VERSTAPPEN BREAKS MCLAREN’S WIN STREAK AT MONZA
Max Verstappen has won the Italian Grand Prix with a 20-second gap over the Mclaren’s cars and brings home both vitory trophies from Italian rounds this season.
Before the race even started, we had the first surprise, as Nico Hulkenberg had to crawl back into the pits due to a hydraulic issue, and was not able to start the race. A one-stop strategy race predicted by Pirelli, saw some different tyre choices between the drivers. Lawson was the only driver who risked the soft tires to try to gain positions from P18, but it also meant he would have immediately stopped to put the hard tires. Albon, Ocon, Stroll, Hadjar and Gasly went on hards, whilst the rest of the grid chose the mediums to finish the race on hards.
Verstappen did not have the best of the starts, as Lando Norris immediately approached the Red Bull driver into turn 1, but Max had to go off the track at turn 1, keeping the lead. The Dutch was then told to give the position back to avoid a penalty.
In the meanwhile , right behind Charles Leclerc gained a position over Piastri for the third place, as the Tifosi get excited in the grandstands at Monza.
However, it did not take long for both Norris and Charles to lose their respective positions, as both have been overtaken on the main straight. Max leads again ahead of Norris and Piastri.
Hamilton, who was given a 5-place grid penalty due to a yellow flag infringment at Zandvoort, started from P10, and within lap 10 he was already charging through the field in sixth.
Esteban Ocon was early given a 5 second time penalty due to forcing Lance Stroll of the track at the La Roggia chicane.
Max Verstappen has opened up a 5 second gap to Lando Norris in the first stint, demonstrating how strong Red Bull’s pace was at the Italian Grand Prix.
Bearman, alongside Lawson were the first drivers to stop into lap 19, both fitting on hard tires to go until the end of the race.
Some laps later, Fernando Alonso clipped the kerb at the exit of Ascari and had a suspension failure, forced to retire from the race while fighting for a P8.
While everyone stopped within the pit window, both McLarens have stayed out, to try an overcut on Verstappen and fit the soft tires at the end of the race, as they were also evaluating the possibility of a Safety car coming out towards the end.
It was on lap 45 and 46 respectively that the team from Woking decided to stop their cars, with Piastri being first and Norris the second one. However, Norris had a slow stop, 5.9s and was undercut but Piastri. The Australian came out from the pits 14s behind Max, but Mclaren told to swap the cars and let Norris through in order to re-establish the positions, which was not changed due to a mistake from Lando, but from the team.
The gap to Verstappen was then increased to over 20 seconds, and the race was over since both cars were not able to reduce the distance by over 3 seconds a lap to the Dutch.
Before the end of the race, Kimi Antonelli was given a 5 second time penalty for driving erratically against Alexander Albon, dropping the 8th place to Gabriel Bortoleto.
The Ferraris finished the race with one car on the top 5, with Charles Leclerc who finished ahead of Russell, while the 44 of Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in sixth. Alexander Albon was behind him with another great points finish, as Hadjar finished tenth starting from the pitlane.
Max Verstappen clinched his 66th win in his favourite way, taking pole position and winning the race by a large gap to the championship leaders. Formula 1 returns in two weeks time at Baku, in Azerbaijan.
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