Verstappen Wins Italian Grand Prix After Charge From Seventh

Max Verstappen has won the sixteenth round of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy. This win has extended the reigning champion’s lead to the point where it is mathematically possible for him to win the Drivers’ Championship trophy at Singapore in three weeks’ time.

It didn’t take long for the Dutchman to work his way to the front – as has been the trend in the recent races. Verstappen made his way up to fourth by the end of the first lap and extended his stint, while Charles Leclerc pitted several laps earlier than his rival. The number one driver spent the majority of the race in the lead, and was able to capitalise on a late-race safety car in order to get a free pitstop. Scuderia Ferrari also pitted, hoping for the race to be restarted, but were unable to challenge as the Safety Car would not pit until the end of the final lap.

Sergio Pérez had an eventful race, with his first pitstop resulting in a small fire on his front-right brake disk. The fire would eventually extinguish naturally, but the luck would get worse for the Mexican, who pitted in the latter stages of the race as he was being chased by Lewis Hamilton. However, the deployment of the Safety Car meant he would not get a chance to overtake Hamilton and re-claim his position, resulting in a sixth place finish. Pérez did, however, score the extra point for fastest lap.

The rest of the podium

Whatever Ferrari threw at them, Oracle Red Bull Racing had an answer, as is expected with the incredible combination of Verstappen and the RB18 this season. Leclerc was unable to close the gap to leader, Verstappen, after his switch to the Soft tyre in the second stint, and would cross the line in second place. Team-mate, Carlos Sainz, made a good recovery to finish fourth after taking an engine penalty and starting eighteenth.

George Russell took the final podium spot for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team after starting second on the grid. The Briton couldn’t quite keep up with Verstappen and Leclerc in his W13 today, but was able to score valuable points for the Silver Arrows. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was able to recover to fifth place after taking a grid penalty and starting nineteenth. The number forty-four driver took the start slowly and temporarily got stuck in a DRS train; but made a lot of progress in the second stint – with a lovely double-overtake during his charge.

What happened behind?

Lando Norris was the only finisher for McLaren F1 Team, after Daniel Ricciardo pulled over in the dying laps of the race with a mechanical issue. The papaya-coloured team started the race from third and fourth after grid penalties were applied, but a bad start for Norris would drop him down the pack on lap one. Ricciardo remained in the running for a good finish for the majority of the race before his issue hit. Norris was able to recover to take the best of the rest position of seventh place.

Image: Glenn Dunbar/McLaren F1 Press Site.

Pierre Gasly was able to convert his sixth place starting position to a points finish on Sunday afternoon, crossing the chequered flag in eighth place. The Frenchman was within a chain of cars for the majority of the race and had promising pace, including a fun battle with Ricciardo. Yuki Tsunoda started the race from the back of the grid as a result of power unit penalties and reprimands, and would finish the race in fourteenth.

Nick De Vries was able to hold on to ninth place at the end of the race – with the help of the safety car – to score two points in his Formula 1 debut! The Dutchman replaced Alexander Albon for the weekend after the Thai/British driver announced he was suffering with appendicitis, and turned heads immediately with his impressive qualifying performance on Saturday. The FIA Formula E champion out-performed team-mate, Nicolas Latifi, who still hasn’t scored points yet this season. The Canadian, who finished fifteenth, is now twenty-first in a twenty driver championship, which leaves many fan speculating his future in the sport.

Guanyu Zhou took the final point of the event, after putting a lot of pressure on De Vries in the final stages of the race, before the Safety Car was deployed. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas finished thirteenth, having taken a power unit penalty on Saturday for his Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN car.

Esteban Ocon finished the Italian Grand Prix in eleventh, narrowly missing out on points for BWT Alpine F1 Team. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso retired from the race with power unit issues that he had reported earlier in the event, unfortunately putting an end to a ten-race points streak. Alpine’s gap to McLaren has now decreased in the championship as Norris was the only of the four drivers to finish in the points. However, Ricciardo’s retirement reduced the damage for Alpine, as he was likely going to finish in the points.

Mick Schumacher had a good race to finish in twelfth for Haas F1 Team, while Kevin Magnussen was only able to finish sixteenth. The American outfit expected to struggle in the race as a result of the high-speed, low downforce nature of the Monza circuit.

The race around Monza was a disaster for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team, who would fail to finish the race with both of their cars. Sebastian Vettel retired early in the race after smoke was seen escaping from the back of his car. The German pulled over and caused a Virtual Safety Car on lap twelve. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll was called into the pits to retire as a result of a mechanical issue on lap forty-two.

You can find the full race results below, data courtesy of Formula 1.

POS.	NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1	1	Max Verstappen	NED	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:20:27.511
2	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	+2.446s
3	63	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team	+3.405s
4	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	+5.061s
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team	+5.380s
6	11	Sergio Pérez	MEX	Oracle Red Bull Racing	+6.091s
7	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	+6.207s
8	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+6.396s
9	45	Nick De Vries	NED	Williams F1 Team	+7.122s
10	24	Guanyu Zhou	CHN	Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN	+7.910s
11	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	+8.323s
12	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas F1 Team	+8.549s
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN	+1 lap
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+1 lap
15	6	Nicolas Latifi	CAN	Williams F1 Team	+1 lap
16	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	+1 lap
17	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	DNF
18	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team	DNF
19	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	BWT Alpine F1 Team	DNF
20	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team	DNF

Data courtesy of Formula 1.