Verstappen wins Italian GP but anti-climactic finish draws anger

Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen took his fifth win in a row from seventh place in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, as Red Bull outfoxed Ferrari in a strategic battle.

A bet on a one-stop strategy versus a situational two-stop for Leclerc looked set to translate into a very comfortable win for Verstappen – and while the safety car being sent out threatened a late twist, the race could not be restarted in time.

It meant Verstappen celebrated his 11th win of the season, and his first-ever podium at Monza.

Debutant Nyck de Vries picked up two points for ninth as stand-in for the appendicitis-stricken Alex Albon.

A marginally better start reaction from poleman Leclerc did not deter Mercedes driver George Russell from attacking for the lead into Turn 1, the Briton waiting for Leclerc to cover the inside into Variante del Rettifilo and then instead trying to sneak around the outside – only to be promptly run out of room. “He pushed me wide,” Russell objected on the radio, but the stewards elected not to investigate.

Behind, Verstappen immediately gained one position through a hideous start for Lando Norris and another by outdragging Fernando Alonso to Turn 1. The sister AlphaTauri car of Pierre Gasly was dispatched with into Ascari, and Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren yielded on the main straight, bringing Verstappen into a podium position after just one lap.

On lap five, with Leclerc still in range ahead, Verstappen sent it down the inside of Russell into Turn 1 from quite far back, making it stick and setting about his Leclerc chase. But catching right up to the Monegasque seemingly proved complicated – and Verstappen hadn’t even broached the one-second barrier by the time the virtual safety car came out on lap 12.

The culprit was Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin, running 12th when it spewed out a cloud of smoke as before coming to a complete halt.

Leclerc elected to come into the pits to swap softs for mediums while the VSC was still active, but Verstappen chose not to, inheriting the lead – with the VSC withdrawn as Leclerc’s Ferrari was travelling towards pit exit, still allowing him to rejoin just ahead of fourth-placed Ricciardo.

And moments later that fourth place belonged to his team-mate Carlos Sainz – who, from the back of the grid, picked off Red Bull’s Sergio Perez early on (with a bit of contact coming out of Rettifilo) before absolutely scything his way through a Ricciardo-led ‘DRS train’.

Leclerc cycled back into the lead when Verstappen came into the pits just short of half-distance for his own soft-to-medium switch, coming out 10 seconds behind the Monegasque. And once Verstappen closed that gap down to five seconds, Leclerc was called in for his second stop, fitting another set of softs.

But the Ferrari man came out almost 20 seconds down on Verstappen, and made minimal inroads on that gap until Ricciardo’s McLaren expired between the Lesmo corners while running eighth with five laps to go.

Russell took the opportunity to swap to fresh tyres, but Verstappen and Leclerc managed to do likewise a lap later without losing position – and as clean-up continued and the field took a while to get bunched up behind the safety car, it became clear the race would not be resumed in earnest.

Verstappen, therefore, claimed the win ahead of Leclerc, Russell and Sainz.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton made his way from the back row to fifth place despite his W13 being clobbered by debris from Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas on the opening lap, Bottas having collided with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

Perez looked on course for retirement when he came in for an eighth-lap pitstop with smoke coming from the right front of his Ferrari, yet managed to continue and would ultimately salvage sixth.

Norris, making a strategy of an extended first stint work nicely, looked in with a good chance of fighting off Hamilton but paid the price for a slow pitstop, with Hamilton passing both him and Pierre Gasly out of Rettifilo in one move after Norris emerged from the pits.

The McLaren man settled for seventh ahead of Gasly, who spent much of the race running right behind Ricciardo and unable to make a move – at one point getting ahead only to fail to get the car stopped into Turn 1.

Despite Ricciardo’s retirement, Norris’ result meant a six-point swing towards McLaren in the battle for fourth in the constructors’ championship versus Alpine, who had Esteban Ocon out of the points and Fernando Alonso retire with a suspected water pressure issue while running behind Norris in the same strategy.

P9 and points on debut 🙌

A day @nyckdevries will remember forever! #ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/cpbssS6n8b

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2022

Retirements for Ricciardo and Alonso proved fortuitous for de Vries but he drove an impressive debut race regardless, making a soft-medium strategy work and seeing off Alfa Romeo rookie Zhou Guanyu late on – aided by a gap being created between them when they took turns observing blue flags for Verstappen.

Race Results