The Formula 1 2021 Italian Grand Prix was held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy. Monza and Silverstone are the two circuits to have hosted a race every year since the start of Formula 1 in the 20th century.
Dubbed as the Temple of Speed by the racing community around the world, Monza is home to Tifosi and Scuderia Ferrari, the most successful team in the history of Formula 1. However, since the start of the turbo-hybrid era, most of the races have been won by Mercedes.
It was the second race of the Formula 1 2021 season with a sprint race format. Bottas went quickest from Hamilton on the qualifying on Friday and finished the sprint race in P1 ahead of Max and Ricciardo. However, the Finn would start from the back of the grid due to multiple power unit related penalties.
On Sunday, the two McLarens had a great pace and finished 1-2 after Max and Lewis took each other out while going through the first chicane. Bottas finished a brilliant 3rd after starting from the back row.
Aside from these shock wins, the 2021 F1 Italian GP also witnessed the build-up of intense competition between rival teams, ending with Max Verstappen crash landing on Hamilton’s head.
Preparations, Practice & Qualifying F1 2021 Italian GP
Pre-Race Prep Thursday – Teams announced driver pairings for F1 2022 season
It was quite a busy week leading to the race weekend in Italy. Bottas announced that he will join Alfa Romeo from the 2022 season on a multi-year deal. Mercedes later made public that George Russell will be the partner of Lewis Hamilton from the 2022 season, while Williams also revealed the signing of Alexander Albon as Nicolas Latifi's partner.
Amidst all these changes in the F1 teams’ line-up, Alpha Tauri confirmed that they will retain current drivers for next season.
The weather outlook was for a great weekend with plenty of sunshine and warm conditions. Pirelli brought C2 (White) as hard tyres, C3 (Yellow) as medium tyres and C4 (Red) as soft tyres. The teams got 2 sets of hard, 4 medium, and 6 sets of soft tyres.
Friday Practice FP1 – Top 3 has Max between the two Silver Arrows
The teams only got an hour of practice to prepare for the qualifying on Friday evening compared to the usual 3 hours on a regular race weekend. Lewis finished on top ahead of Verstappen and Bottas.
It looked like the battle for pole position was going to be between Mercedes and Red Bull. Stroll was 4th quickest ahead of Gasly and Vettel, while Sainz was 7th fastest ahead of Alonso, Ricciardo and Perez, completing the top 10.
Friday Qualifying – Hamilton held P1 in Q1 and Q2, but Bottas got the pole for the Sprint Race
The teams could only use C4 soft tyres during the qualifying on sprint race weekend. Lewis finished the Q1 session on top ahead of Bottas and Norris.
Traffic was a big problem during Q1 between Ascari chicane and Parabolica. Track limits at turn 11 cost Tsunoda a chance to perform in Q2 after his last lap was deleted. As a result, George Russell was promoted to Q2. Latifi, Schumacher, Mazepin, and Kubica all failed to reach Q2.
Hamilton again finished the Q2 session on top ahead of Bottas and Norris. Alpine and Aston Martin failed to progress into the top 10 and were knocked out at the end of Q2, with Russell joining them later.
Lewis grabbed the provisional P1 slot ahead of Verstappen and Norris, while Bottas was only 5th quickest after making a mistake while going through the second chicane.
Bottas kept his best for the last run and posted three purple sectors to take P1 for the sprint race ahead of Lewis and Verstappen. Norris finished 4th under half tenth from Verstappen and .006 ahead of Ricciardo. Gasly was 6th ahead of Sainz, Leclerc, Perez, and Giovinazzi.
Saturday Practice – Mercedes was still the team to beat
Mercedes was still the fastest team at the end of the one-hour practice session to fine-tune the cars for the sprint race and the main race on Sunday. The cars are in Parc Ferme, but they are allowed to make some changes. Lewis was quickest from Bottas, Verstappen, Perez and Ocon. Kubica was 6th fastest, ahead of Giovinazzi, Alonso, Gasly and Norris.
Sprint Race – the 2nd Sprint Format for the F1 2021 Season
Lewis had a terrible start from P2 and was down to P6 while coming out of the first chicane. Bottas was leading from Max and followed by the two soft-tyre McLarens. Ricciardo was 3rd, ahead of Lando Norris.
Gasly made an error and smashed into the rear wheel of Ricciardo, damaging his front wing. He was going through Curve Grande when the damaged front wing broke, causing him to crash into the barriers and prompting the deployment of the safety car.
The 18-lap sprint race restarted on lap 4, and the order was Bottas ahead of Max, Ricciardo, Norris, and Hamilton.
The safety car helped the two McLaren drivers, who were able to defend their positions on soft tyres from others running medium tyres. Bottas finished P1 ahead of Verstappen, Ricciardo, Norris and Hamilton.
This race got extra points for the top 3 – with Bottas gaining 3 points, Max 2, and Ricciardo 1. Max also claimed Red Bull's first-ever pole position at Monza ahead of Ricciardo and Norris, since Bottas had to serve penalties and start from the back of the grid.
Sunday Race – Shock Wins from the McLarens and Bottas
Verstappen needed to do a great start to stay ahead of the two McLarens due to their tremendous straight-line speed. Max did a good start, but Ricciardo made an even better start and comfortably emerged ahead of his former teammate out of the first chicane.
Lewis managed to get ahead of Norris and attacked Max for P2 going into the second chicane. Lewis went wide coming out of the chicane and, in doing so, lost the 3rd place to Norris.
Behind them, Giovinazzi made an error, cutting across the track and colliding with Sainz, which resulted in a damaged front wing. A virtual safety car was deployed to recover debris from the track.
Lewis, who started the race on hard tyres, couldn’t pass Norris. Ahead of them, Ricciardo was efficiently managing a gap of 1 second from Verstappen. Lewis then started to conserve his tyres and dropped slightly behind Norris.
Another battle was ensuing at the rear, with Bottas flying from P19 at the end of lap 13 to P11. Ricciardo dived into the pits on lap 22, and that released Verstappen, whose tyres had passed their best.
The new rules introduced by FIA caught the first victim, and an 11-sec pitstop for Max destroyed his race. Mercedes saw that as an opportunity and pitted Lewis on lap 24.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen Crash in the 2021 F1 Italian GP
Lewis came out of the pits side by side with Max going into turn 1. Both did not want to back out of the overtaking move. After hitting the sausage kerbs, Max drifted towards Lewis, and his rear wheel touched the rear of the Mercedes.
Verstappen went airborne and landed on top of Hamilton's car, with the Red Bull’s right rear tyre right on top of Hamilton’s head. The collision could have been fatal if not for the Halo cockpit that saved Hamilton’s life.
The safety car was deployed, and the two cars were recovered. Leclerc was the big beneficiary of the safety car and was in P2 after the stop.
Ricciardo aced the restart on lap 31, followed by Leclerc and Norris. Norris immediately attacked Leclerc on the same lap and passed the red car going into the 2nd chicane to make it a McLaren 1-2.
Leclerc was overtaken by Perez, who passed him off the track and later received a 5-sec penalty, while Bottas on medium tyres quickly caught the Red Bull of Perez.
With 10 laps to go, it was Ricciardo in the lead, followed by Norris, Perez, Bottas and Leclerc.
McLaren told Norris not to attack his teammate and hold his position. Bottas couldn't make any further inroads and was stuck behind Perez. Ricciardo delivered the fastest lap of the race on the last lap and won the 2021 F1 Italian Grand Prix.
This was his first race win since 2018 and McLaren's first race win since 2012. Norris finished P2 to give McLaren their first 1-2 since Canada 2010. Bottas finished 3rd due to Perez’s penalty. Leclerc was 4th ahead of Perez, Sainz, Stroll, Alonso, Russell, and Ocon.
F1 2021 Russian Grand Prix
Formula heads back to Eurasia and will race at the Sochi racetrack in Russia. The battle for the championship will resume with only 5 points between them.