MONZA, Italy — With a Red Bull one-two on Ferrari’s home circuit, runaway Formula One leader Max Verstappen scored a record 10th straight win at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
“That’s a nice stat,” Verstappen stated on team radio after the victory.
Verstappen beat teammate Sergio Pérez by 6.064 seconds in another faultless effort from the two-time defending champion. Carlos Sainz Jr. finished third, 11.193 seconds behind Verstappen and less than two-tenths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc, who contended for the final slot on Monza’s historic podium.
“I would never have believed that was possible, but we had to work for it today, and that definitely made it a lot more fun,” Verstappen added.
Verstappen had started second, behind Sainz, but passed him at the start of lap 15 and, for the rest of the race, no one could match the Red Bull pace.
Verstappen continued to pull away, quickly amassing a margin of more than five seconds five laps later, and the record seemed all but a fait conclusion.
“Tough, tough, tough. “It can’t get any harder than this,” Sainz added. “To keep up with the Red Bulls, I paid the price with my rear tires, but I did everything I could to defend.”
Max Verstappen Wins Italian GP For Record 10th Straight F1 Victory.
Verstappen’s championship lead now stands at 145 points after a crushingly dominant season for the 25-year-old Dutchman.
Verstappen has won 12 of Red Bull’s 14 races this season, matching Sebastian Vettel’s F1 record of nine straight triumphs last weekend at the Dutch GP. He is closing close on his F1 record of 15 victories, which he set last year, and has 47 total.
Pérez has won the last two races this season, while Red Bull has won 24 of the last 25, including last year.
Red Bull has eight races left to accomplish the first flawless year by an F1 team.
“I’m also very proud of the entire team effort, the entire year,” Verstappen remarked. “What we’re doing right now, winning every race this year, is something we’re definitely enjoying because these kinds of seasons don’t come around very often.”
“Of course, winning 10 in a row is the same thing.”
Verstappen won his second race in a row at Monza. Before last year, he had never finished higher than fifth in the Italian GP.
His record attempt was hampered slightly by Yuki Tsunoda’s crash on the formation lap due to a suspected power unit malfunction. The race had to be shortened by two circuits due to the missed start and the drivers executing three formation laps.
Ferrari was hoping for their first Temple of Speed victory since 2019, and Sainz, who turned 29 on Friday, got off to a superb start, holding off Verstappen into the first corner, much to the pleasure of the crowds of adoring red-clad Tifosi.
Max Verstappen Wins Italian GP For Record 10th Straight F1 Victory
In a heated battle between the two, Sainz successfully defended multiple efforts by Verstappen to pass. That didn’t last long, as Sainz locked his brakes, entering the first chicane on lap 15, allowing Verstappen to pass him on the exit and pull away.
Sainz was left to fight Perez for second place, but he lost that battle with four circuits remaining, forcing him to fight hard again to keep Leclerc behind for the final podium spot.
“Very happy because a P3 in Monza in front of the tifosi is as good as it can get, at least for this weekend, because clearly Red Bull were quite a bit quicker than us today, as we expected,” Sainz remarked. “It was a day to try, and I tried everything I could to keep them behind.”
Despite collecting five-second penalties in separate incidents, George Russell finished fifth, ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Alex Albon finished seventh, matching his best performance of the season. The top ten was completed by Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, and Valtteri Bottas.
SOURCE – (AP)
