Daniel Ricciardo admitted that it was the adversity he had to endure last year – including the fact that he couldn’t see his parents due to coronavirus restrictions – that made winning the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday all the sweeter .
And for a man who drinks champagne from a shoe on the podium, it must be very sweet.
Ricciardo, 32, has struggled for a normal home over the years, playing as a buddy for prioritized drivers and climbing up and down hierarchies. He was dubbed Ferrari’s lead driver that season before that position was taken over by Carlos Sainz, which resulted in Ricciardo picking up what was left of the Spaniard by joining McLaren.
But his relationship with the team already suggests that he made the right choice. As Ferrari continues to work, McLaren now looks like the real third-best team in Formula 1 – and when the rule changes go into effect in 2022, they could look forward to bigger honors than just a Grand Prix.
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Result of the Italian Grand Prix 2021
- 1. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) + fastest lap
- 2. Lando Norris (McLaren)
- 3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
- 4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- 5. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- 6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- 7. Lance Walk (Aston Martin)
- 8. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
- 9. George Russell (Williams)
- 10. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- 11. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
- 12. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
- 13. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
- 14. Robert Kubica (Alfa Romeo)
- 15. Mick Schumacher (Haas)
- DNF. Nikita Mazepin (Haas)
- DNF. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- DNF. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- DNF. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
- DNF Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
Here are the topics of conversation from the Italian Grand Prix:
Majestic McLaren Show in Sprint Qualifying
The introduction of sprint qualifying into a select number of races this season has always been a raise eyebrow. The FIA needed a way to spice up Saturdays, and the sport can’t be averse to innovation.
Monza proved that creating a competition on Saturday can provide a different racing experience on Sunday. On Friday, the McLarens were more than a second behind fastest driver Lewis Hamilton and looked unable to battle for podiums that weekend. But a clinical run in Sprint Qualifying secured Ricciardo and Norris a lockout from the second row, which was further enhanced by Valtteri Bottas’ downgrading for an engine change to the back of the grid.
Ricciardo thus had a free attack on pole sitter Verstappen for the first time this season and took the lead before the first corner.
After McLaren took the one-two, no one could catch them (Photo: Getty)
This is what the FIA and Liberty Media need – to shake up the usual suspects. If Red Bull hadn’t botched the Verstappen pit stop, we could have driven an entire race in which both the Dutchman and Hamilton tried to bypass a papaya car.
What a refreshing difference compared to other races this season where the focus of Hamilton and Verstappen have all too often been at the expense of the rest of the field.
Valtteri still has it
Less than a week after he was no longer needed at Mercedes, Bottas delivered in sprint qualifying for the Silver Arrows and then climbed from 19th place to the podium on Sunday.
Bottas’ drive was extraordinary. He meandered with ease through the followers and had jumped from last to eighth place by the middle of the race. He finally strolled past the Ferraris and Red Bulls and deserved third place.
If the Hamilton crash and Ricciardo’s exploits hadn’t stolen the show, we’d be talking about Bottas now. His 15 race points, paired with the three earned on Saturday, make up for Hamilton’s elimination in terms of the aspirations of the Mercedes constructors’ championship.
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On the other hand, Verstappen’s friend Sergio Perez couldn’t even get past both Ferraris. Alfa Romeo will get an exceptional driver in Bottas next year.
Bottas delivered for Mercedes on a day when Hamilton was out (Photo: Getty)
Did Max jump on Lewis?
Toto Wolff claimed that Verstappen inflicted a “tactical foul” on Hamilton to prevent the Briton from jumping away in a collision in the middle of the race.
“You had a high-speed crash at Silverstone, one car over the other ended up on Lewis’ head, so how far can you go?” said the Mercedes team boss.
Does he have a point? Verstappen was certainly pushed out of the corner by Hamilton and might have had to cede ground. The Dutchman argued that Hamilton did not give him enough space, but the commissioners gave him the three-place penalty for the Russian Grand Prix within 14 days.
So did Max do it on purpose? The allegation is that he knew Lewis would escape him and most likely charge towards the McLarens. Better to ground both drivers than lose points in the title fight, right?
Well maybe. But this is a dangerous game – as we saw when Verstappen’s right rear tire touched Hamilton’s helmet and without the Halo device it could have been a lot worse than his slight neck pain afterwards.
We all love wheel-to-wheel racing, but maybe that went a little too far. The only problem is that both drivers point out the other as the culprit. And as Hamilton knows all too well, you can’t lose ground in a championship fight.
Ferrari can’t wait for 2022
It’s a sign of how far Ferrari has come in recent years that Charles Leclerc, after finishing fourth in a race that saw both Hamilton and Verstappen crash and 19th place on the podium, did this as “ one of my “five best performances in Formula 1”.
Leclerc started fifth at Monza after leaving his team-mate Sainz behind in sprint qualifying. And he finished the 53-lap race just one place better.
“More was not possible [we could] do today. I tried to take every opportunity that came up, ”he said. “As soon as Valtteri passed me, I tried to overtake him again. And I succeeded, but they were just too fast, especially [in the] third sector and into the first corner, and that made us very, very prone to overtaking. So it was very, very difficult for us to overtake and to be overtaken very easily. “
Leclerc was unable to get close to the McLarens, Ferrari’s greatest rivals in the midfield of the Constructors’ Championship. Instead, he was dragged into a fight with Perez after the Red Bull secondary rider swept past Sainz and split the Prancing Horses.
“To be honest, I rate my own performance as [one of] my five best performances in Formula 1, ”he added. “I really felt like I gave absolutely everything, so I’m happy, but we have to keep working to fight for victory very soon.”
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Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen crash: F1 title rivals drop out as Daniel Ricciardo wins the 2021 Italian Grand Prix
Nobody had ever expected that Leclerc would repeat their victorious race in 2019 when Ferrari outclassed Mercedes in front of its enthusiastic fans. But whatever McLaren does, Ferrari has to be able to keep up. The Formula 1 rule changes next year will hopefully make this sport even more competitive – but right now it’s McLaren who’s able to really push the two bigger guys, not Ferrari.
The post Who is to blame for the recent Verstappen-Hamilton crash and other talking points at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix? first appeared on monter-une-startup.
