The starting grid for this F1 race did not follow the positions of qualifying as nine drivers had penalties that demoted them to other starting spots. While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – who clocked the fastest time in qualifying – was able to keep his pole position, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen lost his second grid position which was taken by Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell. The Red Bull driver had to start from seventh, just ahead of Williams Racing’s Nyck de Vries who was taking the place of Alexander Albon who had appendicitis.
Leclerc got off to a great start but by the chicane, Russell had managed to position alongside the Ferrari as he had braked a bit later. However, Leclerc managed to hold his position and sped off after the near-contact.
Although Valtteri Bottas had won the Sprint Qualifying race – which determines the starting order for the main race – he had to start from the back as he had a Power Unit replaced and regulations require that penalty. So starting from pole position was Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who got a good start at first, but was then overtaken by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 1 who took the lead.
Lewis Hamilton, after the fumble at the start of the Sprint race, was determined not to make mistakes again and started off from fourth place very aggressively, He jostled with McLaren’s Lando Norris going into the first turn and was forced onto the grass. However, it was Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Antononio GiovInazzi who provided the first incident of the race to bring out the Virtual Safety Car when he spun, hot another car and left some pieces of his front wing on the track.
It was a very bad day for the Scuderia AlphaTauri team. Not only was Yuki Tsunoda’s car taken off the grid before the start and pushed back to the pits but his team mate, Pierre Gasly also had to retire after lap 5,a disappointment for the winner of the 2020 race.
It was bad enough that Giovinazzi had spun at the start and had to rush back to the pits and in his haste to get back into the race, he was seen by the officials to rejoin the track in an unsafe manner and incurred a 5-second penalty.
Bottas had been working hard moving up the field and by the 10th lap, he was around 12th and tangling with Alpine F1’s Esteban Ocon. But it was still some way to go for the Mercedes-AMG driver as he was some 25 seconds behind Ricciardo, the leader. 3 laps later, he was up to 10th where he could start collecting points.
On lap 16, a duel between Aston Martin COGNIZANT’s Sebastian Vettel and Ocon resulting in wheel contact that forced the German driver off the track. The incident was investigated by the officials and would get a 5-second penalty for the incident.
Ricciardo didn’t make it to the halfway mark when he came in for new tyres on lap 23, stopping for 2.4 seconds and rejoining behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in 6th place.
Verstappen came in on lap 24 and it was a disastrous stop which took an agonising 11 seconds, resulting in him rejoining down in 10th place. Meanwhile, Hamilton had managed to get past Norris and take the lead. But Hamilton also needed to change tyres and he had to give up the lead on lap 25.
And then a crazy thing happened – Hamilton and Verstappen crashed at Turn 1! It appeared that while the Mercedes-AMG had rejoined ahead of the Red Bull, Verstappen attempted to get past at Turn 2 and bumped into Hamilton’s car and took off. When the dust settled, the Red Bull was on top of Hamilton’s car. The Safety Car raced out and the other drivers took the chance to come into the pits. The incredible incident meant that Ricciardo got to lead the race. 27 laps had been completed.
When the Safety Car withdrew, Ricciardo raced off as quickly as possible with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Norris on his tail. Then it was two McLarens in the lead as Norris managed to get past Leclerc. Meanwhile, Bottas was up to 4th on lap 34 so the Mercedes-AMG team still had a chance of a victory. Then again, another Red Bull too was positioned just ahead and also hoping for the same ending.
12 laps from the end, word from the McLaren team to the drivers was to play it safe and not have something sill happening like Norris knocking out his own team mate and losing the chance for a 1-2. Norris’ job would be to defend Ricciardo from Sergio Perez.
Haas F1’s Nikita Mazepin got a 5-second penalty for the spin he caused team mate Mick Schumacher, and then his own car came to a standstill on lap 44, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car to disrupt the race for short while as marshals for the car off the track.
With 5 laps remaining, the two McLarens had just a slight edge but both Perez and Bottas were still too close for them to feel confident of taking a 1-2. Until Ricciardo passed under the chequered flag, anything could happen. But nothing happened and the two orange cars raced across the finish line. Bottas put in a great effort, having started from the back to finish in third as Perez, though finishing in that position, had a 5-second penalty to drop him down.
Round 14 of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship is the Italian Grand Prix, which takes place at the Monza Circuit north of Milan. This is the most frequented track in Formula 1 and Monza is running a round for the 71st time. The only time Monza did not host a round was in 1980, when the Italian GP was held at Imola.
The 5.739-km circuit is therefore familiar to the teams who know how different it is from the tight, maximum downforce Zandvoort Circuit last weekend. Nicknamed ‘The Temple of Speed’ and in existence for 99 years, Monza is all about pace, and some of the highest speeds of each season are reached on the long straights. In fact, 85% of the lap distance will be taken at full throttle, the highest of any F1 track.
The teams will therefore be giving attention to downforce and use packages designed for the high-speed straights. Monza has the lowest downforce level of the year, requiring a special rear wing for the event. This is a talking point every year at the Italian Grand Prix, but there would still be enough downforce to – in theory – drive a car upside down.
The lower downforce levels at Monza, combined with the long straights, decreases the temperature of the tyres, resulting in more frequent wheel lock-ups than at other tracks. This also impacts brake stability as it makes the car more nervous and unpredictable under braking, increasing the possibility of a lock-up. A lot of time can be found in these slow-speed chicanes and big braking zones, but the run-off areas can be unforgiving if you make a mistake.
According to the technicians at Brembo, which supplies the brake systems for the F1 cars, the Monza Circuit is a very demanding circuit for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it is rated 4 on the difficulty index, the same as Sochi where the GP will be held at the end of the month. The low aerodynamic load used to take advantage of the really long straights means highly violent throttle-off moments on the three chicanes. making them particularly demanding for the driver.
Each team can choose from 6 different Brembo front discs, depending on the temperatures expected during the race and the specific race strategy. There is the medium cooling option with 800 holes, high cooling with 1,250 holes and very high cooling with 1,480 holes. Each of these then offers a sub-option with a process on the outer diameter – the so-called groove.
In the case of very high cooling, the holes are arranged in 7 different rows, in the intermediate case in 6 rows and the other case in 4 rows. They measure 2.5 mm in diameter each and are precision-machined individually. It takes 12 – 14 hours to punch all the holes on a single disc. The mechanical component tolerance is only four hundredths.
As for the tyres, Pirelli is providing 3 compounds in the middle of the range: the most popular selection of the season. The P Zero White hard is the C2, P Zero Yellow medium is C3, and P Zero Red is the C4. The same compounds were selected for the last 2 years, offering a good balance for all the different demands of the circuit.
The Italian GP is the second race this year that will have the new Sprint qualifying format. First run at the British Grand Prix in July, it proved to be popular with the drivers as well as the spectators. The Sprint Qualifying Race is 100 kms long which is 18 laps of Monza. No pit stops are required so the drivers will be going flat out from start to finish.
The start of the Sprint race saw Hamilton fumble and while his team mater got off well, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo also got past the Mercedes-AMG driver and Land Norris as well! But collisions further back, starting with Pierre Gasly and a McLaren brought out the Safety Car. But it was only our till the third lap and racing resumed – by which time, Hamilton had dropped to fifth place.
The Scuderia AlphaTauri team had a bad day as Gasly (last year’s Italian GP winner) was out and Yuki Tusnoda had also sustained damage. Gasly’s retirement enabled Charles Leclerc to move up, while Lance Stroll had to work hard to prevent Sergio Perez from taking over his position.
Verstappen tailed Bottas who was about 2 seconds in the lead. The Dutchman didn’t have to try too hard and just keep his second position since the Finn would have to start from the back even if he won the race. The only thing that Verstappen would miss out on was just 1 point.
For Hamilton, things were just not working out, even with DRS and Norris remained in his sights ahead. The thing is, it was just an 18-lap race so there was not a lot of time and every second counted. In the end, he had to settle for fifth place, while Bottas took the chequered flag. The additional points don’t do anything to the rankings as they were on 3-2-1, so tomorrow will see the reigning World Champion having to work very hard to regain the lead.
