Palmer: ''In a normal race in 2020 Verstappen would have won the race''

Surprisingly, the Italian Grand Prix was won by Pierre Gasly. At Mercedes and Red Bull Racing they made several mistakes, which ultimately made it the middle motorists who were allowed to climb the podium.

In qualifying everything seemed perfect for Mercedes, but after a lousy start Valtteri Bottas was already thrown back to fifth place. The Finn didn't make any progress there, with Daniel Ricciardo's Renault in front of him, which he was unable to pass. Max Verstappen's day also became difficult, after a poor start by the Dutchman.

Verstappen throws it away at the start

''Hamilton's race was over after that penalty for the mistake with the pit stop and his teammate had already become a midfielder because of his poor start. So Mercedes left the door wide open for the competition," said Jolyon Palmer in his latest column for the BBC. However, the invitation from Mercedes was not taken up by Red Bull.

''In every normal race in 2020 Verstappen would have simply won the race and had enough time and space behind him to do a pit stop for the fastest lap. Red Bull, however, struggled with their pace and after a bad start by Verstappen he was stuck in midfield, until he finally dropped out'', concludes Palmer.