Sunday at the 'temple of speed' proved to be one of the most successful days in recent memory for Australian motorsport, with two superstars from down under claiming victory in their respective Formulas.

Daniel Ricciardo crossed the line in P1 to record McLaren's first F1 race win and '1-2' finish since 2012 whilst budding star Oscar Piastri brought home the victory in the Formula 2 feature race to extend his lead in the championship.

Here is how the inter-webs reacted to a stacked day of action at Monza.

Riccy-Bobby breaks his duck

Since leaving Red Bull at the end of 2018 it's been no secret that Daniel Ricciardo has struggled to recapture his form he displayed at the team from Milton-Keynes.

That all changed on Sunday afternoon with the 32-year-old claiming victory after leading for practically the whole race, benefitting massively from pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas' grid-penalty.

Nevertheless the man from Perth looked assured up front and was never seriously threatened across the whole 53 laps.

The universally revered 'Honey Badger' copped an immense amount of gratitude from all corners of the grid, including his fiercest rivals.

 

Historic day for Team Papaya

McLaren hadn't tasted victory nor a 1-2 finish in almost a decade with the team from Woking not having seen the top step of the podium since Interlagos 2012.

Nevertheless Team Papaya, headed by Zak Brown, finally got their drought-breaker - and it was perfect - with a 1-2 finish courtesy of the prodigious Lando Norris playing rear-gunner for Ricciardo in the closing laps, holding off Sergio Perez and the rapidly-closing Valtteri Bottas.

 

Shoey spectacular

Ricciardo's trademark 'shoey' celebration - where the eight-time race winner drinks podium champagne from his shoe - was on the cards for the whole McLaren outfit who were stood upon the podium.

Even team boss Zak Brown got in on the action, following the drivers lead.

It's safe to say not everyone was a fan of chugging wine out of a shoe that has been in a F1 cockpit for 53 laps.

 

Hamilton + Verstappen = noย Bueno

For the second time this year championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen came to blows, this time resulting in both drivers retiring following a clash at Turn 1.

Verstappen's 11-second pit stop only laps prior to the incident meant he was put right back into the thick of the podium fight, with Hamilton re-joining the track after his switch from hard to medium-compounded tyres.

What happened next would go down as one of the landmark crashes in the tale of this season.

Despite both drivers being okay, the halo of Lewis Hamilton's W12 was the hero of the hour with the ring keeping the rear tyre of the Red Bull off of the seven-time world champion's head.

It goes without saying that the absence of the safety mechanism that was introduced in season 2018 would have surely changed the consequences of the accident.

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Although the incident was interpreted by many to be a racing incident, the FIA stewards ruled that Verstappen was at fault for the accident and therefore awarded a three-place grid penalty which will be served at the next race in Sochi.

 

 

Piastri powers onย 

Ducking down the Formulas into the second-tier global competition, Melbourne-born Formula 2 rookie Oscar Piastri secured his first feature race win of the year and extended his lead in the F2 drivers championship.

Piastri, the 2020's Formula 3 champion, burst onto the F2 scene earlier in the year winning the second sprint race in Bahrain before stringing together consistent results to lead the championship in his Prema.

Despite his incredible run this year in F2 the 20-year-old hasn't been rumoured to be in the running for a Formula 1 seat in 2022, a mind-boggling fact considering his talent.

Fellow Alpine Academy driver and championship rival Guanyu Zhou is reportedly in line for an Alfa Romeo seat, with the UNI-Virtuosi driver allegedly pledging 30 million euros to secure the seat and partner Valtteri Bottas.

Piastri however is still gunning for another elevation to a higher Formula for a second successive year and is refusing to give up hope of racing in the top tier in 2022.

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Round 15 of the 2021 F1 season takes to Russia in a fortnight's time, with the Sochi Autodrome playing host to what is sure to be a thrilling race weekend.