The Italian Grand Prix is dominated by Red Bull! Ferrari was close to disaster, the race at Monza offered great drama

Max Verstappen dominated the dramatic fourteenth round of this season. The Dutch driver thus breaks another record and Red Bull also broke a historic Formula 1 record. Second place went to Sergio Pérez. The two Red Bull drivers were joined on the podium by Carlos Sainz, who held his position after a dramatic battle with Charles Leclerc.

This year’s Italian Grand Prix was indeed full of thrilling on-track battles and an infarct ending thanks to the battle between the two Ferrari drivers. Only 19 monoblocs started the 14th round of the 2023 season.

In fact, Jüki Cunoda shut down his car before the start of the Italian Grand Prix, and the start of the race was delayed by around twenty minutes as a result. In any case, you can see the complete grid order below.

STARTING GRID 🇮🇹

Here's how we will line up come Sunday! 🔥#ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/vcTkFfZQYh

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 2, 2023

Start of the Italian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz made the best start of all to Sunday’s race, defending his first position ahead of Max Verstappen. Third place was defended by Charles Leclerc ahead of a charging George Russell.

The standings did not change much in the opening laps of the Italian Grand Prix. The leader was Sainz, who fought off Verstappen’s attacks with heartbreak. Leclerc was still third after the tenth lap, Russell fourth, Sergio Pérez fifth, Alex Albon sixth, Oscar Piastri seventh, Lando Norris eighth, Lewis Hamilton ninth and Nico Hülkenberg rounding out the top ten.

Although the standings did not change much, the fans in the stands and on the TV screens watched some great battles. And not just between the leader Sainz and second-placed Verstappen. Fourth place went to Pérez, who fought hard with Russell.

And finally, the Mexican driver was successful on lap 16. Before that, Verstappen got past Sainz. The Ferrari driver not only had to deal with the reigning champion, but also with his tyres, which were subject to high degradation.

A quieter middle of the race

At the stroke of lap 20 of the Italian Grand Prix, the drivers began to go to their mechanics, with almost all of them changing from the medium set of tyres to the hardest specification. Lap 24 saw the McLaren drivers battle it out with each other.

Norris got the better of Piastri, but this battle was not without contact! A moment of infarction for fans of the papaya monoposts. On the same lap, Russell received a five-second penalty for a fight with Esteban Ocon from the first chicane.

The race lead remained Verstappen’s after the pit stops, the top ten points standings didn’t change much. Sainz remained second ahead of his teammate Leclerc after 26 laps, halfway through the race.

The two Ferrari drivers were chased by fourth-placed Pérez. Behind him were fifth Russell, sixth Albon, seventh Norris, eighth Piastri, ninth Fernando Alonso. Hamilton dropped to tenth after his pit-stop.

But on lap 29, he overtook the legendary Spaniard. Three laps later, Pérez overtook Leclerc to take his third podium finish.

Drama in the last 15 laps

The last third of the Italian Grand Prix saw several battles on the circuit. Pérez was chasing down second-placed Sainz, while the McLaren drivers were chasing down Albon. But neither Norris nor Piastri were successful, and Hamilton closed in from behind.

The latter overtook Piastri on lap 41, but the Australian driver left the battle with a damaged front wing. He was forced to pit, and understandably dropped down the order, or out of the top ten.

Hamilton collected a five-second penalty for causing the collision, but ultimately had no regrets.

It wasn’t until five laps to go that Pérez finally got ahead of Sainz. But that set up some serious drama. A huge battle between Sainz and Leclerc. The two Ferrari drivers were not getting along on the track, and there was even a near disaster in the form of a crash.

However, nothing like that happened, Leclerc couldn’t get past Sainz thanks to his tough defence. So Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix and rewrote the historic F1 record, the Dutch driver winning for the tenth time in a row.

Red Bull also recorded a phenomenal milestone by becoming the first team in history to win fifteen consecutive Grands Prix. You can see the final standings for the Italian Grand Prix below.

🏁 CLASSIFICATION (LAP 51/51) 🏁

A classic in Monza, and here's how we crossed the line 👇#ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/NxmRPjoD5C

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 3, 2023

Source: F1 TV