Mama Mia Monza!
Autodrome Nazionale Monza located in Monza, Italy is also known as “Temple of Speed ” and is one of the most historical racing tracks in Formula 1.
McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo took the victory with him in the race in front of amazing Tifosi. This came as a surprise as he took the lead from championship leader Max Verstappen in the 1st Lap. The double podium finish for McLaren was last seen in 2010. Followed by his teammate McLaren driver Lando Norris finishing second and Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas finishing third.
This marked a great victory for McLaren as a team who also replaced Ferrari in the third position in Constructors Championship. Daniel Ricciardo also won the Driver of the Day as voted by the viewers.
A race with plenty of Incidents!
The first incident in the race took place at Lap 2 where Italian driver Antonio Giovinazzi had a crash with Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. The crash took place at Turn 3.
The race witnessed 2 DNS’s and 3 DNF’s, with five drivers out of the race.-
- Alpha Tauri drivers Pierre Gasly who won last year’s Italian GP and Yuki Tsunoda were unable to start. This caused the double DNF for the Italian Team at their home race.
- Another major highlight of the race was when championship rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton crashed out on Lap 26. The incident happened at Rettifilo chicane when Lewis was exiting his pit stop. Both drivers went into the gravel with Red Bull being perched on top of the Mercedes. Thankfully, both the drivers were okay.
- Haas driver Nikita Mazepin spun around after an incident with his teammate Mick Schumacher.
The race also had plenty of time penalties handed to the drivers during the race. Esteban Ocon, Nikita Mazepin, Sergio Perez and Antonio Giovinazzi al were granted 5- second time penalties.
Amazing drives on the “Temple of Speed”!
Valtteri Bottas, who drove splendidly, started his race from the pit lane due to the penalty. The Mercedes driver drove his way up to 3rd, gaining a podium finish. Another amazing drive was witnessed by Lando Norris who defended Lewis Hamilton for many laps.
In addition to this, stewards investigated the crash between Hamilton and Verstappen after the race. As a result, Max has been given a 3 place grid penalty for causing a crash, for the upcoming Russian GP which is set to happen on 26th September.