AThe Formula 1 spectators have got used to orange as the color of the winner this season. But at the Italian Grand Prix it is not the Dutchman Max Verstappen who is at the top, but the Australian Daniel Ricciardo with a McLaren-Mercedes.
The traditional team had been without a win since November 2012. With Lando Norris in tow, the British racing team under German leadership in the Autodromo Nazionale in Monza even managed a double victory after 53 laps in front of the Finn Valtteri Bottas, who started from the very back. With all the joy of the variety, this order immediately raises the question: Where is Verstappen, where is Lewis Hamilton? With full speed into the drama of Monza.
The answer is a moment on lap 26, the decisive one in this race. Lewis Hamilton comes from his pit stop, he turns in a frenzied zipper process between Ricciardo and Verstappen again on the slope. It is only a few hundred meters to the first chicane, which lives up to its name.
The Mercedes already has a slight lead when it turns right. Immediately afterwards the left bend follows, it continues side by side. Now Hamilton is on the outside, Verstappen on the inside. Again, neither one leaves the other even a millimeter of space, although both of them know the old racing adage all too well: there is always only one space on the racing line. Hamilton is spreading, forcing the competitor further inside.
The Dutchman has nowhere to go, but is not behind either, at the apex of the curve he gets on the high curbs and shoots towards the Mercedes. The cars collide, the Red Bull Honda is lifted and crashes into Hamilton’s cockpit with full force. Only the safety bar called Halo probably prevents Hamilton from being killed. The champion instinctively ducks his head.
The title candidates are one behind the other in the gravel, what an aerial view. Verstappen is the first to jump out of his Red Bull and run across the piste as if he were afraid of being fisted. But Hamilton is still in the cockpit, trying to engage reverse gear to get back on the track. It’s pure despair. Memories of the runaway duel between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost are awakened.
Is that how this World Cup should be decided? Already at Silverstone the two clashed violently, at that time Hamilton was the beneficiary who could continue and drive to victory. This time the Dutchman can at least drag his opponent into ruin and is the beneficiary purely from the World Cup score, it stands 226.5 to 221.5. Regardless of the decision of the race stewards still pending at the time of going to press, the duel will come to a head before the decisive third of the season.
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