![Prost International [PINT]](https://prostinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PINTtFontLogoRoboto1536x78.jpg)
The Australian made an early move on course to his first Formula 1 victory in three years, ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who started from 19th to come home in third place.
McLaren took their first 1-2 finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix and became the first team to occupy the first two finishers this season.
Championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided again, with both drivers retiring from the Grand Prix on lap 26.
Starting Grid
Max Verstappen lined up on pole position, ahead of his former Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo. They shared the front row of the grid for the first time since the Mexican Grand Prix in 2018.
Row two was occupied by two Brits, with Lando Norris starting in third ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Both Ferrari’s locked out the third row of the grid as Charles Leclerc started from fifth with Spaniard Carlos Sainz in sixth.
Antonio Giovinazzi started his home race from seventh. He was joined on row four by Sergio Perez who started eighth. Row five consisted of Lance Stroll who started ninth with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in 10th.
Sebastian Vettel followed in 11th ahead of Esteban Ocon in 12th, Nicholas Latifi started in 13th and George Russell in 14th. Yuki Tsunoda suffered a brake issue before the start of the race and was unable to start with Nikita Mazepin starting from 16th. Robert Kubica in 17th ahead of Mick Schumacher in 18th and Valtteri Bottas in 19th after his engine component changes.
Pierre Gasly had to start from the pit lane after many parts were changed on his car due to his F1 Sprint crash at Curva Grande.
As It Happened
The five lights went out and Ricciardo got the holeshot as he took the lead into turn one ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton with the Mercedes man getting ahead of Norris at turn two.
In the battle for second place, Hamilton looked to leapfrog his Championship rival Verstappen into turn four. However, the Dutchman got his elbows out and forced Hamilton off track at turn five.
Meanwhile, Giovinazzi tangled with Leclerc on the exit of turn five as the Alfa Romeo driver hit the wall which triggered the Virtual Safety Car. The Italian was later dealt with a five-second time penalty after he unsafely rejoined back onto the track.
Proceedings resumed halfway through the second lap, with Verstappen sandwiched between the two McLaren cars, Ricciardo and Norris.
At the end of lap three, 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly retired from the race, and for the first time this season, neither AlphaTauri scored a championship point.
Sergio Perez made a fantastic move on Sainz at turn two on lap nine with some great defending through Curva Grande keeping the Mexican ahead in sixth place.
At turn one on lap 12, Hamilton tried to get past Norris however the McLaren man held firm. The seven-time world champion tried again to get into the podium places ahead of his compatriot into turn four, but again, the McLaren man defended well and kept ahold of third place.
Bottas, despite starting from the back of the gird, found himself in the points on lap 13 as he slipped up the inside of Latifi at turn one into 10th place.
Ocon and Vettel collided at turn four as they battled for 12th on lap 15. Vettel placed his Aston Martin on the outside, but the Frenchman gave him very little space and ran the German off the road. Thankfully for Vettel he was able to continue.
At the end of lap 22, Ricciardo boxed and fitted the hard tyres as Verstappen stayed out for a lap before he made his stop. However, the Red Bull took 11 seconds to change his tyres as dropped down to 10th.
On lap 24, Hamilton made a tidy move around the outside of Norris at turn four which promoted him into the lead. The McLaren of Norris came in to the pits at the end of that lap and rejoined ahead of Verstappen.
Leader Hamilton pitted a lap later, going from the hard compound to fit fresh mediums. A slow stop saw him exit the pits just meters ahead of Verstappen.
The Championship protagonists ran side by side through the first chicane and eventually made contact at turn two. Verstappen’s Red Bull was launched onto the top of Hamilton’s car as both drivers retired from the race.
The Safety Car was immediately deployed which saw a number of drivers take advantage of the free pit stop, including Leclerc who came out in second place behind leader Ricciardo.
On lap 31, the race resumed with Ricciardo in the lead, ahead of Leclerc, Norris, Perez and Sainz rounding out the top five.
Norris and Leclerc had an enthralling battle on the restart, and after clipping the grass on the inside of Curva Grande, the McLaren driver moved into second ahead of the Monegasque at turn four.
At the start of lap 33, Bottas and Leclerc battled hard for fourth place. After losing third to Perez, Leclerc was determined to not let any more positions slip through his fingers, however, Bottas made the move stick at turn one a lap later to move up another place.
On lap 38, Red Bull’s Perez was handed a five-second penalty after his illegal overtake on Leclerc promoted him into the podium places.
As the top six pulled away from the rest of the pack, gaps between the leading pack started to close. Norris was given team orders not to overtake his leading teammate as the race entered the final quarter.
On lap 43, Bottas and Perez jostled through the turn four chicane. Bottas ran too deep into turn four which gifted third place back to the Mexican.
Mazepin became the latest car to retire as he lost power at the Ascari chicane which deployed a quick Virtual Safety Car
As the Grand Prix came to a close, gaps started to grow between the leading group. Ricciardo had a comfortable gap in the lead ahead of Norris and Perez in third with the Mexican coming under pressure from Bottas who wanted to take third place on track.
In the end, it was Daniel Ricciardo who won the Italian Grand Prix ahead of Norris and Bottas in third. The Aussie’s victory was his first since the Monaco Grand Prix in 2018, with Norris scoring his career-best finish.
Leclerc finished fourth, with Perez falling to fifth place as his time penalty was applied. Sainz, Stroll, Alonso, Russell and Ocon rounded out the top 10 finishers.
In the championship standings, winner Ricciardo takes home 26 points, in addition to his Sprint bonus point which sees him move up to eighth in the standings on 83 points.
As both Verstappen and Hamilton retired from the race, the gap between the two stays at five points after the Dutchman’s second-place finish in the Sprint, earning him two bonus points putting him on 226.5 points.
Norris’ second place finish puts him on 132 points which sees the gap to Bottas close to just nine points in the fierce battle for third.
What’s Next?
After an action-packed tripleheader, F1 takes a week break before heading to Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix. With the gloves firmly off between Hamilton and Verstappen, both drivers will want to go one better on their rival in a fortnight’s time.
Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt
[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”105″ heading=”Other Sports” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”1072″ heading=”News” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]
