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Finally a clean race with no safety cars or red flags on a track I thought would have several of each on race day.

Now for Monza where Mercedes will flip the title back.

Mercedes lock out the first row for the sprint qualifying tomorrow as expected except that Bottas has pole over Hamilton.

Plenty of mix up pulling out of garages from teams waiting to see who blinks first and who gets the best tow. I can't recall what race it was but maybe the Argentine when everybody waited so long nobody got a time. That was in the seventies or eighties.

Valtteri Bottas will start Sunday's Italian Grand Prix from the back of the grid having taken a raft of new power unit components, but, after taking P1 in qualifying on Friday, the Mercedes driver is still convinced he can score solidly in Sunday's race.

This being Bottas last season with Mercedes means imho anything can be expected from him....I simply don't trust him.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen will start the Italian Grand Prix from pole with title rival Lewis Hamilton only fourth.

Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas won the 'sprint' qualifying race but will start last after taking a penalty for a power unit change.

Hamilton finished behind McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris after an uncharacteristically poor start.

Verstappen now leads Hamilton by five points in the title race after taking two points for second in the sprint.

Bottas took three points for first and Ricciardo one for third.

I knew McClaren were going to be competative but I'm still surprised Lewis couldn't find a way past Lando.

McClaren one two finish with Riccardo taking first place from the start and fun to see a shoey again.

Lewis and Max. What can you say? Amazing that they both have terrible pit stops and find themselves for the second time this race locking horns in a chicane! I don't know this will be ruled but at least they both had DNFs unlike Silverstone and the halo again proves it's worth.

McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian Grand Prix after a frightening crash between title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Red Bull's Verstappen flipped up beside Hamilton as the pair battled for position, the rear of Verstappen's car landing on Hamilton's Mercedes, the halo head protection device possibly saving the seven-time champion from injury.

Both retired, beached in the gravel, meaning Verstappen remains five points ahead of Hamilton in the title race.

However, the Dutchman was handed a three-place grid penalty by stewards after the race, to be taken at the Russian Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

Ricciardo's British team-mate Lando Norris was second after a brilliant late overtake, handing the team a first one-two since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix and their first victory in nearly a decade.

Ricciardo screamed over team radio as he crossed the line: "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Yes! For anyone who thought I left, I never left. Thanks guys."

Poor Lando and McClaren muff the final laps and a very good chance for the win. Max drives a fine race going from last on the grid to second place finish. Thankfully all the drama did not involve collisions.

Valtteri Bottas won the Turkish Grand Prix as second place for Max Verstappen returned the Red Bull driver to the championship lead.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth, disagreeing with his team over the radio over their decision to make a late pit stop for tyres that dropped him down from third.

Verstappen leads Hamilton by six points with six races remaining this season.

In a tense race on a slippery track, Red Bull's Sergio Perez took third ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Bottas drove an impressively dominant race for Mercedes to take his first win of the season, comfortably able to stay ahead of Verstappen, who was not able to take advantage of the wet track to challenge the Finn.

Hamilton, who started 11th after a penalty for using too many engine parts, was up to third with 10 laps to go after a strong drive and some impressive overtaking moves, and wanted to hang on to the end on the same set of intermediate tyres on which he started the race.

Hamilton fought against a series of calls from Mercedes to call him into the pits, as the team feared his tyres dropping off badly in the closing laps and leaving him vulnerable to Perez, Leclerc and Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly behind.

Eventually, Mercedes ordered Hamilton in with eight laps to go, but he ran into problems with his new tyres and expressed his anger over the radio as he fought to hold off Gasly, having lost places to Perez and Leclerc.

"We shouldn't have come in, man," Hamilton said. "I have massive graining. I told you."

Had he been able to hold in third place, Hamilton would have trailed Verstappen by only one point.

The United States Grand Prix was a race that encapsulated the 2021 Formula 1 season so far - incredibly close, tense and gripping, decided by fine margins, and ending with Max Verstappen's Red Bull on top.

Verstappen's eighth victory in 17 races was one of the best of his career. It was founded on typically aggressive and dynamic Red Bull strategy.

And, in burying the impression that Mercedes were building a potentially title-winning advantage with their car, it re-established Verstappen as the man with the strongest hand as one of the best title battles for years heads into its climax.

At Mercedes, meanwhile, they were left asking themselves questions as to whether, after Lewis Hamilton took the lead at the start, they could have done anything to win the race.

Had Hamilton won, he would have retaken the championship lead.

Instead, the 14-point net swing that Verstappen secured by holding off the charging seven-time champion in an exciting finale secured the Dutchman a 12-point lead heading into the final five races and arguably re-established him as the favourite to win his first world title.