Daniel Ricciardo emerged as the shock winner in Monza and secured McLaren’s first Formula 1 victory since Jenson Button’s triumph in Interlagos in 2012. Even better, team-mate Lando Norris finished second ahead of Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes-AMG.
As he crossed the line, the joy was clear when Ricciardo yelled, “Yes! For everyone who thought I left, I never went. Thanks guys.” Ricciardos Words reflected the pressures he was under this season, with his younger teammate Norris generally outperforming him.
The Australian got the jump on Max Verstappen at the beginning of the race and looked good from then on. Despite the performances of Verstappen and Red Bull so far this season, the Dutchman was never really threatened and‘T supported by an unusually slow pit stop.
In terms of the overall standings, Verstappen remains five points ahead of Sir Lewis Hamilton after the two crashed violently a little more than halfway through the race. The two title protagonists dueled from the start, Hamilton tried a move on Verstappen into the second chicane that didn’t work, leaving him in fourth place behind Norris.
Hamilton eventually found his way past the McLaren and it looked good for his 100th win, but a slow stop for the seven-time champion meant he showed up just before Verstappen. When the two rushed into the first chicane, no one wanted to give in and the Red Bull hit the top of the Mercedes from the curbs, threw both cars into the gravel and was immediately out of the race.
Both drivers were then called to the race stewards, with Verstappen incurring a starting penalty of three places at the next GP in Russia.
Amid all this drama, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth, Sergio Pérez fifth, Carlos Sainz’s second Ferrari sixth, Lance Stroll and his Aston Martin seventh, and the Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon eighth and tenth, who beat George Russell’s Williams.
Ricciardo is fine
It was not an easy season for Ricciardo, he qualified only six times before Norris and only scored 56 points up to Monza compared to the 114 points his British teammate had with his car, and the popular Australian celebrates with one of his trademarks “Shoeys” on the Podium.
Norris deserves a special mention. The move he pulled on Leclerc to overtake the Ferrari driver inside the Curva Grande with a wheel on the grass was a real sit-up-and-take-note moment. There’s minimal run-off there so it was a brave attempt.
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