Iconic image of Verstappen on top of Hamilton and Ricciardo's win
F1 News
- GPblog.com
The 2021 Italian Grand Prix was a spectacle for the second year in a row. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen finished on top of each other and Daniel Ricciardo booked his first victory on behalf of McLaren. A look back at last year's Italian GP.
Sprint race in Italy
After a spectacular victory for Pierre Gasly in 2020, the 2021 Italian GP could only be a disappointment. That proved not to be the case, however, as the race in Italy would be one of only two races in 2021 in which not Mercedes or Red Bull Racing could celebrate victory. McLaren stood on the podium as one and two.
The weekend in Monza already started on Friday with qualifying. The Italian GP was in fact used for the sprint race format and so qualifying was brought forward. Mercedes had the upper hand, with Valtteri Bottas on pole and Lewis Hamilton on P2. Verstappen had to make do with P3, ahead of both McLaren drivers.
Saturday's sprint race was perfect for Verstappen. The Dutchman saw that Hamilton had a terribly slow start and was therefore able to join Bottas. The Finn won the sprint race, but had to start from the back on Sunday due to a grid penalty. Pole for Verstappen, who had a buffer behind him with Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.
Verstappen and Hamilton on each other
However, the race did not go as desired for Verstappen. At the start, his former teammate was too fast for him and McLaren's straight-line speed meant Verstappen could never mount a serious attack on the Australian. Luckily for the Dutchman, Hamilton had the same problem behind Norris.
Verstappen wanted to attack with a pit stop, but that was not to be. Verstappen's pitstop took far too long, causing the Red Bull driver to lose a lot of ground. Hamilton came in not long after, didn't have a great stop either and came in at the same time as Verstappen. The two went side-by-side through turn one and that went wrong. Verstappen ended up on top of Hamilton and would receive a three-place grid penalty for this for the Russian GP. The race for both was over after this incident.
Ricciardo was already in a good position, but after the retirement of the championship contenders, victory seemed within reach. He did have to keep teammate Norris behind him, but he was given a team order to keep quiet. For McLaren, the 1-2 was more important than who would be first. Norris stuck to the team order and finished second. Bottas drove from the back of the grid to the podium.