F1 2021 - Race 2
After what felt like a very long break, F1 was back this weekend in Italy. An exciting end to the last race set up what will hopefully be a season-long battle between Hamilton and Verstappen.
In the other Mercedes, Valterri Bottas gave us a strong start to the weekend, topping the timing charts in both FP1 and FP2. Lando Norris continued his strong form, finishing 2nd in FP3. This set up quite the unknown qualifying session on Saturday, with the Practice sessions giving us a variety of results.
In the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez had a fantastic Saturday. He scored his first ever front row start for the grid on Sunday after finishing P2 in qualifying. He had been pretty absent in the Practice sessions, but those are not always representative of speed, as different drivers can be practicing different strategies, some are on long race runs and some are testing raw pace. Unfortunately, Perez’s weekend didn’t end well, and he didn’t even score any points, finishing P11 on Sunday afternoon.
There was a big crash, which usually changes the race a fair amount due to the deployment of the safety car, pit stops, and the occasional red flag. Bottas and George Russell had a heavy coming together, with Russell appearing extremely angry, although arguably he was the one to point the finger at after viewing the replay. Shortly after that incident, Hamilton went off and we thought it was going to be a double DNF for Mercedes, but in true Hamilton style, he kept the car running and just pitted for a new front wing.
Back in the “first” Red Bull, Verstappen gave us a sublime drive, winning the race by over 20 seconds. The battle for 2nd place was the interesting fight, with Lando Norris giving Lewis Hamilton a proper run for his money, and Hamilton eventually gaining the place after a DRS boost on one of the straights. It was great to see Norris back on the podium after his impressive start to the 2021 season. Also an impressive recovery drive from Hamilton after his off shortly after the Bottas-Russell incident. That’s now one each for Hamilton and Verstappen..
