2021 Formula One Italian Grand Prix

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For the third weekend in a row, Formula One is back in action. This time the field takes on the Monza circuit for the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

Amidst one of the closest championship battles in in memory, Formula One’s field of 20 cars is taking on the legendary Temple of Speed this weekend. The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is host to the 2021 Grand Prix and will test the teams’ abilities to field a car that prioritizes straight line speed.

The tight battle for the lead in the drivers' standings has now carried past the midway point of the season. Lewis Hamilton held a small advantage going into the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort a week ago, but that advantage has now flipped back to Max Verstappen after his exciting home win.

In the constructor’s championship, Mercedes has gained a 12-point lead after a double podium finish at Zandvoort. Like the drivers’ standings, this is another hotly contested battle that could easily be reversed if Red Bull has a strong result at Monza.

Much of the excitement away from the track has centred around the confirmation of George Russell joining the Mercedes team next season alongside Lewis Hamilton. Russell has impressed many in the F1 world with his performance in the lower-tier Williams car. He will be replacing Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes, who was confirmed to be moving to Alfa Romeo next season.

And speaking of Alfa Romeo, Kimi Räikkönen’s final season in Formula One has been cut short due to a positive Covid-19 test and associated protocol, and he’ll be replaced this weekend by Robert Kubica, who also stood in for the 2007 drivers’ champion last weekend as well.

Lando Norris’ amazing season has somewhat slowed over the past two weeks. The “technically a race” at Spa two weeks ago saw him finish outside of the points, and then a 10th place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix have dropped him from 3rd to 4th in the championship. His 114 points this season account for two-thirds of the McLaren team points, so the unfortunate results recently have allowed Ferrari to open a gap of 11.5 points in the constructors’ championship after having been tied recently. Excitement from the crowd will be high at Monza for the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to maintain or expand this gap to McLaren.

So, the fight between Verstappen and Hamilton continues for another week, as does the battle between their respective teams. This looks to be another exciting week in the middle of an outstanding year of F1 action. Give us your thoughts below in the comments on who you think will emerge victorious at Monza.
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

Badwheels
Since I am on page 13 of the comments, I know no one will see this.

The cause of the crash between Lewis and Max was not either Lewis or Max's fault.
It was the shitty pit crews. An 11 second and 4 second pit stop ? Really ? They never should have been near each other. What a crock. Toto and Christian really need to be burning some asses this morning. I could have done 11 seconds by myself.
 
Dzul
Premium
LeSunTzu said:
You cannot expect guys who routinely dress in orange, make orange smoke, chant Supermax and boo other drivers to have any objectivity at all.
Click to expand...

True that. I wouldn't expect them to be in the RD forums either... they may still be at Zandvoort waiting for the second half. ;)
 
R
Badwheels said:
Since I am on page 13 of the comments, I know no one will see this.

The cause of the crash between Lewis and Max was not either Lewis or Max's fault.
It was the shitty pit crews. An 11 second and 4 second pit stop ? Really ? They never should have been near each other. What a crock. Toto and Christian really need to be burning some asses this morning. I could have done 11 seconds by myself.
Click to expand...
Let's be honest, you'd be spending 11 seconds at a corner trying to lift the wheel off as an amateur.
 
Dzul
Premium
Damage Inc said:
Also seeing as an accident in Copse is far more likely to result in possible serious injury (51g is no joke), whereas (shocking as it was) the possible seriousness to Lewis' health of the Monza incident was more fluke than anything.
Click to expand...

Well, despite the Halo protecting his cockpit, Hamilton did get the whole load of Verstappen's rear tyre ON his head and neck (see picture below) so we can't really know how serious that was was until a few days have passed... it may be equivalent to a mid-speed road accident with whiplash. That's not a funny thing to have I can tell you. I hope he recovers just fine.

Impact.jpg
 
Richard Wilks
Dzul said:
Well, despite the Halo protecting his cockpit, Hamilton did get the whole load of Verstappen's rear tyre ON his head and neck (see picture below) so we can't really know how serious that was was until a few days have passed... it may be equivalent to a mid-speed road accident with whiplash. That's not a funny thing to have I can tell you. I hope he recovers just fine.

View attachment 502610
Click to expand...
That shows me that no matter the amount of praise and weird adulation, the Halo is a deeply flawed half assed measure still. I will say what i said before, F1 cars should have gone full canopy already. The technology is there, and the cars are now heavier and much bigger than for example the early 90s 3.5L Group C cars. So they only have to widen the cockpit a bit more, and place a full canopy that either hinges both forwards and sideways, or has two tiny doors on the sides.
 
LeSunTzu
Dzul said:
Well, despite the Halo protecting his cockpit, Hamilton did get the whole load of Verstappen's rear tyre ON his head and neck (see picture below) so we can't really know how serious that was was until a few days have passed... it may be equivalent to a mid-speed road accident with whiplash. That's not a funny thing to have I can tell you. I hope he recovers just fine.

View attachment 502610
Click to expand...
Let me add a caption: "that's what you get when you don't give the space"
Not sure if it's a John Wayne or a Terminator quote, but it sure has style.
 
D
Richard Wilks said:
Altough i think both were to blame, i don't see what Max should "get". He was behind Hamilton, and had he not have gone for the move, he would have no other chance of doing it, and losing points was an assured conclusion of it. So he , unlike Hamilton, had absolutely nothing to lose in that situation, since his car was not that fast in a straight line to begin with.
So Max's choice was simple, i either back out and lose points, or try to go for the move and maybe have a chance to actually gain points.
Click to expand...
So according to you Max is right to take high risk dangerous moves but Lewis should not.
Also re: "he would have no other chance of doing it, "
The race isn't over until the flag drops and no one can predict the outcome.

The simple truth in all three scenarios
(
Silverstone Lewis at fault,
Monza Max squeezing Lewis and Lewis backing out
Max hitting Lewis
)
is don't put your car in a stupid place no matter who you are.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Richard Wilks
winston malcolm said:
So according to you Max is right to take high risk dangerous moves but Lewis should not.
Also re: "he would have no other chance of doing it, "
The race isn't over until the flag drops and no one can predict the outcome.

The simple truth in all three scenarios
(
Silverstone Lewis at fault,
Monza Max squeezing Lewis and Lewis backing out
Max hitting Lewis
)
is don't put your car in a stupid place no matter who you are.
Click to expand...
I don't remember saying anybody was "right". I said they were both at fault in this manouver. Both didnt think ahead beyond not letting the other get ahead at all costs. So if Max should "get" anything, Lewis should also.
 
BrainsBush
Wasn't it Lewis who started squeezing when coming out of the pitlane? As written earlier the incident/accident already started on the end of the straight before the chicane. Enough replay footage available on the internetz.

To squeeze or not to squeeze that's the question.

"Funny" to read all the comments from the Max and Lewis fans. Passionate as always. Personally I still try to be open minded unbiased without judging too soon. Yep like the dinosaurs a dying breed ;)
 
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S
Badwheels said:
Since I am on page 13 of the comments, I know no one will see this.

The cause of the crash between Lewis and Max was not either Lewis or Max's fault.
It was the shitty pit crews. An 11 second and 4 second pit stop ? Really ? They never should have been near each other. What a crock. Toto and Christian really need to be burning some asses this morning. I could have done 11 seconds by myself.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I'm probably around 30 minutes when I swap from summer to winter tires.
 
Appie Kuipers
Hamilton surprised that Max did‘nt check if he was ok, WHAT?, did he forget Silverstone:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
He begins to look like a child:cry:
 
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Stuart Thomson
Premium
OK, just so I'm up to speed, all the people who got into it after Silverstone are all in reversed positions after this one, I presume, based on the Stewards findings?

No?

I am shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you.

Personally, I still think Hamilton is the only one of the two of them who I've ever seen pull out of situations like this to fight another day, but I suspect that day might have passed.
 
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Stuart Thomson
Premium
Appie Kuipers said:
Hamilton surprised that Max did‘nt check if he was ok, WHAT?, did he forget Silverstone:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
He begins to look like a child:cry:
Click to expand...
I think it might have been easier this time as Verstappen's arse was about 6 inches from Hamilton's head and both were static. Hamilton was somewhere down the Hangar Straight the last time out. :)
 
PickABetterUsername01
Stuart Thomson said:
I think it might have been easier this time as Verstappen's arse was about 6 inches from Hamilton's head and both were static. Hamilton was somewhere down the Hangar Straight the last time out. :)
Click to expand...
Hamilton was on the throttle while Verstappen car was still on top of him, so yea everyone could tell he was fine.
 
Damage Inc
zwiss said:
And I agree it is very annoying that Lewis was extremely lucky that he could repair his car during the red flag in Silverstone.
And I also regret that Max had such rotten luck in Hungary (that's what it was...)
But you can not change the rules to compensate for the luck someone has and adapt the penalties to unrelated circumstances...
Luck has always been a part of F1 too... just check F1 history.

Let's hope Max gets his share of good luck soon.
Click to expand...
bad luck too....earliest memory of F1 is Mansells tyre blowing a robbing him of a WDC :(...I was gutted.
 
Damage Inc
Noztra said:
Those who still think it was Max fault at Silverstone, needs to see these two videos.
Click to expand...

I've said all along the only contributing factor from Max was the robust defence putting Lewis well off the racing line....Lewis should have gone on the outside IMO. Lewis made a rookie error, it's good to see the top drivers making mistakes though...but the penalty Lewis got was pathetic.

The arguments I've had with Numpties on facebook saying "what about all the space to the left of Verstappen"......I tried explaining "racing line" and "grip+marbles" to them to no avail.....clueless halfwits.
 
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Damage Inc
Dzul said:
Well, despite the Halo protecting his cockpit, Hamilton did get the whole load of Verstappen's rear tyre ON his head and neck (see picture below) so we can't really know how serious that was was until a few days have passed... it may be equivalent to a mid-speed road accident with whiplash. That's not a funny thing to have I can tell you. I hope he recovers just fine.

View attachment 502610
Click to expand...
Totally agree, but it's still a fluke that Max's car was flipped up in such a way to land the rear onto Lewis' head....it would have been similar to Henry Surtees (RIP). :(
 
Badwheels
RedDedRcDepartment said:
Let's be honest, you'd be spending 11 seconds at a corner trying to lift the wheel off as an amateur.
Click to expand...
Hmm.... the definition of " let's" means let us. Which assumes that I agree with your contention that I would perform as an amateur.
Nope.............................you are dead wrong. Try again.
 

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