McLaren and Ricciardo end their win droughts, Hamilton retires for the first time in over three seasons and Tsunoda records the first DNS at Monza in 36 years. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
RICCIARDO WINS WITH McLAREN
McLaren’s 3,213 day wait for a victory is over. Daniel Ricciardo won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, taking the eighth victory of his Formula 1 career. Ricciardo is the 20th driver to win a Grand Prix with McLaren.
McLaren recorded their first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, when Jenson Button led the field home. This was the fifth longest gap between victories for a team in Formula 1, beaten only by Mercedes (1955-2012), Honda (1967-2006), Renault (1983-2003) and Ligier (1981-1996).
This was Ricciardo’s first win since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. He equals Clay Regazzoni as the driver with the thirteenth longest gap between wins in F1 history. There was also a gap of 3 years, 3 months and 16 days between Regazzoni’s victories at the 1976 United States Grand Prix West and the 1979 British Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo is the 39th different driver to win the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, and the first Australian driver to win in the event’s 100 year history. Ricciardo is Monza’s third new winner in the last three years – with Charles Leclerc taking his first win at the track in 2019 and Pierre Gasly taking his first victory here in 2020.
Daniel Ricciardo is the 50th driver to win with two different teams in Formula 1. He’s the second driver to achieve that feat this year, after Sergio Perez was victorious with Red Bull at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
This was McLaren’s first victory at Monza since Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix. Overall, it is their eleventh win at the circuit.
Race winner Ricciardo also set the Fastest Lap of the race, the first time he has done so since the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was his first Fastest Lap at the Italian Grand Prix since 2017.
Five drivers led at least one lap in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. It was the second time that has happened this year, having also happened at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The last time an Italian Grand Prix had as many as five leaders was in 1995.
NORRIS SECURES A McLAREN 1-2
With Lando Norris finishing second, this was McLaren’s first 1-2 result since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. This was the second time that McLaren have scored a 1-2 result at the Italian Grand Prix, having last done so in 2007.
McLaren’s 1-2 was the first time that a team have finished first and second in the 2021 season. The last time a team recorded a 1-2 result was at the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The 2021 Italian Grand Prix is the first Australian-British 1-2 since the 2010 British Grand Prix, when Mark Webber was 1st and Lewis Hamilton was 2nd. The last time the two nations scored a 1-2 result (in the opposite order) was at the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix, when Lewis Hamilton won and Daniel Ricciardo was the runner-up.
For the first time since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, both McLaren drivers finished on the podium.
Lando Norris recorded his fifth podium finish in Formula 1 and the best result of his career to date with second place. This was the first time he has led a lap in his career, becoming the 179th driver to lead a lap in World Championship history.
BOTTAS 3RD FROM 19TH ON THE GRID
Having started nineteenth on the grid, Valtteri Bottas completed the podium at the Italian Grand Prix. His was the first podium finish recorded from nineteenth on the grid since Alex Wurz finished third at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas’ third place makes the 2021 Italian Grand Prix the 400th race in which a Finnish driver has scored points. Finland is the seventh nation to reach the milestone.
Bottas made up sixteen places in the Italian Grand Prix – equalling his personal best for most positions gained in a race. He also made up sixteen places after being demoted to the back of the grid at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
This is only the third time that a driver has recorded a podium finish from nineteenth on the grid. The other drivers to have done so are Bill Vukovich, who won the 1954 Indianapolis 500, and Alex Wurz, who finished third at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.
Only one podium finish at Monza has come from a grid slot further back than Bottas’s nineteenth place. That was for Ron Flockhart, who finished in third place having started 23rd at the 1954 Italian Grand Prix.
This was Bottas’ fourth podium finish at the Italian Grand Prix. He is the 21st driver to record four or more podium results at Monza.
THE POINTS SCORERS
Both Ferrari drivers scored at the team’s home race, with Charles Leclerc fourth and Carlos Sainz sixth. It’s the first time both Ferrari drivers have scored at the Italian Grand Prix since 2018.
Sergio Perez finished in fifth place following a five second time penalty. This was the eighth consecutive year in which the Mexican driver has scored points at the Italian Grand Prix – the longest active streak following Lewis Hamilton’s retirement.
With Perez fifth and Max Verstappen retiring, Red Bull are still yet to finish on the podium at the Italian Grand Prix in the turbo hybrid era.
Finishing in seventh place, Lance Stroll recorded his first points since the British Grand Prix. This was the fourth time that Stroll has scored in his five Italian Grand Prix appearances.
Stroll’s seventh place marks the first time that the driver starting ninth has scored at the Italian Grand Prix since 2016.
Fernando Alonso came home in eighth place, recording points at the Italian Grand Prix for the first time since he finished on the podium with Ferrari here in 2013.
With ninth place, George Russell scored for the third time in the last four races. Russell last finished in ninth place when he deputised for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. This was the first time that Russell has not finished fourteenth in his three Italian Grand Prix appearances.
Russell is the first Williams driver to score at Monza since both drivers finished in the top ten at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.
Russell’s ninth place finish is only the second time in the last 23 seasons that the driver starting fourteenth has scored at the Italian Grand Prix.
Esteban Ocon finished in tenth place, scoring points for the fifth consecutive race. This is his longest points-scoring streak since the 2017 season.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Nicholas Latifi missed out on points by just under three seconds, finishing in eleventh place. This was the fourth time that Latifi has finished eleventh in his F1 career.
While Lance Stroll finished seventh, Sebastian Vettel finished twelfth. The Silverstone-based team recorded the same result at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix as they did in 2019. This was the third consecutive season in which Vettel has failed to score at the Italian Grand Prix.
For the fourth time in the last five races, Antonio Giovinazzi finished in thirteenth place.
VERSTAPPEN AND HAMILTON COLLIDE
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided, ending both of their races. For Hamilton, this was his first retirement since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix and his first at Monza since 2010. For Verstappen, this was his second consecutive Italian Grand Prix retirement.
Verstappen led a single lap of the race – the first time he has led here in his Formula 1 career.
Verstappen is the first polesitter to retire at Monza since Lewis Hamilton crashed out in the closing stages of the 2009 Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton recorded Mercedes’ first retirement from the Italian Grand Prix since Nico Rosberg retired with an engine failure in 2015.
THE OTHER RETIREES
Pierre Gasly was the first retirement from the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, recording his third retirement of the 2021 season.
Nikita Mazepin was the final retiree from the Italian Grand Prix. With Robert Kubica finishing the race in fourteenth place, the Pole moves ahead of Mazepin in the Drivers’ Championship standings. This was Mazepin’s third retirement in the last four races.
This was the third consecutive season in which a Haas driver has failed to reach the end of the Italian Grand Prix.
TSUNODA FAILS TO START
Yuki Tsunoda failed to start the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. Tsunoda’s DNS was the first to be recorded at the Italian Grand Prix since Piercarlo Ghinzani failed to start with Toleman in 1985.
This was the first time that Tsunoda has failed to reach the chequered flag at consecutive races.
One year on from Pierre Gasly’s win at Monza, both AlphaTauri drivers failed to finish the Italian Grand Prix. The last time both of the Red Bull junior team’s drivers failed to reach the chequered flag at Monza was in 2009 – one year on from Sebastian Vettel’s win with the team.