Here’s Giles Richards’s report:
OK, that’s us done after a decent afternoon of racing that, while it delivered a wholly predictable (and deserved) winner, also gave us some proper jostling and competing and skilled driving. Giles Richards’ race report from Monza will be landing imminently; in the meantime, enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for following. Bye.
How they finished
That result in full:
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) 3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 5. George Russell (Mercedes) 6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 7. Alex Albon (Williams) 8. Lando Norris (McLaren) 9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 10. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
11. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 12. Logan Sargeant (Williams) 13. Liam Lawson (Alpha Tauri) 14. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) 15. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 16. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 17. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) 18. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) DNF. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) DNF. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)
Despite Ferrari failing to pull off a victory, there’s still a pretty upbeat atmosphere in Monza, with plenty of cheering and chanting. Their drivers put a proper shift in but they just can’t match a generational talent and a formidable car such as Verstappen, who as I type mounts the podium for his country’s anthem.
Verstappen’s up now. “I never would have believed this [10 wins in a row] was possible,” he says. “Carlos had a lot of topspeed and it was so hard to get a move so I had to force a mistake which I got on turn one when he locked up. I could see they were struggling with their rear tyres sos I iust had to pick my moment. I had a few issues towards the end but we got there.”
Sainz speaks: “It was very tough out there, it cannot get any tougher, and I ended up paying the price with my rear tyres.” As for the contest with Leclerc: “He’s a great racer, we had fun out there today and I hope you guys enjoyed it. We need to be focusing on our pace and our tyres as we were just lacking a bit of pace but we want to be best of the rest and I think we’re getting there.”
Sky Sports viewers vote Sainz the driver of the day. And well they might, that was a tenacious drive from the Spaniard even if he and his car didn’t have enough to deny Verstappen.
“A stroll in the park some might say Max,” Verstappen is told over the radio. And it was. Sainz did well to keep ahead of him for almost a third of the race but once he was out front it was never in doubt. But the top four drivers – Red Bull’s Verstappen and Perez, and Ferrari’s Sainz and Leclerc – delivered us some very watchable racing today.
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And Perez takes second, and Sainz holds on for a well deserved third ahead of his Ferrari teammate Leclerc.
Max Verstappen wins the Italian grand prix
It’s the perfect 10 out of 10 for the unstoppable Red Bull man
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Lap 50/51. So here’s Verstappen’s victory lap, as Leclerc locks up and Sainz retakes third. Could easily have been a crash there. Risky but enthralling.
Lap 49/51. Leclerc takes on Sainz on the bend again but the latter foils him once more in this podium battle.
Lap 48/51. Sainz has had to put in so many defensive moves this afternoon, and he pulls off the other to ward off Leclerc. Meanwhile, Verstappen is 10 seconds clear and just cruising to another win.
It’s 1 Verstappen 2 Perez 3 Sainz 4 Leclerc 5 Russell 6 Hamilton (five-second penalty)
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Lap 47/51. And now, an intra-Ferrari battle. Leclerc overhauls Sainz even after locking up, then Sainz does as he tries to get the second place back, which he does. Hamilton moves ahead of Albon into sixth,
Lap 46/51. Perez passes Sainz into second. Finally, he strikes, on the first chicane, and this one’s legit. Sainz had held his place valiantly but Red Bull are headed for another one-two.
Lap 45/51. Perez does overtake Sainz now, but only via the run-off area so has to give it back, as Hamilton – despite that penalty – nips in front of Norris, inflicting more woe on his former team McLaren.
Lap 44/51. Red Bull are unhappy at the way Sainz is moving around in the braking zone as his defence from Perez becomes ever more frantic.
Hamilton cops a five-second penalty over that clash.
Lap 43/51. The stewards are going to look at that Hamilton-Piastri escape-road clash. Did Piastri move across or not? Oh, and Verstappen leads by more than 11 seconds now. Hamilton’s car meanwhile is reported to be relatively unscathed.
Lap 42/51. Hamilton and Piastri clash! The Mercedes man attacks Piastri and tries to nudge in front of him on the first bend. They clash then return to the track but Piastri has front wing damage and has to pit. A major disappointment for McLaren.
And it’s all happening as Perez tries to take on Sainz in second but is just thwarted.
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Lap 40/51. The battle for third could be a point of intrigue here. Perez holds it at the moment but Leclerc hasn’t lost him in fourth and is within striking distance still. Further back, Hamilton is thriving on his new tyres and has Albon (6th), Norris (7th) and Piastri (8th) within reach.
Lap 38/51. Norris in seventh senses Albon’s there for the taking ahead of him, takes him on at the corner and passes him but he’s off the track in doing so and has to hand the place back.
Lap 37/51. Verstappen leads by 8.5sec now. I’m gonna stick my neck out: he’ll win this. Ten in a row beckons.
Lap 35/51. Toil for McLaren, with Norris struggling for power having locked up a couple of laps back. Norris is seventh and teammate Piastri eighth, with Hamilton closing on them just behind. Albon looking promising in sixth but still a way of fifth even with Russell’s five-second penalty.
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Lap 34/51. Some other bits you may have missed:
The incident that saw George Russell handed a five-second penalty ⚠ pic.twitter.com/nmnTcfJsbM
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 3, 2023
Lap 33/51. A little further back, McLaren’s Norris is gaining on Albon and primed to attack, as Verstappen stretches his lead to 7.3sec with another fastest lap.
Lap 32/51. And now he does. Pérez zips past Leclerc on the inside on the straight, and Sainz is now a target.
Here’s how they stand: 1 Verstappen 2 Sainz 3 Perez 4 Leclerc 5 Russell 6 Albon 7 Norris 8 Piastri 9 Hamilton 10 Alonso
Lap 31/51. Firm, not to say desperate, defending from Leclerc as Perez attacks again, from both sides, and they almost touch, and Pérez is foiled again. But for how much longer? “You’re faster, you’re gonna get him,” Red Bull’s radio tells him. He almost certainly is.
Lap 30/51. The assertive Pérez tests Leclerc’s defences once more on the first corner but the Ferrari driver holds him off for now, but a Red Bull one-two remains within reach.
Lap 29/51. Verstappen sets a new fastest lap and now leads Sainz by 5.7sec. Leclerc is third, and Perez fourth. Further back Hamilton returns to the track and passes Fernando Alonso in short order.
Lap 28/51. Hamilton had been complaining of tyre degradation, having perhaps expected his harder compounds to last longer. He switches to mediums, but the heat is having an effect on every car here.
Lap 27/51. Sainz passes Hamilton, and his teammate Leclerc swiftly does likewise, and having been overhauled like that the British driver hits the pits.
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Lap 26/51. Sainz now has the fastest lap time, taking that accolade from Verstappen. He remains third.
Lap 25/51. Sainz may have perked up, but the main man has the lead once more, darting in front of Hamilton, with Sainz third, Leclerc fourth and Pérez fifth.
Bottas and Hamilton are, I think, the only two not to have stopped thus far.
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Lap 24/51. A bit of good news for Sainz is that he’s been faster than Verstappen over the past couple of laps, invigorated by that tyre change.
While Russell takes a five-second penalty for leaving the track.
Lap 23/51. Norris pits now and re-emerges in 11th, Hamilton currently leads.
Lap 22/51. Yesterday’s top three now sit 4, 5 and 6 with Verstappen ahead of Sainz then Lelerc.
Lap 21/51. The two Ferraris almost clash on a chicane, as Sainz edges back in front of his teammate. They’re seventh and eighth respectively, having pitted. Hamilton, on the more durable tyres and yet to stop, has now moved up to fourth.
The top three is now 1 Piastri 2 Norris 3 Hamilton – none have pitted.
Lap 20/51. Sainz pits and comes out behind Bottas after a clumsy stop. And I can’t see Leclerc holding off Perez on current form. Verstappen takes a smooth 2.5sec pit stop. Seamless.
Lap 19/51. So here’s the latest scores on the doors: 1 Verstappen 2 Sainz 3 Leclerc 4 Perez 5 Russell 6 Piastri 7 Norris 8 Hamilton 9 Albon 10 Bottas.
Verstappen’s lead is five seconds as Sainz prepares to pit, having held the longest lead any non-Red Bull car has held this season, at 14 laps.
Lap 18/51. Leclerc’s podium place is also vulnerable as Pérez is rampant, and Ferrari struggle on their tyres. Verstappen leads by 0.4sec.
Lap 17/51. Alex Albon’s pitted early too, having raised concerns about his brakes on the radio. Sainz’s lock-up when being overtaken has knocked the wind out of his sails. Some Ferrari pitting imminent
Lap 16/51. Red Bull are rampant as Pérez this time does get his fourth place from Russell, overhauling Russell on turn one. You can sense the dampened mood in the crowd.
Verstappen leads by 1.5sec already.
Verstappen takes the lead
Lap 14/51. Verstappen attacks on the first corner, Sainz locks up but holds his lead initially, then the Dutchman edges ahead again and come the next corner he’s away. Here we go again …
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Lap 13/51. Pérez finally overhauls Russell at the first corner, but both drivers went off the track so we’ll have to see what the stewards say about that.
Lap 12/51. Verstappen has deployed about 20% more battery than Sainz so far, and it has to be said he’s driving well and calmly under pressure. He leads by 0.55sec.
Lap 11/51. Leclerc is drifting in third, having raised concerns about the car before the race, and is now 1.3sec off the lead. Russell resists yet another Pérez attack. There’s some impressive defensive driving going on out there, as Pierre Gasly is the first to pit.
Lap 10/51. Russell foils another attack from Perez. Here’s how they stand: 1 Sainz 2 Verstappen 3 Leclerc 4 Russell 5 Perez 6 Albon 7 Piastri 8 Norris 9 Hamilton 10 Alonso
Lap 9/51. “They have a lot of top speed for **** sake,” rues Verstappen over the radio. He’s being challenged here and no mistake, but he’s still primed in second, 0.5sec behind Sainz.
Lap 8/51. Another good bit of defence, on that corner, enables Russell to dig in and hold fourth from an attack by Pérez. Red Bull coming hard though. Sainz still leads but by only 0.25sec from Verstappen.
Lap 7/51. There’s only 0.7sec between the front three, and Pérez is gaining on Russell and has fourth place in sight.
Lap 6/51. Ferrari are clearly going full throttle to test Verstappen, who attacks on the first corner, taking him on on the outside, but Sainz holds him off. We have a contest.
Lap 4/51. So it’s 1 Sainz 2 Verstappen 3 Leclerc 4 Russell 5 Perez. Verstappen set the fastest lap so far on lap three – pressure on already.
Lap 3/51. That was an excellent start from Sainz, moving across and getting himself directly in front of Verstappen and holding position adeptly through that testing first corner.
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Lap 2/51. A perky start for McLaren, with Piasti nipping above Albon into sixth, is pegged back as Albon gets back in front of him. Sainz and Verstappen still the top two.
Lap 1/51. Hulkenburg moving above Alonson into 10th and Norris overhauling Hamilton are our first moves.
Sainz comes through turns one and two impeccably, as Russell pushes up on Leclerc. Sainz leads from Versatappen, Hamilton dips to ninth – an iffy start on those hard compounds.
Lights out!
And away, at last, we go.
They’re off on Formation Lap 3.0. Let’s just hope they all get round it …
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Asleep at the wheel …
Fernando taking the opportunity to get a little nap in 😅 pic.twitter.com/UUNvz3DGjT
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 3, 2023
We’re now down to a 51-lap race, rather than the intended 53, because as the engineers attend to the cars again, they’ll have to do another formation lap, starting at around 2.20pm BST.
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Meanwhile, a rather anxious bit of radio talk from Charles Leclerc, which could dampen the home mood.“The car is not turning really well in the right-hand corners, is all good?”
We’ll have a five-minute delay. Engines off on the grid
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Aborted start
Looks like Tsunoda’s not going to start, due to that engine failure, and they’re off on another formation lap, which will take a lap out of the actual race. The marshals are trying to get his Alpha Tauri away from the track to a safety exit.
It’s poor Tsunoda’s second DNS in three Monza races.
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Eek. Tsunoda’s pulled over to the side on the formation lap, complaining – it appears –of engine failure. We could have a delayed start here
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They’re off on the formation lap. No soft tyres are being used at the start of the race. We’re looking at a fast-paced race
The drivers are getting in position. Not long now. Given the dry weather and Monza’s general layout, we’re probably looking at a one-stop race. Turns one and two will be key, a sharp-right followed by sharp-left.
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Anthem time, and here comes the world’s jauntiest, the Italian one, replete with tricolore flypast.
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A bit more from Verstappen as he strolls along the track: “I don’t think about when to make a move. There’ll be an opportunity at the start and maybe later but I don’t thnk about it.” As for the record 10th win in a row that is within reach: “I’m not really thinking about the number – it’d be nice to have but it’s about the championship not the 10 in a row
Monza looks a picture, a sea of red with a lovely distant mountain backdrop, as the enduring Eurorock of the Final Countdown kicks in over the PA with less than 20 minutes to go.
Ferrari optimism may be tempered by recent history, in which only one polesitter in the past five has actually won, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc overhauled by Verstappen last year after starting out front.
Max Verstappen is distinctly and predictably unfazed about not clinching pole, telling the F1 website yesterday: “I am happy with how we set up the car for the race and hopefully that will pay off on Sunday. I know the win is something that could happen. If it’s 10 in a row that would be amazing, but we have to execute the race in the best possible way to achieve that.”
Lewis Hamilton was less chipper. “I was just struggling. Our car is hard to optimise. There is nothing easy about this car,” he sighed.
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How they line up:
STARTING GRID 🇮🇹
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 2, 2023
Here's how we will line up come Sunday! 🔥#ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/vcTkFfZQYh
Some scene-setting reading – here’s Giles Richards’ report on a tense qualifying session yesterday:
And a nice piece on McLaren’s 60 years in the sport, for whom the impressive newbie Oscar Piastri starts seventh on the grid with his teammate Lando Norris ninth:
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Preamble
Afternoon everyone. There may be little sense of jeopardy and competitive tension at the top of the world championship standings, with Max Verstappen romping to a third consecutive title, but there’s notes of interest elsewhere. For a start, any Italian Grand Prix is always an occasion, and, with Ferrari’s success in qualifying yesterday – with Carlos Sainz edging out Verstappen for pole and Charles Leclerc third on the grid – Monza will be buzzing today. As m’colleague Giles Richards wrote yesterday, if Red Bull are to face a proper challenge anywhere in what remains of the season, better it in a fizzing Proper Racing cauldron than in a soulless petro-autocracy’s inaccessible enormodome.
Sainz’s pole puts him in a position, in fifth in the standings, to put a bit of pressure on Lewis Hamilton in fourth, with the British driver starting from eighth today. And Ferrari can threaten Aston Martin’s third place in the constructors’ championship. So while you’d still make Verstappen favourite, there should be nice dry racing conditions for his and Red Bull’s rivals. And just as dead rubber Test cricket matches can still offer fun and competitive drama, so should this. Bring it!
Lights out 2pm.
