Bottas wins Monza F1 sprint as Hamilton slips to fifth
Bottas controlled the 18-lap race at Monza that determines the grid for Sunday’s grand prix, though the Finn will start from the back and not pole position after moving onto his fourth power unit of the season.
A dramatic start saw Hamilton bog down off the line and drop behind main rival Verstappen before he was then mugged by the McLaren pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, whose gamble to start on soft tyres paid off as they moved up to third and fourth respectively at Turn 1.
Hamilton was unable to find a way past the McLaren drivers on his way to a frustrating fifth as he paid the price for making a poor start, enabling Verstappen to extend his championship lead to five points with his second-place finish, which also gives the Dutchman pole.
Ricciardo completed the top three to claim the final point on offer for McLaren, ahead of his teammate Norris.
The 100km sprint was punctuated by a safety car on the opening lap when AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly crashed at Curva Grande after damaging his front wing when he tagged the back of a McLaren at the first corner.
Robert Kubica, deputising for Kimi Raikkonen, was tagged into a spin at the Variante della Roggia by Yuki Tsunoda amid a frantic first lap.
Behind Hamilton came the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in sixth and seventh, while Antonio Giovinazzi made up ground early on and held off Sergio Perez to take a strong eighth for Alfa Romeo.
Perez and Lance Stroll rounded out the rest of the top 10 for Red Bull and Aston Martin.
Full Sprint Qualifying results for the 2021 F1 Italian Grand Prix.
