(Motorsport news) McLaren’s nine year victory drought ended at Autodromo Nazionale Monza as Danel Ricciardo sped past the chequered flag to finish in the first position with teammate Lando Norris closely following behind in second place. The Australian racing driver led the race from the beginning after overtaking Verstappen soon after the lights went out. It was back at the 2012 Brazilian GP that McLaren last won a race and it was Ricciardo's first win since the 2018 Monaco GP when he raced for Red Bull.
Under normal circumstances, Ricciardo and McLaren’s victory would have been the talking point of the race but Monza also featured a scary collision between title favourites Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The race ended for the pair at the first chicane of lap 26 as Verstappen’s Red Bull attempted to overtake Hamilton’s Mercedes and made contact. All four wheels of the Red Bull were lifted off from the ground and the rear wheel made contact with the top of the Mercedes. Fortunately for Hamilton, the safety roll-hoop and halo head-protection did it’s job well in what could otherwise have been a serious crash.
Red Bull’s uncharacteristic pit stop blunder just before the collision lasted a mammoth 11 seconds, costing the Dutch racing driver valuable places on the grid. More determined than ever to make up for the lost time, Verstappen fought hard with Hamilton after rejoining the race which led to the crash. After the race, the stewards ruled that Verstappen was “predominantly at blame” for the collision and would face a three grid penalty at the Russian Grand Prix on 26th September.
Unsurprisingly, both the drivers and their team bosses blamed each other for the crash. Hamilton said, “I made sure I left the car's width on the outside to him. I went into Turn One and I was ahead, I was ahead going into Turn Two, then all of a sudden he was on top of me.
"Exactly the same scenario that happened in Turn 4 [on the first lap], where I went around the outside, I was in exactly the same position, but I gave way. And that's racing. He just didn't want to give way today, he knew when he was going into Turn 2 what was going to happen, he knew he was going over the kerb but still did it. We'll speak to the stewards and we'll see.
Verstappen said, "I didn't expect him to just keep on squeezing, squeezing, squeezing, because he didn't even need to. Even if he had left me, just a car width, we would have raced out of Turn Two anyway, and I think he probably still would have been in front.
"He just kept on pushing me wider and wider and at one point there was nowhere to go, he just pushed me onto the sausage kerb. That's why, at the end of the day, we touched, because the rear tyre bumped up to his tyre."
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said, "I think in football you'd say it was a tactical foul. He [Verstappen] probably knew that if Lewis stays ahead, that is the race win possibly."
Red Bull’s Christian Horner said, "Max had the momentum. He had enough space around the outside, I think Lewis gave enough through the run into Turn One and I think our opinion would be that Lewis perhaps closed him too much into Turn Two."
The race ended with the two McLaren’s in the first two positions with Daniel Ricciardo winning the Italian GP and Lando Norris finishing second. Valtteri Bottas finished in third position, taking Sergio Perez’s place, who was awarded a five second penalty for gaining advantage over Leclerc by leaving the track. Charles Leclerc finished fourth followed by Perez and Carlos Sainz in sixth place.
The next race will be held at the Sochi Autodrom in Russia on 26th September at 6:30 pm IST.
Also read: Mercedes dominates qualifying at Monza as Valtteri Bottas pips Lewis Hamilton to head F1 Sprint Grid
