albon drops like Verstappen did the first time, and finally everybody got through cleanly.

START, PART TROIS: Two out of three is bad for Bottas as he lost a position again on a standing start today, Russell drops to last, and all is safe in the pack.

HAMILTON: Typical Lewis. Comes through when it counts.

BOTTAS: Typical Valtteri. Fails when it counts.

ALBON: Just like that, Alex changes the conversation from Gasly back to Albon.

VERSTAPPEN: Initially, his start was good enough to probably get Hamilton for second. However, his Honda once again let him -- and us -- down to the possibility of an intriguing race.

RICCIARDO: Once again, so close to giving his boss a tattoo.

RACING POINT: They got their four time world champion. But, will it be worth it?

PEREZ: Sergio saved this team from complete dissolution by making the legal moves he made two years ago. And even that loyalty doesn't count for anything in Formula 1.

STROLL: Lance had the upgrade parts on his car, and it was definitely faster than the other car. Which is good news moving ahead. The problem is, he, through no fault of his own, completely destroyed all those new parts. Completely destroyed the whole car. Destroyed.

NORRIS: As the McLaren starts fading, Lando (and Sainz for that matter) is still looking good with it.

FERRARI: The idea that one can get excited because they put both cars in the points is beyond sad.

LECLERC: Again, Charles clearly was the faster one.

VETTEL: Sebastian unable to beat a Williams straight up is another new low.

RAIKKONEN: Quite a finish for Kimi considering his car was damaged so much by being used as a punching bag.

RUSSELL: Blew the chance for his first points by blowing the third standing start.

OCON: Yet another car with cooked brakes this year.

GASLY: Racing is a sport where fortunes can change so quickly. Pierre went from the top of the racing world to not making it out of Q1 and then not even getting past the second turn on the first lap.

RESTART: There are some very, very lucky drivers. Watching the in-car cameras shows just how violent some of those collisions were.

FIA: The rules for rolling restarts are idiotic. We've mentioned this in the past. The FIA really needs to look at how American series do it. The idea of being allowed to weave just before the restart is ludicrious. The inability to remain in line is ridiculous. The concept of not maintaining the safety car speed is dangerous. SCCA amateur club racers can do this better than these yokels.

F2: Mick Schumacher moved into the championship lead as he was the only driver to get any decent amount of points with a fifth and fourth place finishes. Englishman Callum Ilott got a lowly sixth in the sprint race and Russian Robert Shwartzman had another miserable weekend, this time with no points. Meanwhile, Dane Christian Lundgaard finished sixth and first to leap into title contention. It's Schumacher (161 points), Ilott (153), Lundgaard (145) and Shwartzman (140) with three weekends left.

F3: Entering Sunday's final race of the season, American Logan Sargeant and Australian Oscar Piastri were tied in points. Then, Sargeant got knocked out on the first lap, handing the championship to Piastri. However, he still had to get enough points to hold off Frenchman Théo Pourchaire who came out of nowhere in the last two weekends to finish in second, three points behind Piastri and one point ahead of Sargeant.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Crashfest.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 238 -- The number of wins Ferrari has in their 1,000 F1 races. To nearly win a quarter of their races over a span of 70 years is truly remarkable.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Even though Ferrari was one of the original teams to sign up for the newly created world championship, they did not compete in the first race at Silverstone because they could not come to a proper financial agreement (the more things change, the more they stay the same). Thus, their first F1 race was the second in history -- the 1950 Monaco GP. Scuderia Ferrari entered three cars (while an independent team entered a fourth but failed to start). There was a nine car pileup on the first lap (again, the more things change, the more they stay the same). Alberto Ascari finished second, one lap down. Frenchman Raymond Sommer finished fourth, three laps down. Luigi Villoresi retired after 63 laps with a rear axle failure. Juan Manual Fangio in an Alfa Romeo won the 100 lap affair.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: ESPNF1's very simple tweet, "Absolute. Carnage."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Alexander Albon to his team after crossing the line in third, "Thanks for sticking with me..."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: George Russell near the end of the race after being told by his engineer what he needed to do to get a points paying position, "I'm driving my nuts off. Leave me alone."

SCHEDULE: A break. Now, races come at a much slower pace (until the final three). First, off to Russia where fans will show up to watch a usually boring race.

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