The second chicane at Monza did not bode well for Max Verstappen shortly after the start of the race, as things got too close twice between him and Mercedes
Max Verstappen and the two Mercedes drivers were involved in separate collisions at the start of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, prompting the reigning Formula 1 world champion to call for a penalty for Lewis Hamilton
Verstappen started from seventh place behind the two Mercedes on Sunday. Hamilton started the race from sixth on the grid and George Russell from third.
This gave him the chance to fight against the leading McLaren and the eventual race winner Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. But Russell was “surprised by Oscar (Piastri’s) braking point” in turn 1 and drove into the run-off zone, from where he rejoined the field close to Hamilton and Verstappen.
As they both passed Russell, the onboard footage shows Verstappen approaching Hamilton and positioning his nose next to the Mercedes’ right rear wheel. Hamilton drifted slightly to the right as they both approached the first apex of the second chicane
Verstappen: “I was penalized for something like that ”
Verstappen was squeezed on the outside line and the two touched on the turn-in. Hamilton was quick to say, “I got hit by Max – right rear wheel,” while Verstappen complained, “Lewis didn’t leave any car width,” later adding, “I got penalized for something like that, so… ”
George juuust gets the jump… but it’s Charles who makes the gains ⬆️
Onboard an epic start to the Italian Grand Prix F1 ItalianGP @awscloud F1Insights pic. twitter.com/v3z2RIfjEE
– Formula 1 (@F1) September 2, 2024
Verstappen’s momentary loss of speed as a result of the contact meant that Russell’s better line through the first apex allowed him to get his front wheels level with Verstappen’s rear wheels.
However, as they reached the exit of the second chicane, the Mercedes ran out of space and Verstappen’s left rear wheel hit Russell’s right endplate, prompting the Briton to say only: “I think the front wing is damaged.”
Verstappen, meanwhile, asked Red Bull to check his left rear wheel as he had “touched something” but was cleared to continue, as was Hamilton.
Russell has to change front wing after contact
Russell, on the other hand, “lost a huge amount of performance” due to his wing damage. He was left behind by Verstappen and overtaken by Sergio Perez in the other RB20 before he went into the pits to replace his front wing.
Although the Mercedes driver was ultimately able to recover and overtake Perez again, he finished the race 1.8 seconds behind Verstappen, while team-mate Hamilton finished 15.1 seconds ahead of Russell. All three completed two stops, as did the two McLaren cars further ahead
Mercedes chief engineer Andrew Shovlin reflected afterwards on how Russell’s damage after the collision with Verstappen “led to an early and long stop”.
He added: “We could potentially have gained a place on Verstappen if we had focused on a one-stop strategy, but ultimately the damage on the first lap was the bigger cost for us.”
Verstappen, for his part, was asked after the race whether he was happy with Hamilton’s driving after he indirectly called for a penalty on the radio and said: “You probably focus on the cars in front of you on the first lap and don’t look in the mirrors. That’s my only explanation.”
Incidentally, the incident was not shown during the live broadcast of the race, as the focus was on the internal McLaren battle on the first lap and a series of collisions in the early laps of the race involving Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg and the Racing Bulls drivers