Hamilton loses out after poor start, Bottas wins but Verstappen on pole position
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Valtteri Bottas has won the sprint race to pick up three World Championship points but will start from the back of the grid after taking an engine penalty. His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton lost out with a poor getaway off the line. The Mercedes driver will start from fifth place, and as a result of the Mercedes trouble, his rival Max Verstappen moves up to pole position. The Dutchman extends his World Championship lead by two points. Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top three.
Hamilton lost out massively at the start. He had some wheelspin at the start and dropped down to as far as fifth for the safety car restart. The safety was trigged by Pierre Gasly who crashed on the opening lap.
The safety car was out for three laps, which fell positively into the hands of the drivers on soft tyres. This included the McLaren drivers who managed to keep Hamilton behind for the duration of the sprint race.
Verstappen didn't need to push hard to chase Bottas because of the impending penalty. Verstappen will start from pole position for the 11th time in his career, and his eighth of the 2021 season. It's by far his best start at an Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton loses out
Bottas, Hamilton and Verstappen all started on the medium tyre. The McLaren's behind however were looking to make moves with both on the soft tyres. The rest of the top ten used the medium compounds. The Pirelli model suggests the soft tyres fade in performance after 15 laps.
Hamilton had a poor start to the race and dropped down to fifth. This promoted Verstappen to P2 and left the British driver with some work to do. Pierre Gasly had some contact in the midfield at turn one. He then lost control and ran into the gravel trap which triggered the first safety car in an F1 sprint race.
At the restart, Bottas managed to keep Verstappen in his mirrors and ran away to take the win in the sprint race. Hamilton found himself in DRS range of fourth-placed Lando Norris, but he couldn't find a way through. Sergio Perez was put under invesitgtion after some trouble overtaking Lance Stroll.
In their home race, the Ferrari drivers start from P6 and P7 whilst home favourite Antonio Giovinazzi starts from eighth. Perez managed to hold P9.