Max Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix in Formula 1 on Sunday and thus remained within touching distance of his second Formula 1 title in a row. Championship leader Verstappen claimed his first win at Monza and his fifth GP in a row after battling from seventh on the grid to beat Charles Leclerc across the line on another difficult day for Ferrari. The Red Bull driver is 116 points ahead of Leclerc in the drivers’ standings after winning a race whose last six laps were driven by the safety car after Daniel Ricciardo lost his bike and landed on the side of the track.
“We had a great race, we were fastest on every compound,” said Verstappen, who had never made it to the podium at Monza and started Sunday’s race with a grid penalty.
With six races to go, the Dutchman could win the driver’s crown at the Singapore GP next month.
The Monza crowd cheered and whistled loudly as the cars crossed the line as they were denied the chance to watch their man Leclerc try to overtake the dominant Verstappen, who won his 11th race of the season.
“The end was frustrating, I wish I could have raced a little bit at the end, unfortunately we came second because of what happened before,” said Leclerc.
The Monegask appeared frustrated after Ferrari’s plan to get into the pits early to switch from soft to medium tires failed.
“Obviously we finished P2, so I’m not very happy with the race, but we’ll work on that,” Leclerc added.
“I think the pace was pretty high today, we’ll have to look into it because we were pretty strong, but it wasn’t enough.”
Mercedes’ George Russell rounded out the podium, while Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz rose from 18th on the starting grid to fourth.
Ferrari falls short
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton also raced from the back of the Mercedes to finish an impressive fifth, while a delighted Nyck de Vries scored points on his F1 debut by finishing ninth as a replacement for Williams’ Alex Albon.
Leclerc started on pole and held off an early pass from Russell to retain first place, while Verstappen already burst through the pack.
Verstappen started seventh and moved up four places by the end of the first lap. He led Russell on lap five to spot Leclerc.
Verstappen took the lead on lap 13 when a virtual safety car was introduced after Sebastian Vettel crashed and Leclerc made a pit stop.
Leclerc entered the track without major accidents, unlike last week’s Dutch GP, but Ferrari’s tactical move would eventually cost them the race.
Verstappen went to the pits on lap 26 to change from his soft to medium and rejoined just behind Leclerc with the same compound his Ferrari rival had already driven around the track 13 times.
That tire wear made all the difference as Leclerc handed Verstappen the win by pitting again only to go back to softs seven laps later.
“It was really good on the tyres, it was really fun to drive today,” said Verstappen. “A great day for us. It took a while, but in the end we won it.”
Daniel Ricciardo’s race ended with six laps to go and his car was stuck next to the track, allowing everyone to enter the pits knowing that a safety car would arrive.
promoted
What they didn’t know was that the car would stay on the track until the end of the race, meaning Verstappen sauntered across the line for a win that probably would have come anyway.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article