The Italian Grand Prix 2021 was the 14th round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy, during the weekend of the 10th to the 12th of September.
Daniel Ricciardo won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Lando Norris, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium with an expectacular comeback, all the way from the 19th position of the grid.
Max Verstappen started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, and had to retire on lap 25th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 22 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 22-26: 19 stops
The fastest pit stop was Daniel Ricciardo's, stopping the clock at 23.812 seconds during his pit stop on lap 22, while the slowest one was was Antonio Giovinazzi's, who stopped the clock at 37.190 seconds, 13.378 seconds slower than Ricciardo, during his pit stop on lap 1.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only 2 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Daniel Ricciardo, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
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17Max Verstappen
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2Nicholas Latifi
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3Mick Schumacher
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1Lando Norris
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13Lewis Hamilton
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2Fernando Alonso
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2Lance Stroll
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3Robert Kubica
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3Sergio Pérez
-
16Valtteri Bottas
-
-Carlos Sainz
-
2Esteban Ocon
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1Charles Leclerc
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5George Russell
2 stops
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6Antonio Giovinazzi
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1Sebastian Vettel
3 stops
-
-Nikita Mazepin
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 3.15 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 3.5 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Nikita Mazepin, who had a power unit failure on lap 41, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Pierre Gasly, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 3, and Yuki Tsunoda, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 0.
Power Unit
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Nikita MazepinLap 41
Collision
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Lewis HamiltonLap 25
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Max VerstappenLap 25
Suspension
-
Pierre GaslyLap 3
Brakes
-
Yuki TsunodaLap 0
Qualifying
Valtteri Bottas managed to get the pole position by 0.096 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:19.555. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.