Ricciardo wins Italian Grand Prix, after Verstappen and Hamilton collide

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12 September 2021 at 15:25
Last update 12 September 2021 at 15:39
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Daniel Ricciardo has won a highly dramatic Italian Grand Prix that saw McLaren achieve their first one-two finish since 2010, and the 2021 World Championship rivals collide on the Monza circuit. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen crashed at turn one in the middle of the race, taking both drivers out of the event. But the Australian winner earned the victory himself after overtaking pole-sitter Verstappen before the first corner. 

Valtteri Bottas fought his way from the back of the grid into the points. In the week Mercedes announced his departure, Bottas worked his way into the points and battled Sergio Perez for the podium places. The Mexican had a five-second penalty which promoted Bottas to the podium places. 

Verstappen and Hamilton touched on the first lap for the first time since their incident in the British Grand Prix. Both drivers came off lightly with only Hamilton running over the kerbstones. The stewards didn't decide to investigate. But the two Championship rivals eventually took each other out of the race. Hamilton's pitstop placed him back on the track alongside the Dutchman, and the two collided at turn one. Verstappen's car ended up climbing the Mercedes car. After Verstappen's two points in Saturday's sprint race, the two drivers are separated by just five points with eight races remaining on the current schedule. 

It's McLaren's first one-two finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. On that day, Jenson Button and Hamilton stood on the podium for the Woking-based team. It's McLaren's first race win in nine years. It's Ricciardo's first Grand Prix win since leaving Red Bull Racing. He now has eight race wins in Formula 1. 

Nightmare start for AlphaTauri 

After his crash in sprint qualifying, Pierre Gasly discovered some problems with his car on the exploratory laps. The AlphaTauri mechanics solved the problem, only for teammate Yuki Tsunoda to be pushed off the grid and back into the garage five minutes before lights out. Gasly lasted just four laps. George Russell also reported some issues with the brakes on the exploratory laps, but everything seemed to be solved on the grid. 

As is normal with the sprint weekend format, all drivers had a free tyre choice for the start of the race. The top 16 started on the medium tyres, except Hamilton who picked the hard compound tyre. Robert Kubica, Valtteri Bottas and Gasly also started on the hard tyre. 

Ricciardo took the lead off the start, and Hamilton was already challenging Verstappen in the opening lap. The title rivals touched, and Hamilton had to run across the kerbstones at the second chicane. Norris moved back ahead of Hamilton as a virtual safety was deployed following some contact at the back which included Antonio Giovinazzi. Hamilton complained on the radio that Verstappen pushed him wide, the stewards decided an investigation wasn't needed. 

After 11 laps, Bottas made progress from the back of the field to 11th place. A couple of laps later, the Mercedes driver found himself in the points as his teammate had a great battle with Lando Norris for third-place. Norris came off best, and Hamilton stayed around one second behind. 

Rivals crash

On lap 23, McLaren pitted race-leader Ricciardo. Verstappen came in one lap later, but it was an unusually poor stop for the Red Bull Racing crew. Verstappen was stationary for 11.1 seconds, who came back out on the circuit in 10th place. Meanwhile, Hamilton moved ahead of Norris on the same lap. 

Hamilton pitted on lap 25 for the medium compounds and he came out alongside Verstappen. The two drivers crashed at turn one, with Verstappen getting lifted on the kerbstones and landing on top of Hamilton's roll hoop. Both of the drivers were out of the race. The safety car triggered a series of pitstops, which resulted in Ricciardo regaining the lead of the race, with Norris running in second place. 

Perez picked up a five-second penalty for overtaking Leclerc off the circuit, but crucially for Red Bull, he was hampering Bottas' chances of moving into the podium places. On lap 43, Bottas made it through, but the Finn couldn't make the move stick. This ended Bottas' chance of a race win and saw McLaren claim their first win since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.