Ricciardo wins, but Hamilton & Verstappen’s dangerous F1 crash steals the show in crazy scenes at the Italian GP

After the incredible 2020 GP of Italy, the sky was the limit this time around. But we didn’t know that this year’s race also had something special in store for the fans. It is Daniel Ricciardo who managed to take McLaren’s first F1 win in 170 races ahead of teammate Lando Norris.

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Meanwhile, the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen intensified when the duo crashed into each other after a scuffle at Turn 1 and both were eliminated from the race.

Valtteri Bottas found himself on the podium after battling his way through the field in front of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Perez saw the flag in P3 but missed after a late 5-second penalty and eventually fell back to P5.

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How the F1 race unfolded

Race start at the Italian GP

Tsunoda suffered his first DNA of his F1 career with 18 cars on the grid while the other AlphaTauri started from the pit lane. Ricciardo had a brilliant escape to lead the race at Turn 1. Behind the duo, Norris initially lost to Hamilton.

The latter, however, had another fight when Verstappen went into Turn 4 and ended up running far from the track, losing P3 to Norris.

Formula 1 F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – September 12, 2021 Mercedes Lewis Hamilton in action with Red Bulls Max Verstappen during the REUTERS / Massimo Pinca race

A few places behind, a similar story also played out between Leclerc and Giovinazzi. Only in this case did the Italian return to the track and Sainz fell straight into the path that cut the rear of the Alfa Romeo and threw it into the crash barriers.

Gasly, who started from the pit lane, only spent five laps on the track before he parked his car in the garage.

Perez and Bottas fight their way through the field while McLaren holds up the pack

While Verstappen and Hamilton were stuck behind the McLaren duo, Perez and Bottas were absolutely on fire. Having started from P19 on the grid, Bottas had already moved up to P19 on lap 17 after a series of interesting moves in midfield.

Perez, on the other hand, jumped a few places up to P6 and was constantly on the hunt for fifth-placed Leclerc, who consequently closed the gap to Hamilton and Norris.

Formula 1 F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – September 12, 2021 Red Bulls Sergio Perez and Ferraris Carlos Sainz Jr. during the REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini race

Of course, this unexpected scenario that Ricciardo is in the lead sabotaged Verstappen’s racing strategy. The Dutchman started the race with medium-sized tires, Hamilton with hard tires.

Hence, the fact that Verstappen’s tires were already blistering on lap 19 and he was still only about 5 seconds ahead of Hamilton became a major problem for Red Bull.

Pit stop window opens

The leader Ricciardo was the first driver to pit on lap 23 and pulled out of P7 behind Sainz. It was Verstappen’s turn in the next lap. However, the Dutchman had a terrible stop of 11.1 seconds and came back on track in P10.

Hamilton then passed Norris on the same lap to take the lead for the first time in the race. Therefore, after losing the place to the British, Norris pitted on lap 25. On lap 26, Hamilton pitted for a set of medium tires. But then came the inevitable moment of this season.

Hamilton and Verstappen crash at the Italian GP

That was imminent! Hamilton returned to the track after a slow stop of 4.1 seconds, but ended up behind Norris. Verstappen, who was right behind Norris, found an opportunity to get past Hamilton and pulled into Turn 1 side by side with the Mercedes.

Formula 1 F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – September 12, 2021 Max Verstappen from Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes crash out of the race REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini

However, the Dutchman landed on Wurstrand, lost control and clashed with the British. Ultimately, the Red Bull parked directly on Hamilton’s Mercedes in the gravel. Of course, Hamilton tried desperately to get going, but to no avail, as his race engineer demanded that he turn off the engine and the race was over.

Safety car ends at the Italian GP

Ricciardo once again had a brilliant vanishing point while teammate Leclerc fearlessly preferred to make it a McLaren 1-2 for the time being. Leclerc continued to fall behind Perez and Bottas.

Formula 1 F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – September 12, 2021 Alpine Esteban Ocon during the REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini race

With a gap of just 3 seconds between the top 4, the battle for race victory was wide open. But even though Ricciardo stuck to P1, Bottas was certainly the favorite for the Italian GP victory. Unfortunately for him, the Finn ended up behind the train led by Ricciardo.

Updated F1 driver ratings

1. Max Verstappen – 226.5
2. Lewis Hamilton – 221.5
3. Valtteri Bottas – 141
4. Lando Norris – 132
5. Sergio Perez – 116
6. Charles Leclerc – 104
7. Carlos Sainz – 97.5
8. Daniel Ricciardo – 83
9. Pierre Gasly – 66
10. Fernando Alonso – 48
11. Esteban Ocon – 47
12. Sebastian Vettel – 35
13. Lance hike – 26
14. Yuki Tsunoda
15. George Russell – 15
16. Nicholas Latifi – 7
17. Kimi Raikkonen – 2
18. Antonio Giovinazzi – 1st
19. Mick Schumacher – 0
20. Nikita Mazepin – 0

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Updated F1 Constructor Ratings

1. Mercedes AMG (Mercedes) – 362.5
2. Red Bull Racing (Honda) – 344.5
3. McLaren (Mercedes) – 215
4. Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari) – 201.5
5. Alpin (Renault) – 97
6. Scuderia AlphaTauri (Honda) – 84
7. Aston Martin Racing (Mercedes) – 59
8. Williams (Mercedes) – 22
9. Alfa Romeo Racing (Ferrari) – 3rd
10. Haas (Ferrari) – 0

Overall, the triple header came to an end with the race weekend in Monza, Ricciardo won the last of them. And what a race it was!

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This means that drivers, teams and fans can now treat themselves to a week’s break before the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi from September 24th to 26th.

View history: Mad Max: Verstappen’s furthest rants on Team Radio