Monza GP: Max wins 5th race in a row

Max Verstappen charged from seventh on the grid to beat Charles Leclerc and deny Ferrari a home F1 victory at Monza.

Despite starting from seventh because of a grid penalty for using too many engine parts, Verstappen breezed his way to a fifth successive win to edge closer to winning a second world championship title. 

Unstoppable Max at Monza

An 11th victory in 16 races has given Verstappen an 116-point lead over Leclerc. He could wrap up the world championship as early as the next race in Singapore. 

Verstappen was already up to third by the first turn at the start of the second lap.

Having dived down the inside of George Russell’s Mercedes on Lap 5, Verstappen then set about catching pole sitter Leclerc. 

Red Bull opted to keep Verstappen out during a Virtual Safety Car period on Lap 12 to favour track position. Meanwhile Ferrari brought Leclerc in for medium tyres. 

Ferrari lacking pace

Despite Ferrari’s gamble on an aggressive two-stop strategy, Leclerc never looked to have the pace to reduce the near-20-second gap to Verstappen. 

A Safety Car was called after McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo ground to halt on Lap 47. A slow recovery of his car meant there was no time to restart the race.

Russell completed the podium in third place behind Verstappen and Leclerc. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton recovered from 18th and 19th to take fourth and fifth respectively. 

Sixth place went the way of Sergio Perez, who finished ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. 

After being called up as a late stand-in to replace the unwell Alex Albon, Nyck de Vries turned in a brilliant drive to score points on his F1 debut. He sealed ninth place ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou. 

Monza Top 10 with Max Win