“Max’s was catastrophically slow” – Former F1 champion Damon Hill believes Max Verstappen losing his lead to Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap indirectly led to McLaren achieving 1-2 at Monza.
After the events at Monza, many are of the opinion that had Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton not collided, McLaren would not have won the Italian Grand Prix.
One person doesn’t believe this one bit, and that is former F1 champion Damon Hill. He is of the opinion they would have anyway won it, due to Daniel Ricciardo taking over Verstappen in the opening moments and the slow pit stops by both Red Bull and Mercedes, just moments before the scary collision.
“I think they [McLaren] probably would have [still won]. Don’t forget they [Hamilton and Verstappen] tripped over themselves, they both had very slow pit-stops, and Max’s was catastrophically slow.
“But they were struggling to make grounds on the McLarens who actually had the pace.
“I think that they [McLaren] could have pulled it off all the way to the end, because at the end they were really racing against what was left of the field, and they managed to hold their own.
“I genuinely think that was a proper race win. They were there on merit, and they won on merit, and their pace was there.
“I was there for the celebrations afterwards. Obviously, it’s a long time since McLaren have had a race win, let alone have a 1-2. Seeing [the team] so happy, that sort of summed up the weekend really.
“There were so many elements to the race, having the sprint in it as well, including the sweetness of McLaren winning, and the sourness of Mercedes and Red Bull and Max and Lewis clashing, so ups and downs.”
