When I say win, I mean WIN! McLaren finishes 1 and 2 with Daniel Ricciardo taking the top spot on the podium. Ricciardo started the weekend by lucking into the 2 spot on the grid. He really ended the weekend by taking first in the first corner and never looking back. This is his first win since 2018.
Perhaps the story is Hamilton and Verstappen wrecking each on lap 26 as Hamilton finished his pit stop. Verstappen was already upset with the state of his tires when he had to pit. Adding to his frustration, his pit stop was an appalling 11.1 seconds long. When his engineer gave him some information, Verstappen snapped back to stay off the radio unless its critical. Less than a minute later his race was over. Many are critical of Verstappen’s decision to not stop and check on Hamilton. It surprised me. Clearly, he was highly emotional. However, on closer examination it appears he made a logical decision to walk away seeing that Hamilton was clearly trying to hit the reverse his car out from under the Redbull. One thing is clear. Hamilton was inches away from a life changing event. The halo once again saved a driver from catastrophic injury.
Formula 1 Monza Rollup.
1. Bottas goes from 19th to 3rd place! He qualified 1st. He won the Monza Sprint. He was penalized because the team added new components to his ride. Clearly Mercedes moving off him has had little effect. He remained professional, did his job, and achieved 3rd for his current race team despite immense adversity.
2. AlphaTauri couldn’t field a car today.
3. Ferrari finishes 4th and 6th.
4. George Russell finished in the Points for the 3rd time this year.
5. Dominic Toretto (I mean Vin Diesel) was spotted on the Grid. So was Usain Bolt.
6. Lando Norris is a great teammate. He could have passed Ricciardo, but in doing so he may have hurt the team’s overall chances. He has a great future with McLaren.
I suspect the Hamilton and Verstappen are thankful for a two week break before their next clash in Russia. Their battle is the story of the season. It’s dramatic. It’s intense. It’s RACING!
