Ok,deep breaths, calm, steady your nerves. WHAT A FUCKING RACE!! As I’ve said before I haven’t watched Formula One for all that long, yet over the past few years the Italian Grand Prix has cemented itself as a special place favored by the racing gods. In 2019 I got to watch Charles Leclerc win in his Ferrari after battling Lewis every single lap with the Tifosi screaming their scarlet hearts out during the entirety of the race. In 2020 to my hearts dismay I watched both Ferrari’s DNF early on, but while it was a gut wrenching day for the Scuderia and the Tifosi, it was a fantastic day for Formula One as a whole. After the red flag by Charles Leclerc and the subsequent penalty to Lewis Hamilton, racing fans got to watch as Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz fought it out with Pierre putting his Alpha Tauri on the top step of the podium, a bittersweet Italian win.
2021 would be no different with Monza offering the second sprint qualifying of the season. With the qualifying shit show shenanigans in full display on Friday, it was anyone’s guess as to who would come out on top during the Saturday sprint. We would see Pierre Gasly crash out early, ultimately ruining his weekend as a whole, but we would also see something incredibly rare, a poor start from Lewis Hamilton.
As the lights went out, Bottas sped into the distance but a slow jump and dare I say confusion from Hamilton as to who to defend from, would see him fall back to P5. Verstappen, Ricciardo, and Norris would capitalize and keep the reigning champ behind them, while Bottas would take the checkered flag at the end of eighteen laps, an engine penalty would see him starting in P20 on Sunday. That meant for the first time in a loooooooooong time, F1 fans got to see beloved Australian Daniel Ricciardo starting on the front row in his Mclaren behind Verstappen.
His knees were weak, palms sweaty, probably threw up a kiwi already, and Daniel Ricciardo had nothing but five red lights, a Redbull, and long run to turn 1 ahead of him. As the lights went out and away we went fans waited with breaths held tight, the orange Mclaren pulled in front of the Redbull and the entire population of Australia most likely went ballistic in their quarantine and started slamming some Fosters.
The first stint would see Daniel holding off Max, while Norris in P3 would keep Hamilton behind him in P4. Mercedes went with the hard tire to keep the longer stint alive while the top three on medium tires knew pit stops would prove vital in keeping the black mercedes behind them all the while, Valteri Bottas would be storming up the field and be within the points before lap 10.
Ricciardo came in and got away clean from his pit stop, but again we would be gifted a rare sight as Verstappen would suffer an eleven second pit stop putting him behind Lando Norris. Lewis would then enter the pits for a quickie, well kind of quickie and as he left the pit lane, found himself alongside his championship rival into the tight chicane of Turn 1. Neither would back down as both Lewis and Max refused to give ground, a little tire rub and a sausage curb would give us the rarest sight yet as the Rebull literally wound up on top of the Mercedes like a step-sister wrestling with her step-brother where “it just slipped in”.
Now I’m not gonna lie I may have almost spilled my coffee jumping off my couch with a round of applause watching the two come together again and actually taking each other out for once, but after watching the replay, we have to applaud the halo yet again. Lewis would literally feel the burn as Max’s right rear tire would make contact with his helmet while the cars came together, and thankfully both drivers walked away from the incident, although I think many of us would like to see the words that could’ve been exchanged.
So let’s talk about what’s happening between the contenders. This obviously isn’t the first time the two have come together this season, and we are bound to see more of it with both drivers leaving and keeping the point spread at the top only five points in Verstappen’s favor. I think the answer is simple, Lewis would back out of situations in the beginning of the season that he’s refusing to back out of now, while Max continues to think he can place his car in positions that Lewis will back out of. It’s no holds barred and if they haven’t realized their in a true fight for the title yet, there are bound to be more incidents as we make our way to the back end of the season.
As the wreckage got cleared, we would find Ricciardo, Leclerc, Norris and Perez in the top four of the safety car restart. For a brief moment my heart had hope as Leclerc looked like he could be in for a solid weekend and potential podium or even a win but as the red Mercedes with flashing yellow lights entered the pits, it wasn’t meant to be. Within a few laps the prancing pony fell back to P5 behind Valterri Bottas who was now in P4 from the back of the grid and in front of the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. The home team would bring the cars home in P4 and P6 at the end of the day. Am I happy? That’s a loose term but I’ll take the points haul over the catastrofuck of last year.
It was up to the teammates for the big two as Perez and Bottas continued to make charges at the papayas in the top two positions. Eventually their charges would lessen and falter with Perez receiving a five second time penalty applied after the race for overtaking Leclerc off track. The time infringement would see Bottas knick P3 from the Redbull driver who was relegated to P5 after crossing the line.
There were doubts, there was swearing off, there were those who said he would never return to form. From lights out to checkered flag, Daniel Riccardo led and won his first race since 2018, giving McLaren their first win since 2012 and bringing back the shoey…..which was shared with Norris and Zack Brown, and well I question that decision. Norris would follow suit in P2 giving McLaren a one-two finish and one hell of a weekend for the team battling Ferrari in the Constructor’s. Championship. What a wholesome day all around as the Drive to Survive star regained his confidence and fully proved to the haters he just needed a little more time. Good on ya mate!