Italian Grand Prix – Race: Ricciardo and McLaren winners of a race where the leaders eliminated themselves

First important piece of information before the start: Lewis Hamilton is the first driver among the top 16 to start on the white tires, which are the hardest of the compounds available this weekend.

A move that could pay off if he manages to get off to a good start.

Blow for both AlphaTauri drivers, Gasly starts from the pits after his collision in the sprint race and Tsunoda retires even before the formation lap.

A perfect start for Daniel Ricciardo

At the extinguishing of the five red lights, it is the Australian who takes the best start. He surprises Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton gets off to a decent start but manages to take third place from Norris at the end of the first chicane. He even gets alongside Verstappen at the next chicane. He tries to intimidate him on the outside, but the Dutchman closes the door on him.

The Englishman must take a turn and is passed by Lando Norris.

Just behind, the tension is also high. Giovinazzi puts on a show and squeezes in between the two Ferraris. Unfortunately for him, as he exits the Roggia chicane, he collides with Carlos Sainz. While the latter escapes unscathed, the Italian driver loses his front wing in the safety barrier. He is also given a five-second penalty.

A virtual safety car is implemented to clear the track, allowing the Alfa Romeo to pass through the pits to repair the damage.

A little further, still in this first round, it’s Lance Stroll who attacks his teammate Vettel by pushing him wide. The German thus loses three positions by letting Alonso, Latifi, and Ocon pass.

Very quickly, Pierre Gasly is forced to retire. His car not being completely repaired.

We are quickly approaching the 10th lap. Despite the activated DRS, Verstappen cannot launch an attack on Ricciardo. The same goes for Hamilton facing Norris.

A waiting race while waiting for pit stops for tire changes

During a few laps, we witnessed a great battle between Hamilton and Norris. The latter resisted the enormous pressure exerted by the seven-time world champion.

Finally, small groups are forming while waiting for the tire changes.

We are observing a relatively significant degradation of the tires on all single-seaters, with both graining and blistering, especially at the rear. Lewis Hamilton is also not spared on hard tires.

Thus, Ricciardo is gradually managing to protect himself from Verstappen’s DRS by a second. The same goes for Norris against Hamilton.

Ocon is under investigation for having squeezed Vettel at the entry to the Roggia chicane, he is quickly penalized by 5 seconds during his next pit stop. The consequences of his unintentional act could have been disastrous.

At the 20th lap, Bottas’ comeback is perfect, he finds himself in 9th place.

A pit stop sequence that smiles at the daring Ricciardo.

At the end of the 22nd lap, Ricciardo catches Verstappen off guard by choosing to switch to the soft tire.

The Dutchman does not improve his intermediate times, and worse than that, the pit stop is missed, it lasts 11 sec at Red Bull against 2.4 sec at McLaren. The front right tire is not tightened properly.

Meanwhile, Hamilton passes Norris. The latter then decides at the end of the lap to change his tires.

This series of actions allows Mercedes to change strategy. Hamilton pits to put on the mediums. But his stop is long, more than 4 seconds.

The clash Verstappen/Hamilton

Hamilton exits the pit lane just ahead of his rival. The latter gets squeezed, but excessively delays his braking. They arrive at the apex of the first turn of the chicane side by side, and there’s a collision. Followed by a safety car.

The Red Bull climbs on the side of the Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton can thank the halo. It allows him to avoid serious head injuries.

Ferrari takes advantage of this interruption to change its two drivers. The new leaderboard is shaken up: Ricciardo regains the lead, ahead of Leclerc, Norris, and Perez.

A very eventful fresh start.

The beasts are released once again and the tension is at its peak, everyone hoping to take advantage of the leaders’ abandonment.

Norris stands out by overtaking Charles Leclerc in two moves.

Bottas continues his ascent, he is now in 5th place and is going after Leclerc.

At the first chicane, he forces the Monegasque to take the escape route. The latter comes out in front of the Finn. Intelligently, Leclerc gives up his position and stays in the slipstream of the Mercedes to overtake at the next chicane.

But to no avail, Bottas manages to achieve his goal on the next lap. He took advantage of the safety car intervention to switch to soft tires. He therefore has the tire advantage to finish the race, if the Pirellis can last another 20 laps. His pace is two seconds faster than his competitors.

Sergio Perez is given a five-second penalty. They will be added to his final time as he is not expected to return to the pits. Sergio Perez had overtaken Charles Leclerc by cutting the second chicane.

A quieter end to the race, for a McLaren double.

McLaren scores its first 1-2 finish since 2010 and the Canadian Grand Prix. The Woking team has not won since 2012 with Button in Brazil. Daniel Ricciardo returns to victory since Monaco 2018. He also sets the fastest lap of the race and earns an extra point for McLaren.

Beyond these statistics, we are witnessing a comeback to the forefront of this iconic team. Let’s bet that this progress will be even more noticeable for next year.

Sergio Perez holds off Bottas, but his 5-second penalty pushes him back to 5th place. Therefore, Valtteri Bottas takes the last spot on the podium.