Extended Race Highlights | 2021 Italian Grand Prix

Welcome along to Round 14 of the Formula One World Championship. In 2021, we're at Monza. It is the Italian Grand Prix. As we look to the grid now, five lights on ahead of the drivers. It's lights out and away we go. They weren't held for long and Verstappen does get away well. Alongside him is Daniel Ricciardo and Ricciardo is inching into the lead. Daniel Ricciardo will have the inside line here ahead of Max Verstappen. Hamilton has gone away well too. It's Ricciardo into the first chicane ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton on the outside of Lando Norris. Joe Vernanti's made up a place past Carlos Sainz and he's now battling with Charles Leclerc. And to the Curva Grande we go. That was perfect for Hamilton, straight up into third place, went around the outside of Turn 2. He's directly behind his championship rival. Indeed, he's alongside him. And Hamilton and Verstappen go into the second chain in a chicane and Hamilton goes off onto the rumble strips and is fourth wide and he might lose a place here to Lando Norris as Antonio Joe Vernanti has spun round and loses his front wing. It is Ricciardo that leads from Verstappen. Norris and Hamilton is back in fourth. And that will be a safety car, unless he can drive that quickly out of the way. There'll be bodywork on the track as well. They say he has got away, so that's good news then for the race. Bad news for Lewis Hamilton in terms of he looked like he was going to challenge for second place, take second place, and he slipped back. And we've got a virtual safety car as we look back to the Della Roggia chicane and not for the first time in a chicane this season. Wheel contact between Verstappen and Hamilton. Copy. So Verstappen was a little bit locked up going in there. And, yeah, look at that. Did he get hit by Carlos Sainz there, Antonio Joe Vernanti? We're riding on board with him now. Charles Leclerc to the left. Oh, so he's gone straight across the chicane then and somebody's presumably to his left at that point. Check if I have a picture. Joe Vernanti! Let's look at the race start once again. Dream start here for Daniel Ricciardo. They all got away quite well, didn't they? But Ricciardo just in the second and third sort of phase, pulling up through the gears, powered through, then had the inside line. I always think it's a little bit odd. I know it's the racing line on the left hand side, but it does leave you on pole position. It does leave you vulnerable. Hamilton then clean and clear as you like around the outside of Norris and picks up the slipstream of Max Verstappen and will be alongside heading into the second chicane. It's absolutely flat out through Curva Grande for anybody and everybody, wherever you are on the racetrack. And there we go. That's a little bit Imola-esque, wasn't it, in terms of the action there with Verstappen on the inside. And look at this. The first time Ricciardo's led a race since Abu Dhabi 2018. Which, of course, was his last race for Red Bull. And he leads from his former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who's now got DRS and is less than a second behind him on the road. Now, we're on board with Lewis Hamilton and watching a replay here as he tries to get alongside Max Verstappen. How did you see this, Martin? Wheel contact there. Hamilton pushed wide. It's one of those, to me, racing incidents that you often get and we've seen before. On the first lap, I can't really see that... Yes, so this is what happened. ...in an unsafe manner. And that's getting a touch rude between the Aston Martin drivers. And that'll make the debrief a bit interesting, won't it? Yeah, it's cost Vettel dearly, hasn't it? Cost him three places in the end, four places in the end, as Latifi gets past him as well, as Pierre Gasly gets out of his car. Not one, but two Alfa Tauris out of this race. Last year's race winner, Pierre Gasly, never got the chance to get going this afternoon. Bottas up to 13th already. That's good early progress from the back of the grid. It certainly is. As we hear now, Norris' radio. Hamilton is struggling when he gets close. We're getting good gaps to the rest of the field. Keep this up. Well, Joseph is race engineer, giving him the encouragement message as we head to Sky Race Control. And Paul di Resta. Yeah, just one thing, Crofty. Perez has made good ground. The Ferraris have got as much pace as the McLarens. But the thing for me is, Perez could very much play a part. Because he started on the better tyre, he's going to stop earlier than Hamilton and he's going to maybe gain track position when he comes out in a fresh set. And that could hurt Mercedes. Perez could play that part of support. Well, here is Perez trying to play that part. Very nicely indeed. But back comes Carlos Sainz. Perez thought he got that move done. Round the Curva Grande we go. Carlos Sainz is about three quarters of a car length in front. Perez has got the inside line. So he's coming back at the Ferrari. And Sergio Perez to the Della Roggia chicane is in front of Carlos Sainz. Yeah, he's gone, look, he's gone really deep. And that makes the right-hander really tight. He knew immediately he'd got to go and cover the inside. The slightly compromised exit. But job done. And as we've seen, some higher deck on a couple of the medium runners. We just need to make sure we can make our target. Maybe Mercedes got it absolutely spot on then. If you can survive the start here, the hard tyre, they say, becomes a very nice race tyre. Hamilton's front left, certainly, looks in a decent condition at the moment. Ted, down to you. They just had to do, Mercedes just had to do something that confused Red Bull, didn't they? I think they have. But it might turn out to be a nice strategy, yeah. And in fact, I think both McLarens are doing both championship contenders, Verstappen and Hamilton, a favour. And for Hamilton to be still in touch. Well, Hamilton is a lot closer to Lando Norris. I'm just going to stop you there because I think Hamilton, with a bit of DRS here, as Norris tries to break the toe, is going to go for a move under braking. Lando Norris just squeezes Lewis Hamilton to the far left-hand side and very gently and very subtly there stopped Hamilton from making a risky move. But Hamilton's going to come back at him, not just through the Curva Grande, but towards the Della Roggia chicane. And Hamilton on the inside has got enough of a gap there. Has he got the pace in a straight fight with Norris? Not on this occasion. Norris under braking holds on to that third place. Yeah, a little check in his mirrors for Lando Norris. So, positioned his car well. He moved abruptly but cleanly down the pit straight. Difficult to see how far behind him Hamilton was there, but good defensive driving from Lando Norris. And you can tell Lewis was just pulling his punches there. He does not need to trip over that McLaren. As Ricciardo now comes in and we can go down to Ted. Yeah, so this needs to be good for McLaren. He comes in, hits his marks very well. The tyres come off, the new tyres go on. That's perfect, absolutely perfect. I can't believe is Verstappen in. Surely not, Crofty. Surely he's gone through. So, Red Bull were just out, just covering if they needed to. But that was excellent. So, that was McLaren avoiding Verstappen in the undercar. All right, let's have it. Right, so out comes Daniel Ricciardo behind the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. So, what I think that would have been for Red Bull is do whatever he doesn't do. He pits, you carry on. Keep the pressure on. It wasn't a super quick start for McLaren. Come on, tyres up! His tyres are shot, says Max Verstappen. It was a 31% chance of an overtake. Dropping down to a 27% chance of an overtake. And dropping down all the time. This lap continues. Our predicted gap, powered by AWS, as he's now told to come in and box by the Red Bull team. So, what kind of outlap is Ricciardo, who's a little bit tucked up behind Sainz at the moment? Ricciardo has done a personal best, middle sector. He's having a decent outlap, is Daniel. So, Lando Norris takes the lead. Lewis Hamilton in second. Then comes Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. And he's still waiting, is Max Verstappen. What is happening down at Red Bull? The kings of the sub-two-second pit stop. They'll be lucky if that sub-ten seconds, no, eleven seconds on the grid for Max Verstappen, who will come out into this race a long way behind Daniel Ricciardo and potentially behind Valtteri Bottas as well. And there comes Lance Stroll behind Valtteri Bottas. And we still see no sign of Max Verstappen, who comes out into this race in tenth place. Every twist and turn is critical for the World Championship. And that stop has put him completely out of contention. Releases Ricciardo beautifully up front, doesn't it? So, Lewis Hamilton out in front now, ahead of Lando Norris. Norris was ahead of Hamilton, who's got past him on the road. And in the swing of about half a minute, this championship race has been blown wide open all again. And this is how Hamilton got past Lando Norris into the Della Roggia chicane. Nice work, Lewis. This is off. Come on, mate. It's on and it is happening right in front of our eyes. Verstappen was a comfortable second place, challenging Daniel Ricciardo, a slow pit stop down at Red Bull. And we can look at it now as they adjust the front wing angle. And then what is going on? Why is Max Verstappen still stationary? Norris ahead of you. Norris ahead. I'll leave you to it. Hamilton now does come into the pits. And that is a little bit slow as well, but not half as slow as it was for Max Verstappen. 4.2 seconds for Hamilton in his pit stop. And I know they've changed the procedures at the pit stops, but we're not expecting times to be that much slower, maybe by a couple of tenths. Hamilton comes out onto the racetrack now. And is he going to be ahead of Lando Norris? That's the big key. No, he's not. And there's Max Verstappen right behind Hamilton into the first chicane. Once again, it's wheel to wheel. Hamilton and Verstappen! At this time, Verstappen and Hamilton have crashed out and they are both out! As Hamilton came from his pit stop, rejoined the racetrack. Lando Norris was ahead. And in their desperation to stay ahead and to get ahead, the two championship protagonists have taken each other out of the Italian Grand Prix. What a bizarre incident. Absolutely bizarre. And Lewis is trying to get out of there, look. That's what you get when you don't leave the space. Behind the safety car now. We have the pit stops. Out in front was Charles Leclerc. And Charles Leclerc, you see, the Ferrari fans are going absolutely wild here. And so they should, because taking his pit stop behind the safety car will do Charles Leclerc at no end of good. He's in second place behind Ricciardo. They've tripped over each other. But I'm trying to think, I'm trying to remember an incident like that where one car just literally climbs up the front of another and stays there. Oh, this is his back to Prost and Senna days, isn't it? Into the chicane at Suzuka. And the animosity that went with that let us have a little look then at what happened. Hamilton on the right-hand side, coming out of his, out of the pit lane, moves across. Did Verstappen have enough space in the initial part of that chicane? And then did he try and get a bit cheeky in the second part? Max hasn't done anything wrong there. It was fair enough to go around the outside. Look, look, and there we go across the top. The rollover who does its job there for... And the halo too. And the halo. And then the tyre. Yeah, I think Lewis got, obviously, Lewis's rear wing. No wonder Bono told him to switch it off. The rear wing's broken anyway. And that was a scary, scary moment there. Even with the halo, Martin, look at the rear right tyre of Max Verstappen's Red Bull rubbing against the crash helmet of Lewis Hamilton by the looks of it. And Hamilton certainly trying to get as low in his cockpit as he possibly could. Wow. That was a very, very near miss there for Lewis Hamilton. He's got to go on maximum attack. And it's Safety Car coming in at the end of this lap. Daniel Ricciardo's won seven Grand Prix. He knows what to do. He knows how to win this race. And he has survived leading Grand Prix with a Safety Car restart. Now he's gone. Charles Leclerc's gone with him. Lando Norris has certainly gone with Charles Leclerc. They're watching on at Ferrari as round the Parabolica we come. And going very wide again, Lando Norris. But that gets them a straight line and an earlier straight line down the straight as they all try and break the toe. And weaving about a bit is Daniel Ricciardo. Valtteri Bottas is making a move on Carlos Sainz. Lando Norris is making a move on Charles Leclerc. Ricciardo leads into Turn 1. Leclerc and Norris, they make contact. But Charles Leclerc keeps that second place. Behind them comes Sergio Perez, then Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas. Sixth place for Bottas. Then Stroll, Alonso, Russell and Latifi. And now watching through the Curva Grande. Brilliant move from Lando Norris, who's ahead of Charles Leclerc. It's McLaren 1-2 and Monza after the Safety Car. Norris is completely fearless. He was on the grass at one point in the Curva Grande there. Absolute attack there. McLaren 1-2, as you say. McLaren versus Ferrari. Sounds familiar from a long time ago, doesn't it? Yes, we were talking about the championship battle. But don't forget the battle for third in the championship as well. It's keenly contested, trust me. And McLaren winning out on this occasion as Lando Norris gets past Charles Leclerc. Here comes Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz. And they were just crisscrossing each other. Has Bottas got ahead of Carlos Sainz into the Red Offilo chicane? Yes, he has. Valtteri Bottas from 19th on the grid is now up to 5th. And that's Sebastian Vettel in the walls once again. Antonio Giovinazzi just behind him. Robert Kubica ahead of him. And he's sandwiched now between the two alphas as Sergio Perez trying to move on Charles Leclerc is into the De La Roja chicane. We go. Perez goes over the rumble strips and bounces back onto the track ahead of the Ferrari, who's coming at him into the two Lesmos. He needs to get that place back to the Ferrari. He took the place off the track, as he did yesterday. This is the Perez incident. Is that rejoining the track safely? It didn't leave me any room. Valtteri Bottas got one Ferrari on the previous lap. He's going to go and try and get a second Ferrari on this particular lap. Leclerc brakes a lot later and maintains his advantage. Stays ahead of Bottas. But immediately, unlike Perez yesterday, gives the place to Valtteri Bottas. He can't leave the track and gain the lasting advantage. So he immediately gave that place back. But he's fighting it now with Valtteri Bottas just ahead into the De La Roja chicane. Brakes later and holds on to that fourth place. There are scraps going on here, there and everywhere here at Monza. I thought Leclerc had lost that one. That was a good effort to recover that position. Yeah, so what Bottas is saying, look, he went off and then got a slipstream from me. And he gained a lasting advantage is the key phrase. And here comes Valtteri Bottas for another battle with a Ferrari. Charles Leclerc is behind him as they go into the first chicane. Bottas is in a rocket ship down the straights. That's going to come in handy a little bit later on. Can Valtteri Bottas produce that real racer's race? OK, check, we've had a five second penalty for that overtake on Leclerc. And Norris. Norris has a penalty as well. Negative. Nothing for Norris yet. Perez with a question mark in his tone there. Valtteri Bottas, seven podiums in 2021, his last win, Russia 2020, where we go to the next race. It's almost a calendar year since Valtteri Bottas last stood on the top step of the podium. But he is definitely in the fastest car at the moment because of those medium compound tyres. Bottas is trying to get through here. Past the Curva Grande we go. He's ahead. Going into the Della Roggia chicane. Can he make it stick? Perez is going to fight him back on the exit. He went deep, Valtteri Bottas. Thought he had the move. Perez let him go. Knew he'd gone a bit too deep and then took that third place back again. Pivotal for this race. And he'll be cursing himself because he had the move well done there, didn't he? He overtook him twice effectively and got in too deep on the brakes. Let's have a look at it again. As a gap opens on the inside of the Curva Grande, which seems to be a very nice place for overtaking on this sunny Sunday afternoon. And at that point, Valtteri's like, yep, done this, done this, done this. Oh no, more brakes. Gave it a little tweak of brake bias, didn't he? Went to 60 on his wheel there. Not much. Not for long. Ready yourself again, Toto. For the first time in a long, long while, we're watching two McLarens out in front. Their last one to Canada 2010. Their last race victory, Brazil 2012. And they are tantalisingly within touching distance of adding to that tally of 182 race wins. Daniel Ricciardo leads Lando Norris. Ricciardo leading for the first time since Abu Dhabi in 2018. On course for his first victory since Monaco in 2018. He left Red Bull. He went to Renault. He's gone to McLaren. He's going to get the victory now. It's McLaren and Ricciardo that win the Italian Grand Prix. Lando Norris comes home to make it a one-two for the men from Woking. Sergio Perez comes home to take third on the road. But he drops down to fifth because of that five-second time penalty. Bottas on the podium for an eighth time this season ahead of Leclerc. Sainz, Stroll, Alonso, Russell and Ocon complete the top ten. Start the celebrations for McLaren. Ricciardo's done it. He won! Yeah, boy! Yes! Great day for McLaren. Great day for Formula 1, actually, in that respect. Yeah, they both pulled the pin on the last lap. Ricciardo with a 1.24.8. Norris with a 1.24.9. They had performance to spare as well. Amazing. Strat five. Let's go, boys! Let's go! Vamos! Get in there! Let's go! Okay, man. Yes, boys! Daniel Ricciardo has returned to the top step of the podium in a dramatic race here this afternoon in the sunshine of Monza. Lando Norris returns to the podium and where third was once the highest he stood after a Formula 1 Grand Prix, now he can take the runners-up spot for the first time. Valtteri Bottas, then, on the podium for the eighth time this season. Lando Norris just gains a little bit on Valtteri Bottas. Nine points the difference in the battle for third place at the moment. Daniel Ricciardo, eighth now in the championship.