#ItalianGP: @ValtteriBottas wins second #F1 Sprint race ahead of @Max33Verstappen.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas won Formula 1’s second 100km Qualifying Sprint Race at the Italian GP, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with reigning champion Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth after making a poor start alongside team-mate Bottas.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo came home in third place ahead of team-mate Lando Norris, who kept Hamilton behind for the entire duration of the race, which was interrupted by an opening lap crash from AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.
The result means Verstappen will start today’s Italian Grand Prix from P1 on the grid, with Ricciardo alongside his former Red Bull team-mate, as Bottas will fall to the back of the order due taking on a fresh Mercedes power-train before Friday evening’s qualifying session.
When the 2021 Italian GP Qualifying Sprint Race began, Bottas lead a comfortable getaway from pole, chased by Verstappen, as Hamilton slow run off the line meant he was forced to defend against Norris’s run on the inside into the Variante Del Rettifilo chicane.
The seven-time world champion was then swamped by both Ricciardo and Gasly on the left-hand side and as the field closed together for the first sequence of corners, Hamilton was squeezed behind the AlphaTauri and Norris on the right to fall to fifth place by the exit of turn two.
As Bottas, Verstappen and Ricciardo pulled clear down the sweeping right of Curva Grande, Gasly, who momentarily touched the McLaren’s left-rear and damaged his front wing, darted straight into the gravel when his wing broke apart and went underneath his Honda-powered AT02 racer.
Gasly skid across the gravel on the outside and crashed into the barriers, bouncing back into the gravel before coming to a halt and the Frenchman climbed out of his car.
The incident deployed the safety car – just after a tangle between the other AlphaTauri entry of Yuki Tsunoda and Alfa Romeo’s Robert Kubica in-between the two apexes of the Variante Della Roggia chicane saw the latter spun around – as Gasly’s AlphaTauri was removed.
The race resumed on lap four, with Bottas moving clear to a 1.6 second lead over Verstappen, with Hamilton chasing down the two McLaren’s – with both on the C4 red side-walled softer compounds vs Hamilton on the C3 yellow-marked mediums.
As Norris kept Hamilton behind, even with DRS activated at the beginning of the sixth tour, Ricciardo rapidly dropped away from leaders Bottas and Verstappen.
The top two were the only drivers lapping in the 1:23’s and by the tenth lap they were over five seconds clear of Ricciardo.
Bottas and Verstappen continued to switch fastest laps, but the Finn’s advantage was never under pressure as the gap see-sawed back and forth.
The front-two runners continued to pull away from Ricciardo over the course of the race, with Bottas in control – winning the Sprint Race by 2.325 seconds.
Ricciardo came third and finished 14.534 seconds behind Bottas, with Norris fending off Hamilton, who at times was sliding around in his F1 W12 EQ Performance racer dramatically in his fellow-British compatriot’s dirty air, to the chequered flag, where Hamilton wound up 20.011 seconds behind his triumphant team-mate.
The Ferrari pairing followed as Charles Leclerc lead team-mate Carlos Sainz in sixth and seventh places respectively, with the former feeling unwell at the end of second practice to take the start of the qualifying sprint race from eighth place, where he moved up following the opening lap drama at the first corners.
Sainz, who’s SF21 had been quickly rebuilt following his heavy crash at Variante Ascari in FP2, finished where he started and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
The Italian held off Red Bull’s fast-charging Sergio Perez to the flag, with the latter involved in the race’s other main highlight – attempting to pass Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on the ninth lap.
After attacking on the outside at the Variante Del Rettifilo, Perez cut across the raised kerbs in the run-off area beyond turn one and remained ahead as the duo raced through Curva Grande.
Red Bull ordered Perez to give the position back, which he did on the rundown to the Variante Ascari, and on the next tour, the Mexican made a similar move at the first corner and made it stick as went on to chase down Giovinazzi.
Stroll ended the sprint in 10th in-front of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who were 11th and 12th respectively.
The second Alpine A521 of Esteban was 13th and ahead of Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi and George Russell who ended the 100km sprint in 14th and 15th.
Tsunoda pitted following his collision with Kubica and recovered to finish 16th, as the latter who temporarily replaces Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo split the Haas F1 Team pairing of Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher in 18th place.
Gasly was the sole retiree of the sprint.
You can watch the highlights of the Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D’Italia 2021 Qualifying Sprint Race at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vOTBiUP01s
2021 Italian GP F1 Sprint – The Top Three
2021 Italian GP F1 Sprint Winner – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance:
“This feels good, feels like it’s been awhile! I’m starting from the back tomorrow but the speed is there. But today I enjoyed, good clean race, and we had the pace. It’s not going to be easy with a train of cars with DRS, let’s see if we can do something.”
2nd Place – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:
“That went a little bit better than expected, up to second, scored some points, up to pole tomorrow. It’s going to be an interesting battle tomorrow. We did trim our car so we had decent top speed, so we should be okay in the race.”
3rd Place – Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren Racing-Mercedes, MCL35M:
“It’s good to be back! We’re on the front row and that has been a long time so I’m happy for that. Full attack tomorrow. I thought maybe I’d get Max into Turn 1 but he had the inside. I look forward to trying again tomorrow.”
2021 Formula 1 Gran Premio D’Italia 2021 Sprint Qualifying Race Results Classification (18 Laps)
| POS | DRIVER | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27:54.078 | 3 | |
| 2 | +2.325s | 2 | |
| 3 | +14.534s | 1 | |
| 4 | +18.835s | 0 | |
| 5 | +20.011s | 0 | |
| 6 | +23.442s | 0 | |
| 7 | +27.952s | 0 | |
| 8 | +31.089s | 0 | |
| 9 | +31.680s | 0 | |
| 10 | +38.671s | 0 | |
| 11 | +39.795s | 0 | |
| 12 | +41.177s | 0 | |
| 13 | +43.373s | 0 | |
| 14 | +45.977s | 0 | |
| 15 | +46.821s | 0 | |
| 16 | +49.977s | 0 | |
| 17 | +62.599s | 0 | |
| 18 | +65.096s | 0 | |
| 19 | +66.154s | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 |
Note – Bottas required to start race from back of grid for use of additional power unit elements.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1076/italy/sprint-results.html
Click here for the full Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.
2021 Italian GP Starting Grid
| POS | NO | DRIVER |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 | |
| 2 | 3 | |
| 3 | 4 | |
| 4 | 44 | |
| 5 | 16 | |
| 6 | 55 | |
| 7 | 99 | |
| 8 | 11 | |
| 9 | 18 | |
| 10 | 14 | |
| 11 | 5 | |
| 12 | 31 | |
| 13 | 6 | |
| 14 | 63 | |
| 15 | 22 | |
| 16 | 9 | |
| 17 | 88 | |
| 18 | 47 | |
| 19 | 10 | |
| 20 | 77 |
Note – Bottas required to start from the rear of the grid due to use of additional power unit elements.
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