The first triple header of the 2021 season came to a close at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the temple of speed, scene of an emotional maiden victory for Pierre Gasly in 2020. This year produced another shock result after tempers flared between the Championship protagonists, whist Sprint Qualifying returned only to divide the fanbase.
Here are the top of the class contenders and struggle bus riders from round 14:
Top of the class:
Daniel Ricciardo – Qualifying: 5th | Sprint Qualifying: 3rd (promoted to 2nd due to penalties) | Race: 1st (+FL)
It is safe to say the Honey Badger was having a rocky 2021 up until this weekend. As he was regularly outclassed by teammate Lando Norris in previous weekends. This weekend Daniel managed to bounce back in emphatic fashion to take his first victory since Monaco 2018.
The result was set up on Friday after taking P5 in the session, just six thousandths behind Lando. In Sprint Qualifying on Saturday, Ricciardo made a great start from the third row and leaped up to third despite contact with 2020 winner Pierre Gasly. That was where he would remain for the entire 18 laps, after which engine component penalties for Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas allowed him to line up front row for the first time since Mexico 2018.
As the lights went out in the race, Daniel immediately launched into the lead into Variante del Rettifilio, after which he led all but two laps of the race. Let’s not beat around the bush here – Ricciardo was in a commanding position even before the incident that ended the races for Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Both Ricciardo and Norris held their own in the opening stint to resist the pressure from the two main championship contenders – and the slow pitstops for both Max and Lewis left the McLaren driver with a comfortable lead.
After the Safety Car period ended, Ricciardo held a comfortable buffer over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, one of the major beneficiaries through pitting under the Safety Car, and offered vital DRS assistance for Norris in defending from Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez and a charging Bottas.
In the end, Ricciardo won the race by 1.7 seconds and set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap. Not a shabby way to take your first race win in over three years and McLaren’s first visit to the top step since Brazil 2012.
The result brings Daniel back into contention with the Ferrari drivers ahead of him in the Championship, and he looks to have his mojo back after his early struggles in his new team. Hopefully this isn’t the last time we see the shoey and that grin this season.
Valtteri Bottas – Qualifying: 1st | Sprint Qualifying: 1st (started 19th due to engine component penalties) | Race: 3rd (promoted from 4th due to penalties)
After trailing Lewis through Free Practice and the first two sessions of Friday’s Qualifying, Valtteri turned around in Q3 and took pole position for the first time since the Portuguese Grand Prix by just under a tenth of a second.
Knowing that he was going to start last due to engine penalties, Bottas still dominated the Sprint Qualifying on Saturday, winning the 18-lap race by over two seconds. In Sunday’s race the Finn ran long by starting on the hard tyres which was the optimal strategy, especially with the timing of the safety car as his teammate Hamilton found himself beached in the gravel with a Red Bull car on top.
Bottas was already 10th before the pit stops started, and found himself 6th as the race resumed. He was able to pass both Ferraris despite a stern defence from Leclerc to find himself on the fringes of the podium.
He was stuck behind Pérez for over twenty laps and had one solid opportunity at Variante della Roggio, but then ran wide which in turn allowed the Mexican back past on the run to the Lesmos. Nonetheless, Bottas would take home P3 as Sergio was given a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage whilst taking P3 off Leclerc at the restart.
Overall, Bottas drove pretty well this weekend – and this is coming from a harsh critic of his stint at Mercedes. It may be too little too late to mount a Championship fight but he still has a vital role to play before the end of the season both in terms of the Constructor’s Championship and in assisting Lewis with the Drivers’ Championship.
Lando Norris – Qualifying: 4th | Sprint Qualifying: 4th (promoted to 3rd due to penalties) | Race: 2nd
Usually, we do teammates in one section if they’ve both had good (or bad) races, but McLaren’s weekend at Monza was the stuff of dreams, why not give the team the praise they deserve?
Norris played an important team game in the race after falling behind Daniel in the Sprint Qualifying race. He defended valiantly from Lewis in both Saturday and Sunday’s race which gave Ricciardo and Verstappen a comfortable margin out front during the first stint.
He dropped behind Charles when the Monegasque was able to pit during the Safety Car, but a bold move on the grass at Curva Grande saw Norris take P2. From there he was able to stay within Ricciardo’s DRS train to defend from Pérez and Bottas behind and started to gap the pair by the end of the race.
Showing incredible maturity to accept P2 finish when he felt that he was quicker, Lando crossed the line to secure his best finish in F1, the first 1-2 finish for a team in 2021 and McLaren’s first 1-2 since Canada 2010.
More importantly, the haul of 45 points from the weekend means that the Woking-squad retakes P3 in the Constructor’s from Ferrari by 14.5 points.
Honourable mentions this week go again to Robert Kubica for another solid run whilst deputising for Kimi Räikkönen, the Polish driver brought his Alfa Romeo home in 14th and just a couple of seconds behind teammate Giovinazzi, with Kubica having a tasty battle with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel for much of the race. It is also worth noting that for now, Kubica’s two replacement runs have pushed him up to 20th in the Drivers’ championship, meaning he achieved more than Mazepin did in all races thus far this season. Quite the valiant effort from the Pole.
Also making this list is both Williams drivers, had it not been for the Safety Car timing, Nicholas Latifi could have scored points, having finally outqualified George Russell at the 30th time on asking, as the Canadian finished in front of the new-Mercedes recruit in Sprint Qualifying. In the race, Latifi finished 11th but had a nice move on Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to be on the fringes of the top-10 before the race was neutralised. George can also join this list for fighting off faster cars around him to take home P9, his third points finish of 2021.
The struggle bus:
AlphaTauri
Pierre Gasly – Qualifying: 6th | Sprint Qualifying: 20th (started from pit lane) | Race: DNF
Yuki Tsunoda – Qualifying: 17th | Sprint Qualifying: 16th (promoted to 15th due to penalties) | Race: DNS
Of all the races to have an absolute nightmare, on home soil is not the place to do it. Unfortunately for AlphaTauri, they had a stinker at Monza and lost their streak as being the only team to score points in every race in 2021.
The weekend started in quite traditional form though for the Faenza-squad, Gasly once again Qualified 6th whilst Yuki was knocked out in Q1. In Sprint Qualifying, Pierre’s race ended in spectacular fashion as his front wing broke off on the entry to Curva Grande, which resulted in the Frenchman crashing into the barriers and bringing out a first-lap Safety Car. How did the front wing break you ask? The 2020 Monza race winner tagged the rear of Ricciardo into turn 1 and the rest is history, the damage caused meant that Gasly was relegated to the pit lane for Sunday’s race.
Pierre’s race on Sunday lasted only three laps before retiring due to a sticky throttle pedal. Meanwhile Tsunoda had a miserable weekend, failing to make any progress in Sprint Qualifying after an early exit on Friday. Yuki’s car then broke down on the grid and he failed to start the race.
After the highs of last season this year could not have been any more different for AlphaTauri, at least they have a week to recover before Sochi at the end of September.
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 3rd | Sprint Qualifying: 2nd (promoted to 1st due to penalties) | Race: DNF
I’ve been thoroughly impressed with Max in 2021 and until this weekend, he hasn’t really put a foot wrong. However, he threw away a golden opportunity to pounce on more Mercedes blunders at a track where Red Bull have struggled in the hybrid era.
He started on pole after a Saturday stroll to 2nd in Sprint Qualifying, but on Sunday he lost the lead to ex-teammate Daniel Ricciardo at the start.
Red Bull were caught napping when Daniel pitted on lap 22 and Max came in a lap later. The team didn’t bring their A-game to the pit stop and Max was stationary for over 11 seconds, which caused him to drop behind a recovering Bottas.
Max’s race further unravelled on lap 25 when he collided with Lewis at the Rettifilio chicane. Having pitted after Max, Lewis jumped the Dutchman despite also having a slow stop. Max then attempted a move around the outside as Lewis came back on the track.
Verstappen whacked the sausage kerb, which in turn catapulted his car over the top of the Mercedes, beaching the Red Bull in the gravel trap and over the front portion of Lewis’ car. Both retired from the race.
The Stewards deemed Max was at fault on this occasion, because he wasn’t sufficiently alongside at any point. He’ll take a three-place penalty for Sochi which will likely play into Red Bull’s hands as they seek to limit the damage of engine penalties.
I feel the penalty was fair, one thing that does frustrate me with Max is that he just doesn’t know when to back out. As Lewis pointed out, he laid off to avoid the pair crashing at turn 4 on the first lap, had Verstappen just given it a little longer, he could have easily taken Lewis at Variante della Roggia as he had much warmer tyres for traction.
With Mercedes fumbling the bag with Valtteri’s engine change and Lewis being further back due to the poor start in Sprint Qualifying, healthy points were on the table for Red Bull at an unlikely venue. Unfortunately, Max (and Red Bull too – to be honest) threw that away in the space of four laps on Sunday.
Nikita Mazepin – Qualifying: 20th | Sprint Qualifying: 17th (promoted to 16th due to penalties) | Race: DNF
Rule number one of racing is don’t hit your teammate, especially with the scolding we gave Haas last week for the friction between Mick and Nikita, the latter’s actions on Sunday won’t do anything to ease that.
Mazepin spun Mick at the Variante della Roggia on the Safety Car restart, picking up a five second penalty and a penalty point on his record (taking his total to 6 for his debut season). Not only that, but Schumacher made up the deficit and overtook him before Mazepin retired from the race with a mechanical issue.
Then there is still the issue of overall pace, Mazepin was nigh-on half a second off Mick in Friday’s Qualifying, that gap is just not acceptable at this stage, there just seems to be no signs of improvement at all. At the beginning of the year, Nikita mentioned that he was going to let his driving speak for him, but right now it isn’t saying much just yet.
Then there’s the dishonourable mentions. Unsurprisingly it will be the three penalised drivers from Sunday’s race. Giovinazzi threw away a promising start by clumsily re-joining the track at Roggia chicane, colliding with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and losing his front wing. The Italian was given a five-second penalty, which is the same given to Esteban Ocon (Alpine) for causing a collision at the same corner, this time colliding with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
Finally, Sergio Pérez’s transgression of gaining a lasting advantage by cutting the same chicane and staying ahead of Leclerc on the safety car restart, that cost him a podium and Red Bull some vital points for the Constructors’ Championship. Had he given the place back immediately, he would have saved himself and the team some heartbreak.
I don’t know about you, but I’m quite exhausted after that triple header. At least we’ve got a week to recharge the batteries before the paddock head to Sochi for the penultimate time before the Russian Grand Prix relocates to St. Petersburg in 2023.
The race will also be at the slightly earlier time of 1pm in the UK, hopefully Sochi can provide some entertainment for once, as this has been scarce in recent years. Then again, with our two Championship protagonists battling it out on track so valiantly, there is a very real chance that they’ll butt heads again in Russia.
