Daniel Ricciardo achieved his 8th career victory- his first since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, as Lando Norris finished in P2 to give McLaren their first 1-2 finish since 2012. Valtteri Bottas put in a sterling drive as he recovered to P3 from starting P19.
New Delhi, 13 Sept. 2021: Daniel Ricciardo claimed a dramatic victory ahead of teammate Lando Norris, in a race which saw title protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collide and retire from the Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas did a solid recovery as he rounded out the podium, helping Mercedes extend their lead in the constructor’s championship over Red Bull. 2019 Italian GP winner Charles Leclerc finished in P4 as the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez had to settle for P5 due to a 5-second time penalty given for illegally overtaking the Monegasque. Carlos Sainz finished P6 to give home favorites Ferrari a double points finish ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P7 and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P8. Williams’ George Russell crossed the line in P9- scoring points in the last three out of the four races, and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10.
Nicholas Latifi missed out on points as he finished P11 ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel. Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi failed to convert a top 10 start into points finish in consecutive races as he managed P13. Stand in teammate Robert Kubica was P14 and Mick Schumacher of Haas was the last finisher in P15. Both AlphaTauri’s of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda did not figure in the race as the Frenchman retired on lap 3 and the rookie Japanese failed to start due to a problem with the braking system. Nikita Mazepin retired on lap 41.
Ricciardo got a superior launch off the line compared to Verstappen as the Australian was starting on the front row for the first time since the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix. Ricciardo assumed the lead of the race, meanwhile Hamilton starting P4- one place behind Norris, got superior traction exiting the first chicane and was already on the gearbox of Verstappen challenging for P2. Both title protagonists were side by side going into the second chicane, with the Dutchman on the inside. With not enough space to overtake on the outside Hamilton had to take the curbs ultimately falling back to P4 again behind Norris.
Meanwhile in the midfield, Leclerc maintained P5, with Giovinazzi wildly attempting to pass the Ferrari, then joining the track dangerously as the Ferrari of Sainz tagged the Italian spinning him due to which he lost his front wing. Giovinazzi duly got handed a 5 second time penalty.
Both McLarens held positions in the lead- courtesy of Ricciardo and Norris holding P3 ahead of fellow Brit Hamilton with both Mercedes and Red Bull unable to pass them. Behind them was Leclerc, Perez, Sainz, Stroll, Alonso and Latifi who completed the top 10.
For the leaders tyre performance started dropping on the medium tyres, the exception being Hamilton who started on the hard tyres and could go longer in the race. Ricciardo pitted on lap 22 for hard tyres, trying to avoid an undercut by Red Bull and Verstappen. The Dutchman followed suit one lap later, but a uncharacteristically slow stop by Red Bull meant he was stationary for 11.1s. Meanwhile, Hamilton passed Norris into the second chicane to assume the lead.
Mercedes saw an opportunity to capitalise on Verstappen’s slow pitstop and pitted Hamilton for Medium tyres. Hamilton too had a slightly slow pitstop of 4.2s. This meant Hamilton exited the pits just ahead of Verstappen. As they went into turn 1, the Red Bull was partially alongside Mercedes, but the gap closed going into turn 2. With Verstappen not backing out and there not being enough space for 2 cars, the RB16B hopped on the curbs and ended up on top of Hamilton’s W12, taking both drivers instantly out of the grand prix. Thankfully no one was hurt as the Halo once again highlighted its importance by protecting Hamilton’s head from the rear right tyre of Verstappen’s car.
A safety car was brought to recover the stricken cars with Leclerc, Perez and Bottas being able to pit under safety car and benefitting from it, particularly Leclerc who was now in P2 ahead of Norris.
As racing got underway, Ricciardo had the perfect restart as he led the race. Norris put a daring move on Leclerc, dipping a wheel off track and overtaking the Ferrari car. Behind Perez too got past Leclerc, but in the process cut the second chicane and did not concede back the position, as a result earning a 5 second time penalty. Bottas overtook Leclerc as well.
Both McLarens held a 1-2 position for the team, while Perez was running in P3 and hot on his tail was Bottas running in P4. Even though Bottas had superior pace he was unable to overtake, though earning a podium due to Perez’s penalty. Bu the day belonged to Ricciardo and McLaren as he looked to overcome his early season struggles and take a memorable win and 1-2 for the team, incidentally first 1-2 of the season for any team this year.
Mercedes clearly had the dominant car in both qualifying and race trim. The silver arrows locked out the front row in qualifying and Bottas comfortably won the sprint race. This was a race of what could have been as mistakes from Hamilton meant he was unable to capitalise on the W12’s pace advantage, while the coming together of him and Verstappen meant neither could score points. Neither did Red Bull have the pace to challenge Mercedes especially in qualifying nor were they operationally smooth this weekend as bad starts and slow pitstop meant Verstappen’s chances for victory were all but over. Perez too had a dismal qualifying and his mistake meant Red Bull still have not appeared on a Monza podium in the turbo-hybrid era.
McLaren were best of the rest and a step ahead of their immediate rivals Ferrari. They may not have had the raw pace to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull, but once they got ahead, they had enough in hand to not be overtaken by the top two teams. This was down to two reason, first being McLaren had good top end speed owing to the Mercedes power unit and second Monza track characteristics are such that it is difficult to overtake cars. Ferrari had a much better result compared to last year as both cars finished in the top 6. This race showed they have made gains in the power unit department. Yet, they lost ground to McLaren due to them getting a 1-2 finish. AlphaTauri had the worst weekend of the season as both cars were out by lap 3 of the race. They were the only team this season to score points in all races. They were arguably faster in qualifying, as Gasly qualified ahead of the Ferrari’s but attrition and unreliability striking to some components meant they scored nil.
Alpine achieved another double points finish but admittedly lacked the pace to challenge for higher points. Their race pace competitive but struggled in qualifying as they were knocked out in Q2. Aston Martin had predicted Monza to be a struggle as the Silverstone based team had not developed a Monza specification aerodynamic package and carried too much drag on their car. Even so, an impressive result for Stroll who finished P7 and maximised the potential of the car. Williams struggled in qualifying as Russell barely made it out of Q1 and Latifi was knocked out. Their race pace was on the better side but the midfield being so tight, only Russell managed P9 while Latifi finished just outside the top 10 in P11.
Alfa Romeo showed impressive qualifying pace in the hands of Giovinazzi as he made it to Q3. They were unable to capitalise in the race as the Italian got spun on the first lap and Kubica- who stood in for the ill Kimi Raikkonen- is still yet to get completely comfortable with the car. Haas teammates Mazepin and Schumacher once again came together on track and the chance for scoring any points this year looks bleak.
