Monza GP: Daniel wins, Lewis and Max crash
Daniel Ricciardo wins for the 8th time in his career at Monza with Lando coming in 2nd, making it a McLaren 1-2. Lewis and Max crash out.
Mighty Daniel at Monza
Daniel Ricciardo, starting from the front row, got a fantastic start and jumped ahead of pole sitter Max Verstappen by the time they reached the first corner. From there it was pretty much no looking back for the Australian. 2021 season has not been great for him. He has been clearly out-shined by his much younger team-mate Lando Norris. However he is slowly getting in the groove and adjusting to the different McLaren car. Daniel was impressive in the Quali and managed Q5. Then he jumped a few positions in the Sprint Race and put himself in the front row of the grid. In the race he was just sublime, made no mistakes and saw the chequered flag first. This is his 8th win of the career and had been a long time coming. Last Daniel won was in 2018 in a Red Bull. Of course the fans were treated with Daniel’s trademark Shoey in which Lando and McLaren team owner Zack Brown also participated in.
McLaren 1-2
It was not just Daniel who had a great day. His team-mate Lando Norris was right there with him. Starting from P3, Lando kept Lewis at bay for 18 laps before his Mediums gave up. At times he had better pace than Daniel and could have tried to overtake him. But better sense prevailed, Lando played the team game and was dutifully behind Daniel all throughout the race.
McLaren team must be over the moon with the race. It was this first win in 10 years and been 11 years since the last time McLaren had a 1-2 finish in Canada 2010.
Yet another crash between Championship contenders
As the race started Max had the upper hand with his P1 starting position whereas his main rival Lewis Hamilton started P4. Max lost one position to Daniel but still had an edge over Lewis as the seven time world champion struggled to overtake Lando. Things turned around when Max had a disastrous 11 second pit-stop. He lost multiple positions and was desperate to move up the grid. Lewis took a pit-stop, which was not great either and ended up coming out right in front of Max. Lewis was slightly ahead and at turn 1 he kept on squeezing Max, as it was his right to do. Max did not relent at all, eventually he went over the sausage curve, his tyre touched Lewis’ and his car ended up being on top of Lewis, crashing out both. It seemed like a racing incident but the stewards decided it was Max’s fault. He has been handed three grid penalty for the next race and two penalty points.
Good performance by Valtteri
The outgoing Finnish driver Valtteri had a great weekend, despite knowing well that we will be out of the championship winning team Mercedes and will be driving for Alfa Romeo next season. He was on pole in the Quali session and was first in the Sprint race. However due to engine penalty, started from the back of the grid. He drove mega, charged from behind and ended up on the podium on a track where overtaking is not that easy. He must be a satisfied man although must be wondering where this form was till now in this season.
Decent job by Ferrari boys
Charles managed to get a respectable P4 and Carlos P6. They must satisfied but ruing the fact that their main competitors this season – McLaren scored massively. Sergio Perez drove well, finishing third on the track but a 5-second penalty for overtaking outside the track limits meant that he ended up P5. Stroll did a good job and managed P7. Both the Alpine were in points, Alonso P8 and Ocon P10. George Russell, happy with his promotion to Mercedes, finished in points yet again.
A weekend to forget for AlphaTauri
The highs of last years win at Monza was replaced by the extreme lows of both the race not even starting the race. Pierre Gasly would be mighty disappointed as they had a good car but the crash in the Sprint race meant he had to start from behind. There were some issues due to which he went back in the pit, before even coming to the grid and then never came out.
Point scorers of Monza GP. Daniel on top, McLaren 1-2
