The mid-race Safety Car period caused by Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s collision in the Italian Grand Prix set the course of the race for those who hadn’t already pitted by that point.
The remaining drivers piled into the pits, got the one pit stop they were expected to make out of the way, and returned to the track. But the race wasn’t devoid of strategic intrigue.That was thanks to the fact that as it was a sprint qualifying weekend every driver had free choice of tyres to start the race. Hamilton was the only one in the top 10 to opt to start on hard tyres, presumably intending to extend his first stint in an attempt to pass the McLarens, though also allowing him to push harder in an attempt to make passes on track.
It didn’t seem to hinder Hamilton’s start – far from it. He briefly got the better of Lando Norris and got alongside Verstappen too. But it wasn’t until the end of the stint that Hamilton was able to use the advantage of his tyres to finally pass Norris on-track.
Pit stops were dictated by two things: absolute necessity and safety cars. The first happened as the lead cars found their starting medium tyres began to drop off dramatically, especially on the rear, Ricciardo pitting from the lead and Verstappen attempting to respond the following lap.
The second happened when Verstappen and Hamilton crashed – since it happened just as Hamilton was emerging from the pits, it very much opened the window for anyone still left to switch their tyres.
A lot of the top drivers had slow pit stops, most dramatically Verstappen’s disastrous, 11.1 second tyre change. However, Hamilton also had a noticeably slow stop and even Norris’s wasn’t as it maybe should have been. Red Bull told Verstappen that Ricciardo’s wasn’t very quick, though it turned out to be the fastest of the race, partly because many other drivers came in together during the subsequent Safety Car period.
Valtteri Bottas pace during both stints, and the time he gained during the Safety Car period, aided his climbed from the back of the grid to the bottom step of the podium – a superb effort. He was the fastest man on track for much of the grand prix until he got stuck in the queue headed by the McLarens.
Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest lap of the race as he passed the chequered flag for the win. He and team mate Norris showed just how quick the McLaren is when it gets to low fuel, the first and second across the line and in the fastest lap standings.
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2021 Italian Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2021 Italian Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2021 Italian Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2021 Italian Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’24.812 | 53 | |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’24.827 | 0.015 | 34 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’24.971 | 0.159 | 53 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’25.156 | 0.344 | 53 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’25.173 | 0.361 | 25 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’25.319 | 0.507 | 53 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’25.472 | 0.660 | 52 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’25.559 | 0.747 | 53 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’25.566 | 0.754 | 53 |
| 10 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’25.718 | 0.906 | 50 |
| 11 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’25.835 | 1.023 | 53 |
| 12 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’25.849 | 1.037 | 53 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’25.853 | 1.041 | 52 |
| 14 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’25.870 | 1.058 | 3 |
| 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’25.938 | 1.126 | 50 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’25.953 | 1.141 | 50 |
| 17 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’26.707 | 1.895 | 52 |
| 18 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’27.202 | 2.390 | 41 |
| 19 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’29.005 | 4.193 | 2 |
| 20 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda |
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2021 Italian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Ricciardo | C3 (22) | C2 (31) | ||
| Lando Norris | C3 (24) | C2 (29) | ||
| Sergio Perez | C3 (26) | C2 (27) | ||
| Valtteri Bottas | C2 (26) | C3 (27) | ||
| Charles Leclerc | C3 (26) | C2 (27) | ||
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | C3 (26) | C2 (27) | ||
| Lance Stroll | C3 (25) | C2 (28) | ||
| Fernando Alonso | C3 (25) | C2 (28) | ||
| George Russell | C3 (26) | C2 (27) | ||
| Esteban Ocon | C3 (26) | C2 (27) | ||
| Nicholas Latifi | C3 (23) | C2 (30) | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | C3 (22) | C2 (4) | C3 (27) | |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | C3 (1) | C2 (24) | C3 (28) | |
| Robert Kubica | C2 (26) | C3 (27) | ||
| Mick Schumacher | C3 (23) | C2 (30) | ||
| Nikita Mazepin | C3 (24) | C4 (4) | C2 (11) | C4 (2) |
| Lewis Hamilton | C2 (25) | C3 (0) | ||
| Max Verstappen | C3 (23) | C2 (2) | ||
| Pierre Gasly | C2 (3) |
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2021 Italian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 23.812 | 22 | |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 23.906 | 0.094 | 26 |
| 3 | George Russell | Williams | 24.156 | 0.344 | 26 |
| 4 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 24.168 | 0.356 | 23 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 24.168 | 0.356 | 24 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 24.283 | 0.471 | 26 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 24.308 | 0.496 | 26 |
| 8 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | 24.501 | 0.689 | 26 |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 24.557 | 0.745 | 26 |
| 10 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 24.714 | 0.902 | 23 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 24.797 | 0.985 | 25 |
| 12 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 24.806 | 0.994 | 28 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 24.846 | 1.034 | 25 |
| 14 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 24.928 | 1.116 | 24 |
| 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 25.157 | 1.345 | 22 |
| 16 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 25.619 | 1.807 | 25 |
| 17 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 25.927 | 2.115 | 26 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 30.333 | 6.521 | 26 |
| 19 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 30.551 | 6.739 | 25 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 30.917 | 7.105 | 39 |
| 21 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 32.456 | 8.644 | 23 |
| 22 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 37.190 | 13.378 | 1 |
2021 Italian Grand Prix
- Who was to blame for Hamilton and Verstappen’s collision at Monza?
- Friday qualifying needs earlier start after “nearly dark” Monza session – Ricciardo
- Drivers suggest sprint qualifying format changes after processional second race
- Sainz pleased for McLaren despite “worst possible” result for Ferrari
- Red Bull were advised Perez should let Leclerc past – Masi
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
12th September 2021, 22:19
Red Bull hasn’t seem to have put out a race report yet, so do we know why Max had such a slow pit stop? Looked like all the tires went on quickly.
I have an opinion
13th September 2021, 10:04
The pitstop was shown twice on the main feed – the second time (the replay) was from behind. All the old wheels came off quickly & the new ones seemed to go on routinely. Then there was a pause as the car was not cleared for release. The wheel gun was reapplied to the front right wheel, then the car was released.
I suspect that each wheel gun has a sensor that detects sufficient nut torque has been applied. These “green lights” get sent to a central detector which must receive four good signals before the car can be released.
I think the right front wheel gun operator had not realised that he was the source of the ” bad nut” signal and he had to be prompted to retighten it.