Sunday 12th September 2021
McLaren celebrates one-two
Hamilton and Verstappen crash themselves out
When Red Bull messed up a pit stop, the Monza drama began. A little later, Hamilton and Verstappen are in the gravel trap. Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris in the McLaren benefit. Sebastian Vettel quarrels, Mick Schumacher follows and continues his feud with Nikita Mazepin.
Max Verstappen was the first to leave the smoking scene. With his head bowed, the Formula 1 world championship leader trudged across the Monza racetrack and took one last look at the huge mess in the gravel bed. The thrilling title fight between the Dutchman and record world champion Lewis Hamilton escalated in a spectacular way at the Italian Grand Prix. The rivals were eliminated after a collision at the beginning of lap 26.
The crash, which should cause a lot of clarification between the pilots, pushed Daniel Ricciardo’s surprise victory into the background. The Australian celebrated his first win since 2018 and the first success for McLaren in almost nine years. The podium was completed by his team-mate Lando Norris (Great Britain) and Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes (Finland). Verstappen remains World Cup leader. His lead over Hamilton is five points. In the sprint race on Saturday, the 23-year-old Verstappen had collected two points.
“We did it! Yeeeeesss!” Shouted a riotous, cheering Ricciardo on the pit radio. In the finish area he said: “The start was the crucial point. We had a great speed. But none of us would have expected it. On Friday, however, I felt something: I knew something big was going to happen this weekend.”
Vettel missed points
Sebastian Vettel missed the points in twelfth place, with his Aston Martin he was almost pushed off the track by Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) himself. Mick Schumacher finished 15th and again made unpleasant acquaintance with his team mate Nikita Mazepin, who caused a collision with Schumacher and received a time penalty for it. The best Ferrari at the home game was Charles Leclerc (Monaco) in fifth.
Mercedes was forced to rethink after Hamilton’s sleepy sprint qualifying. Instead of the hoped-for pole position, the Briton only started the race from fourth place – a disadvantage given the limited overtaking opportunities in the DRS train from Monza. Sports director Toto Wolff was therefore open to “more radical strategies” on Saturday evening. Hamilton was the only top driver to start on the hard tires. The goal: to stay on the track for as long as possible in order to gain time on the competition during the course of the race while driving freely.
Verstappen fends off first attack
Central in the considerations of Mercedes and Red Bull was the start – and with it Ricciardo and Norris, who had placed between Verstappen and Hamilton. The “easy victory” that Hamilton had prophesied for his World Cup rival was not to be. Verstappen lost the lead to his former team-mate Ricciardo before the first corner. Hamilton almost overtook the Dutchman on lap one, the first touch of the day, which threw the Briton back to fourth place.
Verstappen behind Ricciardo, Hamilton behind Norris – both championship contenders got stuck behind the McLaren in the first third of the race, as they fully exploited the strengths of their Mercedes drive on the long straights. Verstappen had the advantage that Ricciardo could set a higher pace on the open track. The gap to the pursuers gradually widened. A gross blunder at Verstappen’s pit stop ushered in the dramatic turn of the 14th round of the season. The usually lightning-fast Red Bull crew failed, a downtime of 11.1 seconds was disastrous and ensured that Verstappen and Hamilton turned side by side into the first chicane after his tire change.
On contact, Verstappen’s Red Bull was catapulted over Hamilton’s Mercedes, the two stranded in the gravel. The safety car deployed. Hamilton, who was also protected by his “Halo” cockpit protection, stayed longer in the car, but apparently got away with the shock. Both drivers were invited to the race stewards. They checked the incident after the race.
Hamilton and Verstappen had already collided at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone in mid-July. While Verstappen dropped out and had to go to the hospital for a check-up, Hamilton won his home Grand Prix. After the resumption of the race in Italy, the duels on the track remained heated at times. The McLaren didn’t miss the double success and didn’t get in the way.
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