Credit: Formula One
Though neither Oscar Piastri nor Lando Norris took the top step of the podium at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the McLarens were not left out of the spotlight. A slow pit stop for the Briton allowed Piastri to take over second place, and the team were forced into a late swap of positions after promising Norris that he would emerge ahead following his final stop, having allowed the Australian to pit first to cover Charles Leclerc.
All the debacle did was allow Max Verstappen to extend his lead on the way to his 66th race victory. Before the controversial events of Lap 47, it had been a relatively mellow outing for both of the boys in orange. Aside from some first-lap, first-corner drama between Norris and Verstappen, there had been little incident. Norris appeared to be forced onto the grass while alongside Verstappen on the approach to the first chicane, before the Dutchman was forced to cut the corner.
However, nothing came of it and, beyond that, Verstappen was hardly challenged once the pit stops had been completed, in part thanks to his Red Bull’s superior straight-line pace. He eventually took the chequered flag.
The events added another chapter to the Temple of Speed’s history of playing host to drama among Formula One title contenders, and, on occasion, the crowning of champions. It is a tale almost as old as the sport itself.
With the papaya controversy the latest page in the book, you only have to go back four years for the previous instalment, when a slow pit stop again contributed to an altercation between the top two.
That came in 2021, when Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton added more fuel to the fire of their championship battle, which became one of the most dramatic title fights in recent memory.
A Flying Dutchman
Before 12 September 2021, Hamilton had four wins to Verstappen’s five, with the Dutchman leading the championship. The fateful moment came on Lap 26.
Verstappen, having made his pit stop, was running eighth. He had spent much of the race before the crash stuck behind leader Daniel Ricciardo, himself driving a McLaren. Verstappen eventually found himself on the tail of Hamilton, who was just emerging from the pits.
The two made contact at the Prima Variante after Verstappen clipped the inside kerbs, launching the RB17 on top of Hamilton’s W12. As a result, the three-point gap between the pair in the standings remained unchanged, blowing the championship battle wide open with eight races remaining.
After Hamilton took three wins from the final four races, the pair went into Abu Dhabi level on points. Following a decision from Race Control to allow only the lapped cars between the two protagonists to unlap themselves, Verstappen was directly behind his rival for the final lap of the season. The Dutchman took the victory and, with it, his maiden world title.
Had both cars finished at Monza, the championship gap heading into the latter stages of the season could have looked very different.
The Grounded Finn
Twenty-two years earlier, in 1999, it was McLaren again who would end up in tears. Mika Häkkinen led the standings by one point from Eddie Irvine heading into the weekend and, having secured his 11th pole position of the season, led the race for the opening 30 laps.
His race ended in the gravel at the first corner, the Prima Variante. The Finn’s anguish was evident as the cameras caught him crying beneath the trees after his retirement.
Luckily for Häkkinen, Irvine managed only a sixth-place finish, which at the time was rewarded with just one point. Instead of Irvine taking the championship lead into the next race at the Nürburgring, the pair left Monza level on 60 points.
Häkkinen ultimately held on to claim his second consecutive title. The Finn may have won the championship, but his costly mistake at the Temple of Speed left him under considerable pressure until he finally established an unbeatable advantage at the Japanese Grand Prix that October.
Strained Anglo-German Relations
Next, we go back to 1995 and another flare-up in one of Formula One’s best-known rivalries: Damon Hill versus Michael Schumacher.
The pair had already been involved in a championship-deciding collision at the previous year’s Australian Grand Prix, where Schumacher moved across as Hill attempted to overtake. The collision sent Schumacher onto two wheels and out of the race while also damaging Hill’s suspension, forcing the Briton to retire and handing the German the title.
The following year’s race at Monza brought another collision, their second of the season after they had also come together at Silverstone.
Schumacher was 15 points ahead in the standings, with six wins to Hill’s three. On this occasion, however, the collision that ended both of their races was not entirely the result of their own battle. The slow-moving Taki Inoue was about to be lapped when the two championship contenders came together.
If nothing else, it was another flashpoint in their nearly two-year rivalry and left Hill with one fewer opportunity to chase down the Benetton driver.
Ultimately, he was unable to do so. Schumacher secured back-to-back titles at the Pacific Grand Prix at the Aida International Racing Course in Japan, leaving Hill to finish runner-up to his rival for the second consecutive season.
Japan would also be the place where the Briton finally secured his elusive World Championship in 1996.
When Monza rolls around during a Formula One season, fans get excited purely because of the history and stature of the circuit, as well as the extraordinary speeds it produces.
However, the archives suggest there is another reason to pay close attention. Time and again, championship contenders have found themselves at the centre of some of the Italian Grand Prix’s biggest talking points.
So, whenever Formula One returns to the Temple of Speed, it might be worth keeping an especially close eye on those fighting at the front.
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