F1: A look back at the Italian GP at Monza

In keeping with Verstappen’s previously bizarre record at Monza, the race finished at a crawl behind the safety car after a late retirement for Daniel Ricciardo left the Australian’s McLaren stranded on track. It wasn’t the outpouring of emotion at full racing speed Verstappen wanted, but it was 25 world championship points nonetheless.

The victory was Red Bull’s first at Monza since 2013 and the team’s 12th for the season; with six races to go, the 2013 high-water mark for the team (13 wins) is tantalizingly within reach.

For Verstappen, who takes a 116-point championship lead into the next race and can mathematically clinch a second successive world title in Singapore, his 11th win of the year usurped the 10 victories of last season. His 31st win in total saw him draw level with British great Nigel Mansell for seventh all-time in the F1 history books.

Leclerc, who made two pit stops to Verstappen’s one in an attempt to get back on terms with the rampant Red Bull pilot, finished second in front of Ferrari’s boisterous tifosi. George Russell had another strong run in what has been a first season of consistency at Mercedes, coming home in third place.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez had a more difficult race from 13th on the grid, but it was one that ended with points and plaudits after coming home sixth and earning an extra world championship point by setting the fastest lap on Lap 46 of 53
Here’s how Verstappen banished his Italian GP demons at Monza.

Decisive start leads to happy ending for Max

With his so-so Monza record and a jumbled-up grid, Verstappen was right to be wary of his chances for Sunday’s race. Three practice sessions showed he had the pace, but the Italian Grand Prix tends to be dictated by Saturday qualifying – and he had work to do from seventh on the grid after an engine penalty dropped him from the front row.

Before Sunday, 15 of the past 22 winners had started from pole position, and Monza has a way of throwing up surprise results. In 2019, Leclerc won just his second Grand Prix, while Pierre Gasly took his maiden (and so far only) F1 victory for Scuderia AlphaTauri 12 months later. Last year, Ricciardo won his first Grand Prix since 2018 – and McLaren’s first in nine years.
A raft of engine and gearbox-related penalties affecting nine of the 20 drivers meant that the qualifying results had little relevance to the line-up of the grid for Sunday’s 53-lap race. Only pole-sitter Leclerc began the race from where he’d qualified. The situation was so confusing that a starting grid wasn’t decided upon until three hours following the one-hour qualifying session.

In the wash-up, Verstappen took off from seventh after qualifying second, Pérez from 13th after finishing fourth in Q3, and fast front-runners Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) began from the very back.

In the wash-up, Verstappen’s getaway and first laps were the key. Fifth into the first corner, Verstappen was inside the top three within two laps and had pace and tire life in reserve. Leclerc pitted on Lap 12 under a Virtual Safety Car when Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin expired, but Verstappen stayed out until Lap 25, gapping the Monegasque with relentless ease.
Ferrari pitted Leclerc again to give him fresher, softer tires for the final 20 laps, but Verstappen never blinked, keeping the lead comfortably until Ricciardo’s late retirement bunched up the field. It slashed his winning advantage to a touch over two seconds, but it was a margin that underplayed his dominance.