The Italian Grand Prix is full of surprises. One year after Pierre Gasly’s victory, the first for a French driver in Formula 1 since 1996, the tifosi attended an unprecedented double. Sunday 12 September. After 53 laps on the Monza circuit, Daniel Ricciardo won the Grand Prix, ahead of his teammate Lando Norris, achieving McLaren’s first double since 2010 and 218 races.
On the podium, during the official ceremony, Daniel Ricciardo knew full well that his victory owed a lot to the collision between Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), the two leaders in the drivers’ standings.
We were then arguing on the 26the racing lap. The Dutchman, mad with rage after a completely failed stop two laps earlier, saw the Briton coming out of the pits and threatening to overtake him. In the following chicane, the two drivers touched and the Dutchman’s car climbed onto Hamilton’s. Not a word, not a contact or a glance exchanged: the two pilots were forced to retire.
The accident of the year! Crash between Verstappen and Hamilton! #ItalianGP ▶ ️ https://t.co/7plkVVV12v https://t.co/nAYuEGkht5
Verstappen’s status change reshuffles the cards
After the race, Max Verstappen pointed out Lewis Hamilton’s maneuver at the microphone of Canal + : “We knew it was tight in this corner. But he pushed me outside, I had no more room. I don’t think it was necessary, he could have left more room and we could have continued to fight afterwards. “” I just took my line, I was in front. It ended like that, that’s all ”, replied the Briton.
While the drivers have competed in 14 races this season, this past weekend at Monza will undoubtedly rekindle the existing tensions between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Before the start of this season, the two pilots had already clung, in Bahrain in April 2018 and in Mexico in October 2019. But, each time, the differences quickly faded, Max Verstappen not yet representing a concrete threat. for the Briton.
This season, the situation is different. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton faces competition from the young Dutchman (23), who returned to the top of the drivers’ standings last week with his victory in the Dutch Grand Prix and which threatens to dethrone him. Tensions are now on a whole new level.
A first big collision at Silverstone
At the start of the season, the two men had already slashed. A first time in Imola, during the Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna, on April 18, when their cars had touched. Then in Barcelona, on May 9, when Max Verstappen was very aggressive in the first corner as he sought to overtake his competitor.
If the dialogue still seemed possible at that time, it now appears to be broken. “I’m open to discussion, but it won’t change anything. I don’t think he will change his approach ”, assured Lewis Hamilton on Sunday, jaded, at the microphone of Canal +. “I don’t think it’s a good time to talk to each other. We will see later what happens ”, retorted Max Verstappen.
It is since the British Grand Prix on July 18 that the rivalry between the two drivers has taken on another dimension. At the end of a first lap of rare intensity, on the Silverstone circuit, Max Verstappen suffered a serious accident there following a collision with Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman regretted, a few hours later in a message posted on his social networks, to see the Briton celebrate his victory while he was in the hospital to undergo medical examinations.
During the weeks that followed, Red Bull and Mercedes kept blaming each other. Even if it means going overboard, in the eyes of Toto Wolff, the boss of the Mercedes team: “We felt the comments were below the belt. A limit has been crossed “, the latter said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, which was held in early August.
Penalty for Verstappen
After this collision on the Monza circuit, the debates could start again. Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton teammate and third at the finish of the Grand Prix this Sunday, for his part refused to mention the incident: “I don’t know, it’s unfortunate. ”
The commissioners of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) have decided: in Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix on September 26, Max Verstappen will be penalized by three places on the starting grid. They considered that the Dutchman came behind in the corner of the chicane, braking very late, and that he could then have avoided contact with the Mercedes.