2021 Italian Grand Prix - Ricciardo snatches maiden F1 win with McLaren as top-two title rivals collided out

Daniel Ricciardo ends his three-year long wait since his last win at 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, by winning the incident-packed Italian Grand Prix race. This became the Australian-Italian driver's first win under McLaren livery, since his departure from Red Bull to Renault in 2019, before being sacked from Renault in 2020. The majority of Ricciardo's race wins came when he was raced for Red Bull from 2014 until 2018.

Ricciardo suddenly found himself leading the race after both of the top-2 title protagonists Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) collided out of the race. Since then until the checkered flag waved, Ricciardo never looked back. He won the race by 1.7 seconds ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris who took his career best race finish. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) completed the podium in third place after Sergio Perez (Red Bull) handed a five-second time penalty.

- What went wrong between Verstappen and Hamilton?

For the first time since 2016 Spanish GP, both top-two title rivals collided each other out of the race.

The rivalry between Verstappen and Hamilton for the 2021 Formula 1 world title continues to heat, as they both collided each other while battling for the race lead. Hamilton just exiting the pits while Verstappen attempted to overtake him; however Verstappen didn't get enough space for overtaking Hamilton, causing the the two collided each other out of the race with both drivers survived from that incident without any serious injuries. Based on replay cameras, it was revealed by commentators that it was Verstappen's fault, concerning FIA race direction to give the Dutchman a grid penalty for the next race at Russian Grand Prix.

"It's days like today, I am reminded of how lucky I am. It takes a millisecond to go from racing to a very scary situation. Today someone must have been looking down, watching over me! My necks a bit sore as the adrenaline wears off - it was a bit of a hit on the head, so naturally I have one big headache but I'm doing okay! The halo stopped the crash from being a lot worse and I'm incredibly grateful to all those that work to make our cars and racing safer" said Hamilton on his Instagram post after being collided by title rival Verstappen in Italian Grand Prix. The 2nd photo on Hamilton's Instagram post shows that Hamilton's 'halo' was being hit by Verstappen's rear right hard compound tire. After the FIA reviewed that incident, the race direction will give penalty points to Verstappen's license for "endangering other driver's (Hamilton) life".

Italian GP 2021 full race results

WATCH: Verstappen and Hamilton collided each other out of Italian GP race (key moment of 2021 F1 world title fight)