Max Verstappen slowed McLaren’s Formula One dominance on Sunday with a phenomenal display of driving on his way to victory at the Italian Grand Prix, the fastest ever race in the sport’s history.
Starting from pole, reigning world champion Verstappen completed a magical weekend at Monza, which included the fastest lap ever in F1 during Saturday’s qualifying by schooling McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at Monza.
Red Bull’s Verstappen has little chance of securing a fifth straight drivers’ title as he still trails championship leader Piastri by 94 points, with the Australian finishing third.
“It was really enjoyable,” said Verstappen, who took the chequered flag in 1hr 13mins 24.325sec. “I think we pitted at the right time and with the hard tyres at the end you can push a bit more… It was a fantastic execution by everyone.
“I think the whole weekend we were all in. It was super enjoyable to win here.”
Red Bull Racing’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen races during the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit, in Monza, northern Italy on September 7. — AFP
Piastri leads the drivers’ standings by 31 points from Norris, who finished second and would have finished third behind his teammate due to an awful pit stop had McLaren not enforced a position swap between the pair.
“I always know it’s going to be a good fight with Max and it was,” said Norris. “But just not the speed today, not the pace of Max and the Red Bull. But it was still fun, still a good race.”
Charles Leclerc, last year’s winner and the last driver to win at Monza from pole position back in 2019, couldn’t take a podium spot for the massed ranks of Ferrari fans in the stands, the Monegasque finishing fourth.
Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton gave it his best shot after a five-place grid penalty had him bumped back to 10th at the start, charging up to sixth thanks to some spectacular driving early in the race.
But the seven-time F1 champion couldn’t push past his former Mercedes teammate George Russell and was left with another underwhelming result in his first Monza GP with Ferrari.
Verstappen show
Sunday’s win, which hinged on a bold overtaking move against Norris on lap four, was just Verstappen’s third of a season dominated by a McLaren car, which has blown away the competition by winning all but four GPs.
But a second win in Italy this year, after triumphing in the last Emilia Romagna GP back in May, caps a historic weekend for the blunt 27-year-old.
Verstappen was forced to allow Norris into first place after a frantic start in which he appeared to force his British rival off the track.
That move caused Norris to call Verstappen an “idiot” over the team radio, but he was soon back behind the Dutchman, who took control of the race by passing Norris with a daring move at the chicane on lap four.
McLaren’s Australian driver Oscar Piastri makes a pit stop during the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit, in Monza, northern Italy, on September 7. — AFP
From there, Verstappen sped off into the distance, developing a gap of around six seconds over Norris by the time he pitted to switch from medium to hard tyres on lap 38.
Verstappen only lost two places in the pits and soon closed the gap again on the two McLarens, who left it very late to pit, with Norris not heading into the box until lap 47.
That slow pit stop left Norris third, bringing back memories of the mechanical failure at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, which cost him 18 points in his title battle with Piastri.
But with the race effectively won by Verstappen at that point, McLaren ordered Piastri to let Norris pass so that another case of bad luck didn’t cost him.
It was a gesture which caused Verstappen to chuckle on the Red Bull team radio as he was left to cruise around the track on his way to a hugely impressive victory.
