Valtteri capped off a strong weekend, fighting back from P20 with a number of smart overtakes to cross the line in P4 before being awarded P3 following a time penalty for Perez.
Lewis and Verstappen collided on Lap 26 of 53 when Verstappen attempted a pass on the inside of turn 2, making contact with Lewis and sending both cars into the gravel, with the Red Bull springing into the air and coming to rest on the Mercedes.
Both drivers were forced to retire and Verstappen was awarded a three-grid place penalty for the next event by the Stewards shortly after the race as a result.
Max Verstappen (226.5 points) leads the Drivers' Championship from Lewis (221.5) and with Valtteri in P3 (141 points). Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (362.5 points) lead Red Bull (344.5 points) by 18 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff: Another mixed afternoon for us. On the one hand, Valtteri did an incredible job coming from P20 and getting a podium for the Team. He has been on top form this weekend and P3 from back of the grid is thoroughly deserved after his performance all weekend. On the other hand, the incident with Max was really unfortunate for Lewis, as he seemed to be in a great position after his stop. If you compare it to Lewis at turn four on lap one, where he backed out, I think it was clear for Max that his positioning would end in a crash. The stewards have made their decision but it is clear that, without the halo this could have been much worse.
Andrew Shovlin: It was a great drive by Valtteri today to get back to the podium; such a shame that we had to take a penalty with him as a weekend like the one he put together would normally be rewarded with a win. It's sad that Lewis's race had to end the way it did but a relief that he had the extra protection of the Halo today otherwise it would have been very nasty. Max was never going to make the corner but it seems like he will always choose to force the issue rather than concede a position to Lewis. It's frustrating to have had a car that was so quick and leave here with so few points but the reality is that there are many areas where we need to perform better. Valtteri can be proud of what he did but as a team we've got to be critical of ourselves in a number of areas of performance and reliability, we've not been at the level we need so fixing that has to be our priority right now.
Christian Horner: "We are disappointed with the three place grid penalty, but accept the stewards decision. We felt what happened between Max and Lewis was a genuine racing incident. You can argue for both sides but ultimately it's frustrating and disappointing to see both cars out of the race in what is proving to be an exciting championship. The main thing today is that the halo ultimately did its job and certainly this isn't the way we intended to finish the race. With Checo, he was desperately unlucky and we felt it was very marginal given there was no instruction from the race office to give the position back. We had to make a decision whether or not to get on with the race, and so we got our heads down and then Checo was handed the penalty. He drove some strong laps under intense pressure but was unable to open up a gap and so we were sad to finish third on the road but fifth overall with only one car scoring points."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "Well, we did it! P1 and P2 at Monza. Congratulations to the entire team for a brilliant job all weekend. They pulled off an exceptional result today, under the pressure of knowing we had a competitive car and that a great race was possible.
"As a team, we've been waiting for this for quite some time. This is the first McLaren victory since 2012. We know we still have a lot of work to do on our journey, but this will be great motivation. Today, however, it's very important to celebrate the moment. Both Daniel and Lando put in brilliant performances all weekend, using to the maximum the hard work done in the garage, back at the factory and from our colleagues at HPP. Thanks to every single member of the team, our great fans and partners. Days like this are why we're all in the sport."
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: "Lance drove a superb race to seventh place today, earning us an important six world championship points. As for Sebastian, he had an incident-packed afternoon, including a bit of contact with Lance on lap one, and was badly chopped by [Esteban] Ocon later on. The accident damage took its toll towards the end of the race, which made it more difficult to fight and overtake. Next we go to Sochi, where we fully intend to add useful points to our world championship tally."
Alpine F1 Team claimed five points from an incident-filled Italian Grand Prix after Fernando Alonso finished eighth and Esteban Ocon tenth at Monza.
The result sees the team remain fifth in the Constructors' Championship with its points-scoring streak continuing to thirteen races.
In scorching conditions, both cars made solid starts on Medium (C3) tyres and avoided trouble during the opening exchanges. Fernando climbed up to ninth and Esteban took two places to slot nicely into tenth.
An early rhythm was established before Esteban was instructed to cede his position on lap seven to Nicholas Latifi following what was deemed an illegal overtake during the first lap.
Esteban then faced battles with the Williams driver ahead and Sebastian Vettel behind. Going into Turn 4 on lap 15, Esteban made minor contact with the German driver and a subsequent five second time penalty was given to Esteban for the incident.
Fernando pitted for Hards on lap 25 before a Safety Car was deployed a lap later with a Turn 1 incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Esteban took advantage of the Safety Car and pitted for Hard tyres, serving the five-second penalty during the pit-stop. At the race resumption, Fernando occupied eighth and Esteban eleventh.
The Frenchman pushed on and passed Latifi into Turn 1 on lap 32 with Fernando hustling Lance Stroll for seventh. At the chequered flag, Fernando held eighth and Esteban in the final points paying position.
Marcin Budkowski, Executive Director: "It was an eventful race today and it's good we were able to get through it unscathed with both cars again in the points. Given our starting position, it's not a bad day's work, especially as our closest rivals in the championship did not score. We have consolidated our fifth place in the Championship on a circuit that isn't very favourable for our car. Congratulations to Daniel for his win - he is the second Australian driver to win today as Alpine Academy driver Oscar Piastri won the Formula 2 Feature Race this morning! After three races in a row, the race team is now going to take a well-deserved break before continuing the season in Sochi, a circuit which should allow us to be more competitive and fight for bigger points."
Scuderia Ferrari comes away from the Italian Grand Prix with a fourth and a sixth place courtesy of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz respectively. All things considered, the result matched expectations, given how the weekend panned out and the fact it took place at the Monza track with its long straights.
Always in the lead group. Charles and Carlos produced solid performances getting everything out of their package and both men were always in the group fighting at the front, even if their lack of speed on this type of track had a significant effect on the final result, especially when battling with other cars.
Fans and special guests. The Monza weekend was special as it marked the return of fans to the grandstands at the Autodromo Nazionale. Shining in the paddock were the gold medals worn by the Italian Olympic athletes and the cup won by the Italian national football team in the European Championship under the management of Roberto Mancini: all examples of Italy's winning ways, based on values shared with the Scuderia, who must see this as a spur to continue improving, as mentioned by President John Elkann when greeting the athlete guests today in Monza. In fact, the President invited all the Italian champions to a special day in Maranello.
Mattia Binotto: A decent result, which reflects what we could have expected on a track that definitely did not suit the characteristics of our car. In fact, at this track we paid the price for a lack of speed, which made us particularly vulnerable at the restarts, as we saw again today. Nevertheless, the race pace was reasonably satisfactory, given what we expected going into the weekend.
Congratulations to McLaren who have won for the first time in nine years: they are back in third place but there is still a long way to go this season and we will do our utmost to fight for it right to the very end.
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "Unfortunately, today's race was over before it got going for both drivers. Yuki reported a braking issue on his laps to grid which, as hard as the guys tried, could not be resolved, forcing his retirement. Then, a system issue identified with Pierre's car early on meant we had to retire that car also. Frustratingly, we have not been able to turn the strong performance shown by Pierre on Friday into points here. Likewise, Yuki has not been able to get further important race mileage and experience under his belt, as such we have not been able to take the fight to our closest competitors. However, the package has again shown itself to be competitive and everyone will be pushing to ensure we carry this into the next races, with the focus on recovering ground to our closest competitors."
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN saw the promise of a great result slip from its grasp in a tough Italian Grand Prix, with Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Kubica finishing in 13th and 14th. The promising pace shown in qualifying and in the sprint was nullified by a first lap collision that put Antonio at the back of the pack; he could only make limited inroads in the field before the chequered flag. Robert had a positive race, making up places at the start and performing well in some close combat in the second half of the race.
It is a disappointing result, even more so because of the many positives shown throughout the weekend. The good pace that accompanied the cars in practice, the qualifying session and the sprint was still there, but the circumstances meant we could not bring home the points we would have deserved.
We leave this triple header bruised, but keen to get back on track and turn the positives into results when we return to racing in Russia.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "We showed really good pace this weekend, so it's disappointing to leave the track empty-handed after a race heavily compromised on the opening lap. The performance in qualifying and in the sprint had put us in a great position, with the pace to fight the cars around us. Unfortunately, a collision on lap one compromised Antonio's race and even a Safety Car could not put us back into the points. Robert had a good race, making up some ground at the start and in the first lap, which went a long way to recover after the problems in qualifying. He battled well and played the team game in the end. All in all, it's an opportunity lost for the team as our pace was good and the weekend had looked great, consistently in the top ten, until Sunday, where we were caught in the circumstances and had to settle for a finish outside the points."
Uralkali Haas F1 Team driver Mick Schumacher classified 15th, while Nikita Mazepin was forced into retirement at Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, Round 14 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship - hosted at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Schumacher took the start from 18th on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and made progress to move up to 15th place. Schumacher came in for White hard tires on lap 24 of the 53-lap encounter but lost out at the restart when contact was made with teammate Mazepin. Stewards deemed Mazepin culpable and issued a five-second time penalty. Schumacher recovered to greet the checkered flag in 15th.
Mazepin started from 16th on mediums though he conceded a spot on a frantic opening lap. He came in on lap 25 for Red soft tires but changed tact a couple of laps later when the Safety Car was deployed, switching to the hard rubber. After the collision with Schumacher a heavy lock up into the first chicane necessitated a third pit stop, with Mazepin taking on the soft compound once again on lap 40, but his race unfortunately came to a premature close a few laps later due to a power unit issue.
Uralkali Haas F1 Team return to action at the Russian Grand Prix held at Sochi Autodrom - September 24 to 26.
Guenther Steiner: "A pretty exciting race for us in all aspects with all that went on. Obviously, again we had a run-in between the two drivers but they cleared the air about it. What was said was said and they are good. We're making progress on that side and hopefully we can keep it like this. I think our two guys learned from the last races, now try to move on and try to take onboard the suggestions that we as a team give them and hopefully we have less of this coming in the future, even if today it happened. If you are clear about it, it's good, it's part of learning and fortunately the car was not badly damaged."
George Russell finished 9th and Nicholas Latifi 11th in the Italian Grand Prix. George started 14th and Nicholas 13th, both on the medium Pirelli tyre.
Both drivers ran a one stop race, with Nicholas switching to the hard compound on lap 23 and George following suit on lap 26.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: This weekend has not been our most competitive in terms of absolute pace, however, today we put forward a decent race car, which both drivers could use to attack the cars ahead. We gained some places from other people's misfortune, but equally we kept out of trouble and both drivers did very well at a difficult and demanding track.
Nicholas was outstanding in the first stint and was well positioned after the pitstop. However, the timing of the Safety Car was unfortunate for him and, conversely, perfect for George who was able to jump Nicholas through the pitstop. From then on, George managed an excellent race, defending from Ocon and keeping Alonso very honest. Nicholas was unfortunate to miss out on a points finish, but nonetheless drove very well in another race that will serve him well in the future.
These three races have been gruelling for the team both here at the track and back in Grove, who have tirelessly supplied new and refreshed components to the track, particularly in the wake of the damage we suffered in qualifying in Zandvoort. However, the collective effort and unstinting good humour have ultimately delivered another strong race for the Team.
Congratulations to McLaren who were fast throughout the weekend and fully deserve their success today. They are an excellent racing team and we look forward to renewing our long-standing rivalry with them next year.
McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo won a dramatic Italian Grand Prix ahead of his team mate Lando Norris, in a race that was characterised by a collision between title contenders Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) on lap 26, which brought out a lengthy safety car.
Both McLarens used the same P Zero Yellow medium C3 to P Zero White hard C2 strategy, stopping only once. This was the most popular strategy used during the race.
The highest-placed driver to use an alternative strategy was Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, who started from the back following an engine change (despite claiming pole in Friday's qualifying) and ran an opening stint on the hard tyre before switching to the faster medium at the end of the race. As the only driver in the top 10 to be running the medium tyre in the closing stages of the race, he was able to make the speed advantage count, eventually finishing third. Hamilton was on a similar strategy, prior to his retirement.
The sprint qualifying format in Italy meant that all drivers had a free choice of tyres at the race start. All the drivers chose the medium C3, apart from Mercedes, Alfa Romeo's Robert Kubica, and AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly, who decided to start on the hard C2.
The weather was warm throughout the 53-lap Italian Grand Prix, with ambient temperatures of around 30 degrees centigrade and track temperatures in excess of 40 degrees, practically right up to the end of the race.
Mario Isola: "Both McLaren drivers used the same medium to hard strategy that was adopted by the majority of the field, but Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes also showed what was possible with the opposite strategy. The performance of the hard tyre here was underlined by the fact that Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest lap on the final lap, having managed the race perfectly since the restart. Today's warm weather certainly favoured the hard and medium compounds, which both showed minimal degradation, while at the opposite end of the spectrum, it was a bit too warm for the soft to show its speed advantage."
