Daniel Ricciardo took McLaren's first Monza win since 2012 after Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton crashed at the exit of turn two.
The race at Monza on 12 September 2021 went to Daniel Ricciardo, driving for McLaren. Norris took second for the same team and Bottas finished third for Mercedes, after a Verstappen and Hamilton collision had brought out a safety car.
Daniel Ricciardo won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix at Monza on 12 September 2021, with Lando Norris second and Valtteri Bottas third. The race turned on a collision between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the exit of turn two, which brought out a safety car and reshuffled the field. It gave McLaren its first Monza victory since 2012 and a result that few had expected from the team's position at the start of the weekend.
Where did the Italian race sit in the 2021 season?
This was round fourteen of the 2021 season and the second race held in Italy that year, following the Emilia Romagna round in April. The weekend ran from 10 to 12 September, a week on from the Dutch race and a week ahead of the Russian round.
Pierre Gasly had taken the win at Monza the previous year. Kimi Raikkonen had missed the Dutch race after a positive coronavirus test, and he was still unavailable, so Robert Kubica stepped in as his replacement. Apart from that change, the grid was unchanged from the start of the season.
A collision between two title rivals handed Ricciardo his first win since 2018 and McLaren its first Monza victory in nine years.
How did the sprint format change the weekend?
Monza was the second of three events to trial a new weekend format, following the British Grand Prix. Friday carried the opening practice session and qualifying, Saturday brought the second practice session and a sprint qualifying race, and the grand prix itself was held on Sunday.
The sprint covered roughly 100 km (62 mi), which worked out at about 18 laps, and it was subject to a 60-minute limit. Its finishing order decided the starting grid for Sunday, with the top three scoring 3, 2 and 1 points. The sprint winner was due to start from pole, although a penalty could change that.
Sergio Perez said the sprint was dull and added nothing to the weekend. Ross Brawn, the managing director of Formula One, defended it as full of action, and Fernando Alonso argued that single-lap qualifying would have been a better way to set the grid for the sprint.
What did practice and qualifying show?
Hamilton was the quickest in the first practice session, ahead of Verstappen and Bottas. The second session was interrupted by a red flag after Carlos Sainz Jr. spun at the Ascari chicane and hit the barrier. Charles Leclerc also stopped early, because he felt unwell, although medical staff cleared him for the sprint.
Hamilton and Bottas led the timesheets in the second session, with Verstappen third. In qualifying Hamilton topped the first two segments, but Bottas then set the best time in the final one, with Hamilton second and Verstappen third. Mercedes therefore locked out the front row on a circuit where straight-line speed counts for a great deal.
How did the sprint race play out?
Bottas led every lap of the sprint after taking the lead at the start. Hamilton slipped four places at the second corner before winning one back. Gasly crashed at Curva Grande after contact with Ricciardo, which damaged his front wing and sent him into the wall.
That incident brought out the safety car, and Yuki Tsunoda lost his front wing in a separate clash on the opening lap. Kubica also spun into the gravel after contact. Once the racing resumed the top eight did not change, and the sprint finished with Bottas, Verstappen and Ricciardo on the podium.
Bottas was then sent to the back for the grand prix, because he had used more power unit components than his allowance. That put Verstappen on pole, with Ricciardo and Norris promoted to second and third on the grid.
How did the race begin?
The race began at 15:00 CEST on 12 September. Ricciardo slipped past Verstappen for the lead, and Hamilton passed Norris to take third. Hamilton then tried to pass Verstappen at turn four, was forced wide, and lost his place to Norris.
Further back, Antonio Giovinazzi ran wide at turn five and came back onto the track in front of Sainz, and the two cars touched. Giovinazzi was handed a five-second time penalty for rejoining in an unsafe way, and his front wing was lost in the impact.
Ricciardo kept Verstappen behind him for 21 laps before pitting for hard tyres on lap 22. Verstappen followed a lap later, but he was held in the pit box for 11.1 seconds because of a problem with his right-front tyre.
What caused the crash between Verstappen and Hamilton?
While Verstappen was in the pits, Hamilton passed Norris, and Norris responded by coming in himself. Norris rejoined ahead of Verstappen, and Hamilton switched to medium tyres on the following lap. His stop took 4.2 seconds, long enough for Norris to get past him.
Hamilton and Verstappen came out of the pit lane side by side and ran into the first corner together. Verstappen was squeezed toward the second corner, rode over a sausage kerb and struck Hamilton's left-rear tyre. Verstappen's car rose into the air and passed over Hamilton's, and both drivers were out of the race.
It was the first time Hamilton had retired in 63 races, the previous occasion being at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix. Neither driver was hurt, but both had lost their chance of a result in the same instant.
How did the safety car reshape the race?
The collision brought the safety car out. Leclerc and Russell used the period to pit, and Leclerc emerged in second place with Russell ninth. Those stops reshuffled the order behind the leaders in a single move. When the race restarted, Norris went past Leclerc to take second.
A few laps later Perez went wide while attacking Leclerc at turn four, and he regained third by passing him off the track. He received a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage in that way, and it dropped him to fifth at the flag.
On lap 32 Nikita Mazepin tried to pass his team-mate Mick Schumacher, and the two collided, leaving Schumacher spun around. Mazepin was given a five-second penalty, and he later retired on lap 42 with a power unit failure after the damage he had suffered.
Bottas passed Leclerc for fourth on lap 34, and he then pressed Perez hard for the final podium place. Perez held him off to the flag, although the penalty meant the Mexican ended the race in fifth.
Who finished where?
Ricciardo won from Norris, with Bottas completing the podium, giving McLaren a one-two. The win was Ricciardo's first since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, and it was also the first victory for McLaren since Jenson Button took the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.
| Finish | Driver | Team | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | First win since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Second | Lando Norris | McLaren | Passed Leclerc on the restart; team one-two |
| Third | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Started from the back; passed Leclerc for fourth on lap 34 |
| Fifth | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | Finished third on track, then five-second penalty |
| Twelfth | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | Front wing damage kept him out of the top ten |
| Retired | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Collision with Hamilton at the turn two exit |
| Retired | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Collision with Verstappen; first retirement in 63 races |
Kubica finished fourteenth, and that result moved him ahead of Mazepin into 20th in the drivers' standings. Those places mattered little next to the result at the front.
What happened after the race?
The stewards called Verstappen and Hamilton in after the race to review the collision. They judged Verstappen to be mainly responsible, and they handed him a three-place grid drop for the next race in Sochi, together with two penalty points on his Super Licence.
Hamilton said he was pleased the stewards had been willing to penalise Verstappen. Jackie Stewart was harsh in his assessment of Verstappen's conduct, and said the young driver still had some growing up to do. The FIA then announced a safety investigation, describing the crash as an unusual incident.
Ricciardo said it was the first time he had been overwhelmed by winning, particularly since Norris had outpaced him for much of the first half of the season. Norris said he felt he could have challenged for the win, but that he decided against it because a clash with his team-mate could have ended the same way as the one between Verstappen and Hamilton.
Why did the result matter for McLaren?
The win ended McLaren's wait since Button's 2012 Brazilian success, and gave the team its first one-two since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. It was also McLaren's first Monza win since 2012, and the first time since the 2014 Australian race that two of its cars had finished on the podium.
The championship remained tight at the top. Verstappen went into the race with 224.5 points, three ahead of Hamilton, and every point would count in the rounds that followed.