Verstappen – Hamilton is war!!| Italian GP
F1 Italian GP 2021 – race analysis
Italian GP F1 2021 Hamilton – Verstappen
Verstappen drinks too much “Red Bull”, flies over Hamilton
t’s happened again, and this time both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are out of a race as a result.
Whose fault was the Formula 1 title rivals’ Italian Grand Prix collision? Why is Hamilton and Verstappen’s championship battle proving so contentious?
THESE TWO NEED TO START RESPECTING EACH OTHER
If you are a boxer, you have got to take the hits but in motor racing you’ve got to give whoever you are racing with space. They can’t just disappear.
I actually couldn’t apportion blame for that collision as neither driver left the other space and both of them could have done. If so, they would still be racing.
This one is going to be down to the stewards but it is happening too often. So if any penalties are going to be handed out they need to be sufficient to make these two respect each other and allow the championship to be decided with points instead of incident and injury.
Verstappen Hamilton Italian GP 2021 F1
VERSTAPPEN MADE IT INEVITABLE – BUT IT WASN’T ALL HIS FAULT
Once Verstappen committed to the move on the outside contact felt inevitable. But that doesn’t mean it was his fault.
There’s a lot of similarity between that accident and the first-lap clash that forced Hamilton over the kerb at the second chicane.
Hamilton aborted the corner earlier on lap one, after a wheel bump with Verstappen through the first part. If he’d tried to hang on they’d have almost certainly collided.
The key difference with the second, race-ending collision is that Verstappen was able to hang on for longer around the outside. That put him inside Hamilton for the second part and far enough alongside to be given space.
Verstappen was on a collision course with the kerb if he wasn’t given more room. Hamilton clearly felt Verstappen had the car’s width he needed as Hamilton didn’t exactly point his car at the apex. Verstappen didn’t have the space but he also didn’t back out.
Unsurprisingly, the two cars met at the apex and hit each other. I expect this will be chalked up as a racing incident.
A CONSEQUENCE OF WHAT HAPPENED AT SILVERSTONE
My first instinct upon viewing the crash, probably even before the actual contact was made, was that Verstappen was doing his own version of Adelaide ’94 – a desperate attempt to make sure that there is no way your title rival gets out of their corner ahead of you, and if both of you don’t get out, so be it.
Upon review, that is clearly not the case, and I think Verstappen had enough of a right to the corner to avoid any kind of penalty going forward.
But I’d be surprised, even given Verstappen’s usual aggression, if this kind of thing would have happened in a pre-British GP world.
Verstappen and Red Bull were always bound to spend the rest of the season with a chip on their collective shoulder, feeling that a title battle swing was unjustly imposed upon them at Silverstone.
I’d wager a guess that at a certain point Verstappen knew keeping on with the move was likely to end in a crash, and simply accepted that risk in the split second before it came to fruition.
HAMILTON SHOULD’VE DONE MORE TO AVOID CRASH
Verstappen was far enough alongside far enough into the chicane that he was entitled to more space.
He attacked the first part of the chicane around the outside superbly. Hamilton would have assumed he could go deep enough on the brakes to deter Verstappen, but once the Red Bull had got itself into position, the gap between Hamilton and the white line on the inside of the left hander needed to be bigger.
Let’s all be thankful for the halo given where Verstappen’s rear wheel ended up.
But with how the wheel ‘sat’ almost inside the ring created above Hamilton’s head, forcing Hamilton to duck down inside his cockpit, questions will have to be asked if the halo can be redesigned to offer even better protection in a collision like that.
Another hugely dramatic moment in the Verstappen/Hamilton title battle 💥😮#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/P4J4bN6wX2
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 12, 2021
WHOEVER’S FAULT IT WAS, HAMILTON LOSES THE MOST
It’s debatable which driver loses the most from this racing incident.
Of course, you could say that a pair of zero scores makes this a neutral outcome but arguably Hamilton lost slightly more with this collision.
He lost out two vital points to Verstappen in Saturday’s sprint race and after coming off second best in their opening lap skirmish he looked set to lose even more.
Then Red Bull gave Hamilton a gift with that 11.1-second pitstop and it looked like the momentum had swung back towards a Hamilton win.
Instead, the collision inadvertently ensured Hamilton never got that chance. It’s impossible to know who would have triumphed had the title rivals made it around the corner but the clash guaranteed that Verstappen holds his championship lead out of Monza and it’s Hamilton who needs to do the chasing – and take slightly more risks.
Race results. F1 Italian GP 2021.
VERSTAPPEN GETS THREE-PLACE GRID PENALTY FOR HAMILTON COLLISION
Max Verstappen has received a three-place grid penalty for Formula 1’s next race for his role in the collision with Lewis Hamilton in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Verstappen clashed with his F1 title rival halfway through the race as they went side by side through the Rettifilo chicane – with Verstappen trying to go around the outside of Hamilton in the initial right-hander, then running out of track and bouncing over the kerb inside the second part, which ultimately led to his Red Bull being mounted on Hamilton’s Mercedes in the run-off.
The two drivers blamed each other for the collision, but Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner viewed it as a racing incident – while Mercedes driver Toto Wolff withheld his full judgment, instead saying that it was important to wait for the stewards’ verdict, but accusing Verstappen of a “tactical foul”.
That stewards’ verdict has now come, with Verstappen determined to be “predominantly to blame” for the clash.
HAMILTON: HALO SAVED MY LIFE IN VERSTAPPEN MONZA CRASH
Lewis Hamilton said Formula 1’s halo “saved” him in his Italian Grand Prix collision with championship rival Max Verstappen.
Verstappen’s Red Bull rode up on the side of Hamilton’s Mercedes when they came together at Monza’s first chicane as Hamilton rejoined after his pitstop.
The Red Bull came down atop the Mercedes’ cockpit, with the halo staying intact as the underside of the Red Bull crumpled on contact with it.
Glad the Halo was there 🙏 #F1 #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/VmYiIUhyRa
— Jean Todt (@JeanTodt) September 12, 2021
Hamilton said he was in a little pain in his neck following the crash, and that it was increasing as the adrenaline faded, and added that he felt very fortunate.
“Thank God for the halo. It saved me, I don’t think I’ve ever been hit on the head by a car before. My head really is quite far forward. I’ve been racing a long, long time, I’m so so grateful that I’m still here. Feel incredibly blessed, like somebody was watching over me today.”
Ricciardo wins at Monza in McLaren one-two finish
Daniel Ricciardo regains the victory after three years and three months in the Temple of Speed, in Monza, giving McLaren a success that had been missing in Woking for 9 years. For the Australian it is the eighth victory of his career, perhaps the most important as admitted to our microphone.
Ricciardo wins Italian GP 2021 F1
“It’s an incredible feeling,” he told Sky Sports. I felt something in my heart all weekend, since Friday I had good feelings. I knew it was a good opportunity to do well and I wanted to win. I missed the victory so much, it had been over three years. It’s more than the monaco victory, because it comes at a difficult time in my career and I did it at Monza. It’s incredible. Tonight pizza, wine to celebrate”.
“It was time, let’s say so. The departure was the crucial moment. Everything worked very well since yesterday for me, honestly even with this start I was not guaranteed to stay in front for the whole race. But I kept my foot down from the first stint, maybe not exaggerating, but the right one to keep Max behind. I don’t think either of us could expect this double, but inside me since Friday I was expecting something good. I actually pretended all year long to go slow and then surprise you here. In the end, third and fourth places don’t interest me, I just wanted to win. Honestly after the summer break I found myself. After August I began to find myself. But this double is really crazy, already the simple podium would have been a huge result for McLaren. This is for the team, for all of us, for once I miss the words. I thought a Ferrari would be on the podium, but at least there’s an Italian name and it’s pretty cool.”
