Italy: post-race analysis 2021

Overtaking was very hard in the sprint, and it was largely true in the race. In stark contrast to much of the year, good fortune was clearly mine as both aspects of the bet came off. Huzzah!

There was much misfortune for drivers though, with the first man thus afflicted being Yuki Tsunoda, whose AlphaTauri went wonky on the grid and had to be wheeled back to the garage (he was unable to start).

Almost everyone went to start on medium tyres, with a notable exception being the two Mercedes. Off the line, Hamilton actually got away well, passing Norris and challenging Verstappen, who had lost out to Ricciardo. However, the Dutchman closed the door, Hamilton went off-track over a chicane, and this enabled Norris to retake third spot.

Both title contenders were bottled up behind McLarens. Further back, both Perez and (especially) Bottas were making progress from lowly starting positions. The safety car was briefly brought out off backmarkers went off (one of the Alfa Romeos, with Gasly also ending up DNFing). Ricciardo handled the restart well, not for the only time.

The top pair of Ricciardo-Verstappen starting eking out a small gap which remained at 3s ahead of Norris-Hamilton. The Mercedes Briton, despite his theoretically slower hard tyres, was looking, if anything, the fastest of the quartet and was closer to Norris than Verstappen was to Ricciardo.

However, Bottas’ rapid progress further back created a conundrum for everyone except Hamilton as he was getting into danger territory for the pit stops. Accordingly, Ricciardo pitted. He emerged ahead of Bottas and just behind Sainz (whom he passed a lap or so later). Verstappen was instructed to show his pace but his medium tyres had gone and he pitted a lap later. And it was an 11s shocker for Red Bull, with their man emerging behind not merely Ricciardo but about half a dozen others.

 

Things were suddenly looking great for Hamilton, who had passed Norris on track. The elder Briton then pitted, but it was slow, around 4s. And he emerged only just barely ahead of Verstappen. Then the collision happened. Into turn 1, Hamilton was ahead but there was room alongside for Verstappen who, predictably, did not back out. He was squeezed, hit a sausage kerb, went into the air, and ended up, bizarrely, on top of Hamilton’s car, his title rival off into the gravel and both men DNFing.

Ricciardo retained his lead. Leclerc was the biggest beneficiary, at first, and was followed by Norris, then Perez, Sainz and Bottas (think I got the order right). I forget if it were a VSC or full safety car, think the former.

After it ended, Ricciardo got away well, and it was Leclerc who was at risk and then passed by Norris, who cheekily (but cleverly) took the naughty but faster line at the last corner for greater speed. Suddenly, it was a McLaren 1-2. Perez then had a tussle with Leclerc and ended up overtaking him off track, and didn’t give the place back. Cue a 5s time penalty. Silly decision.

Bottas had been snaffling midfielders all day long and continued his progress, getting right behind Perez. He was hassling the Mexican’s rear for a long time, but seemed unable to make it past. Until he did, only to leave the door open and for Perez to reclaim it on-track (losing out due to the time penalty later).

It was stressful, but Norris was sensible and, after getting it politely confirmed on the radio, did not try to pass Ricciardo. The pair finished 1-2, for the first McLaren win in over a decade and sealing the rejuvenation of Ricciardo, whose start at the team was unexpectedly shaky. Bottas inherited 3^rd due to Perez’s demotion, with Leclerc 4^th and Sainz 6^th. Ferrari’s points tally wasn’t bad but the McLaren result is very unhelpful for them in the battle to be best of the rest.

Up in 7^th is Stroll, which is good for the team but he did make an early and ugly pass on Vettel that cost the German about four or five places (not a happy day for the four time champion who seemed to attract trouble and ended up 12^th). Alonso got 8^th and Russel 9^th, with 10^th for Ocon. Latifi was 11^th. Mazepin also DNFed as his engine got fed up with him.

So, who was to blame for the collision?

It was a racing incident, probably. More blame on Verstappen than Hamilton, certainly, as he was further back. But it’ll be interesting to see what the stewards make of it.

I’ll put up title standings, if I remember, as part of the pre-qualifying shindig next time to avoid a recurrence of things being out of date.

So, a wonderful day for Ricciardo and McLaren, woe for the title leaders, and a tense race with a lovely betting outcome.

The next race is Russia in a fortnight.

Morris Dancer