2021 Italian Grand Prix

2021 Italian Grand Prix
Previous←	2021 Dutch Grand Prix
Round	14 of 2021
Next→	2021 Russian Grand Prix
Race Details
Date	September 12, 2021
Race Number	1049
Official Name	Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D'Italia 2021
Location	Autodromo Nazionale Monza Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.793 km (3.600 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 307.029 km (190.779 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	Grid positions set by results of sprint qualifying
Fastest Lap
Driver	Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:24.812 on lap 53
Podium
First	Daniel Ricciardo
Second	Lando Norris
Third	Valtteri Bottas
Lap Leaders

The 2021 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D'Italia 2021) was the 14^th race of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza between September 10 and September 12 2021. The race weekend was the second weekend to trial the new sprint qualifying format.

Daniel Ricciardo gave McLaren's first victory since 2012 with Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas finishing behind, the latter starting from last due to engine penalties, as both title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both collided and retired.

Background

In the build-up to the race a number of driver changes were announced. On Monday after the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, Valtteri Bottas was announced to be joining Alfa Romeo in a multi-year deal beginning 2022, replacing the outgoing Kimi Räikkönen. George Russell thus took over Bottas' seat at Mercedes, while Alexander Albon, who was dropped from Red Bull at the end of 2020 was announced to make his return to F1 joining Williams alongside Nicholas Latifi.

Robert Kubica was announced to be driving for Alfa Romeo for the weekend, as Räikkönen was yet to recover from COVID-19.

Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin both ran special liveries for the weekend. Alfa Romeo ran a special Italian livery, while Aston Martin ran a James Bond branding to promote the upcoming latest Bond film No Time To Die.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Italian Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
88	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
Source:

Practice Overview

The full practice results for the 2021 Italian Grand Prix are outlined below:

No.	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1:22.003	9	1:24.774	12
4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:22.103	12	1:24.665	10
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:21.824	6	1:25.935	18
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:23.442	18	1:24.805	13
9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	1:23.445	19	1:25.729	16
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:21.719	5	1:24.654	9
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:22.039	10	1:23.917	4
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1:21.926	8	1:24.539	8
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:22.102	11	1:24.770	11
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:21.676	4	1:25.763	17
22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:22.530	14	1:25.422	15
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:22.534	15	1:24.263	5
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:21.378	2	1:23.662	3
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:20.926	1	1:23.246	1
47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1:23.551	20	1:26.012	19
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	1:21.914	7	1:26.124	20
63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:23.092	17	1:25.083	14
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:21.451	3	1:23.468	2
88	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	1:23.009	16	1:24.280	6
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:22.270	13	1:24.502	7
Source:

Qualifying

Q1

Hamilton topped Q1 with Russell initially joining Latifi, Schumacher, Kubica and Mazepin in out of Q1, only for him to be promoted into Q2 after Tsunoda's lap time was deleted for track limits violation.

Q2

Hamilton topped Q2 again, despite being involved in a near-miss with Vettel as all drivers left to begin their final runs. Eliminated in Q2 were Vettel, Stroll, Alonso, Ocon and Russell. Aston Martin and Alpine were subsequently fined €5,000 each for unsafe releases.

Q3

Despite dipping his wheels into the Roggia gravel on his first run, Bottas nevertheless improved to set the overall fastest time, with Hamilton almost a hundredths of a second behind and Verstappen in third.

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2021 Italian Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes		2	1:20.685		2	1:19.936		1	1:19.555	1
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1	1:20.543		1	1:19.936		2	1:19.651	2
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda		4	1:21.035		4	1:20.229		3	1:19.966	3
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes		3	1:20.916		3	1:20.059		4	1:19.989	4
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes		8	1:21.292		5	1:20.435		5	1:19.995	5
6	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda		12	1:21.440		6	1:20.556		6	1:20.260	6
7	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari		5	1:21.118		8	1:20.750		7	1:20.462	7
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari		7	1:21.219		9	1:20.767		8	1:20.510	8
9	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda		9	1:21.308		10	1:20.882		9	1:20.611	9
10	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		6	1:21.197		7	1:20.726		10	1:20.808	10
11	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes		10	1:21.394		11	1:20.913				11
12	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes		11	1:21.415		12	1:21.020				12
13	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault		13	1:21.487		13	1:21.069				13
14	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault		14	1:21.500		14	1:21.103				14
15	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes		15	1:21.890		15	1:21.392				15
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes		16	1:21.925							16
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda		17	1:21.973							17
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari		18	1:22.248							18
19	88	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		19	1:22.530							19
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari		20	1:22.716							20
107% Time: 1:26.181
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.

Race Grid

The starting grid of the feature race of the 2021 Italian Grand Prix is outined below:

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Max Verstappen	2
	______________	Daniel Ricciardo
Row 2	3	______________
	Lando Norris	4
	______________	Lewis Hamilton
Row 3	5	______________
	Charles Leclerc	6
	______________	Carlos Sainz, Jr.
Row 4	7	______________
	Antonio Giovinazzi	8
	______________	Sergio Pérez
Row 5	9	______________
	Lance Stroll	10
	______________	Fernando Alonso
Row 6	11	______________
	Sebastian Vettel	12
	______________	Esteban Ocon
Row 7	13	______________
	Nicholas Latifi	14
	______________	George Russell
Row 8	15	______________
	Yuki Tsunoda	16
	______________	Nikita Mazepin
Row 9	17	______________
	Pierre Gasly	18
	______________	Robert Kubica
Row 10	19	______________
	Mick Schumacher	20
	______________	Valtteri Bottas

Sprint Qualifying

Report

Bottas led away at the start, while Hamilton started poorly, dropping behind Verstappen, the McLarens and Gasly, but was promoted a place when Gasly broke his front wing after making contact with Ricciardo, and eventually crashing at Curva Grande. Tsunoda also tipped Kubica into a spin, requiring him to change his front wing. Perez meanwhile was forced off wide by Stroll and cut the chicane ahead of him, before being ordered to give the position back. Despite his efforts, Hamilton wasn't able to clear the McLarens, and wound up 5^th as his team-mate won the sprint ahead of Verstappen, nevertheless the Dutchman gaining pole as Bottas had to start from the back of the grid due to an engine penalty. Ricciardo would thus line up 2nd on the front row, with Norris behind alongside Hamilton.

Results

The full results for the 2021 Italian Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points	Race Grid
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	18	27:54.078	1	3	19*
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	18	+2.325	3	2	1
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	18	+14.534	5	1	2
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	18	+18.835	4		3
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	18	+20.011	2		4
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	18	+23.442	8		5
7	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	18	+27.952	7		6
8	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	18	+31.089	10		7
9	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	18	+31.680	9		8
10	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	18	+38.671	12		9
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	18	+39.795	13		10
12	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	18	+41.177	11		11
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	18	+43.373	14		12
14	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	18	+45.977	16		13
15	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	18	+46.821	15		14
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	18	+49.977	17		15
17	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	18	+1:02.599	20		16
18	88	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	18	+1:05.096	19		17
19	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	18	+1:06.154	18		18
Ret	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	0	Accident	6		PL†
Source:

• * Bottas was required to start the main race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.
• ^† Gasly received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. He was also required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. He was then required to start the race from the pit lane for a new energy store specification.

Sprint Qualifying Grid

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Valtteri Bottas	2
	______________	Lewis Hamilton
Row 2	3	______________
	Max Verstappen	4
	______________	Lando Norris
Row 3	5	______________
	Daniel Ricciardo	6
	______________	Pierre Gasly
Row 4	7	______________
	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	8
	______________	Charles Leclerc
Row 5	9	______________
	Sergio Pérez	10
	______________	Antonio Giovinazzi
Row 6	11	______________
	Sebastian Vettel	12
	______________	Lance Stroll
Row 7	13	______________
	Fernando Alonso	14
	______________	Esteban Ocon
Row 8	15	______________
	George Russell	16
	______________	Nicholas Latifi
Row 9	17	______________
	Yuki Tsunoda	18
	______________	Mick Schumacher
Row 10	19	______________
	Robert Kubica	20
	______________	Nikita Mazepin

Race

Report

Before the race, Gasly reported problems en route to the grid. His AlphaTauri team-mate Tsunoda was faring the same, being wheeled into the garage before the race started, therefore failing to start.

As the lights went out, Ricciardo got the jump on Verstappen, as Hamilton managed to get past Norris. He attempted to pass Verstappen at the Roggia chicane, only to be forced off wide, running over the kerbs and dropping back behind Norris. At the same time, Giovinazzi was forced off-wide by Leclerc, before being collected and spun by Sainz, getting a 5-second penalty as a result. The debris left behind by Giovinazzi triggered a brief virtual safety car. Gasly's problem worsened on the first lap and he eventually retired. As the McLaren drivers duly kept the title rivals at bay, Bottas, on the other hand, was in a charge from last. Ocon banged wheels with Vettel heading into the Roggia chicane, the latest race winner handed a 5-second time penalty as a result.

On the 22nd lap, Ricciardo was the first one to pit. Verstappen followed two laps later, but a slow stop put him down to 9^th place, at the same time Hamilton had just managed to clear Norris. Hamilton later pitted, and just as he emerged in between Norris and Verstappen, both went side by side into the Rettifilo chicane, Verstappen forced off slightly wide before he was mounted onto the Mercedes and ultimately putting them both into the gravel trap and retiring, the Dutchman being handed a 3-place grid penalty at the next round as a result. The safety car was called out as a result, allowing drivers who are yet to stop do so.

Ricciardo led away at the restart, with Leclerc behind before he was passed by Norris at the Curva Grande. He then ceded the position to Perez, the Mexican cutting the Roggia chicane doing so and receiving a 5-second time penalty as a result, and then later to Bottas. Schumacher meanwhile made contact with his countryman Vettel at the restart, before being tagged by Mazepin into a spin, resulting in a 5-second penalty for the Russian. Mazepin would then retire with an issue at the Ascari chicane.

Ricciardo would then be left untroubled, hence cruising to the line to take his first victory since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, taking the fastest lap on the final lap as well ahead of Norris. Bottas managed to claim the final podium place after Perez' penalty was applied dropping him to 5^th behind Leclerc, having been trying to make a pass until the finish. Completing in the points were Sainz, Stroll, Alonso, Russell and Ocon, with Stroll being investigated for failing to respect yellow flags.

Results

The full results for the 2021 Italian Grand Prix Main Race are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	53	1:21:54.365	2	26FL
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+1.747	3	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	53	+4.921	19	15
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	53	+7.309	5	12
5	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	53	+8.723*	8	10
6	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	53	+10.535	6	8
7	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	53	+15.804	9	6
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	53	+17.201	10	4
9	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	53	+19.742	14	2
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	53	+20.868	12	1
11	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	53	+23.743	13
12	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	53	+24.621	11
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	53	+27.216	7
14	88	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	53	+29.769	17
15	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	53	+51.088	18
Ret	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	41	Engine†	16
Ret	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	25	Collision	4
Ret	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	25	Collision	1
Ret	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	3	System issue	PL
DNS	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	0	Braking issue	15
Source:

• * Perez originally finished 3rd, but was given a 5-second time penalty for cutting a corner and gaining advantage.
• ^† Mazepin was given a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision with Schumacher, but it was not applied as he had retired.

Milestones

• 8^th race victory for Daniel Ricciardo, his first since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix.
• 183rd race victory for McLaren, their first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, and the first 1-2 finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix.

Standings

Verstappen could only extend the championship advantage to 5 points from Hamilton due to his finish in the sprint qualifying yet failing to finish the race along with his title rival. Bottas' sprint qualifying victory as well as his charge from last to the podium ensured that he retained third and maintained the difference ahead of Norris and further from Perez in the battle for third, with Ricciardo's victory allowing him to get ahead of Gasly who failed to finish as well.

As for the constructors' standings, Bottas' efforts meant that Mercedes extended their lead ahead of Red Bull to 18 points, with McLaren taking back third once again from their 1-2 finish.

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Max Verstappen 226.5 — 2 Lewis Hamilton 221.5 — 3 Valtteri Bottas 141 — 4 Lando Norris 132 — 5 Sergio Pérez 118 — 6 Charles Leclerc 104 — 7 Carlos Sainz, Jr. 97.5 — 8 Daniel Ricciardo 83 ▲1 9 Pierre Gasly 66 ▼1 10 Fernando Alonso 50 — 11 Esteban Ocon 45 — 12 Sebastian Vettel 35 — 13 Lance Stroll 24 ▲1 14 Yuki Tsunoda 18 ▼1 15 George Russell 15 — 16 Nicholas Latifi 7 — 17 Kimi Räikkönen 2 — 18 Antonio Giovinazzi 1 —

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Mercedes 362.5 — 2 Red Bull Racing-Honda 344.5 — 3 McLaren-Mercedes 215 ▲1 4 Ferrari 201.5 ▼1 5 Alpine-Renault 95 — 6 AlphaTauri-Honda 84 — 7 Aston Martin-Mercedes 59 — 8 Williams-Mercedes 22 — 9 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 3 —

Only point-scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References

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References:

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