Feature

F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2021 Italian Grand Prix

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Yuki Tsunoda (Did not start): 5/10
Yuki Tsunoda was rather charming when he admitted that he was surprised to have been retained by AlphaTauri for 2022 after all the mistakes that he'd made so far this season. But he wasn't wrong, and unfortunately the Italian GP was another example of his troubles. Only 14th and 15th in the two practice sessions, he missed the cut at the end of qualifying after his final lap time (which would have got him through) was deleted for exceeding track limits. He then fell over Robert Kubica at the start of the sprint race, although it didn't make any difference to his starting position in the end. Then on the way to the grid the car developed a mechanical problem which proved impossible for the team to repair in the time remaining before the start, meaning Tsunoda's day was done.

Pierre Gasly (Retired lap 4): 7/10
While his team mate was in all sorts of bother, Pierre Gasly was showing the true potential of the AlphaTauri at Monza. Fifth fastest in FP1, he lined up in sixth place for Saturday afternoon's sprint race. Unfortunately he clipped the back of Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren at the start and - while the damage initially didn't appear too bad - the front wing subsequently dislodged a couple of corners later and he slid out of control into the gravel. It meant he was going to have to start the Grand Prix from pit lane, but before that happened the car suffered a sticking throttle that meant it would have been dangerous for him to proceed, and so he was forced to join Tsunoda in the garage as the pit crew started packing up early. A sad end for Gasly, who was celebrating the anniversary of his maiden F1 victory here 12 months ago.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.