Verstappen Makes it 10 in a Row at Monza

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) continued his dominance at Monza after missing out on pole position in qualifying. The win marked his 10th in a row and 13 wins on the season. The feat means Red Bull still retain the possibility of winning every race this year with 15 currently under their belt in 2023. Sergio Perez sweetened the deal by helping the team secure the 1-2; their 6th of the season. Perez also helped his case for retaining second in the championship after a bad stretch over the summer.

Drama ensued for P3 in the race. The Ferraris fought back and forth trading lock ups into turn one and almost making contact multiple times. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fought until the end but it was Sainz who won the battle after a late lock up by Leclerc. Fans were on the edge of their seats as the two made contact in the closing minutes of the race. It was a decent finish for the Scuderia at their home race.

Behind the drama Mercedes secured a P5 and P6 finish with George Russell finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Russell had a 5 second penalty for passing off track earlier in the race which wouldn’t have benefitted Hamilton in the final standings anyways. Hamilton finished over 21 seconds behind his teammate. Hamilton also carried a 5 second penalty for causing a crash with Piastri who’s race was ruined by the incident. Piastri had to pit for a new nose which dropped him out of the points finish.

Elsewhere on the Grid

Alex Albon walks away with a great result on the weekend scoring points for Williams. Albon had finished P6 in Q3 and lost one position finishing in P7 in a hard fought race. Albon had the following words, “That was probably my toughest but my most proud race I’ve done,” said Alex after bringing his FW45 home in P7, continuing to say, “I’m very happy. I’m sure Lando didn’t enjoy that one too much, but I did! We went into today knowing it was going to be a tough, long race and we knew tyre deg would be high. I think on paper we went into this weekend expecting to be a little bit quicker than we were and four laps into the race I knew it would be long, but we managed to keep everyone behind.”

Two drivers failed to finish the race. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) retiring late and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) watching the action from the sidelines after a reported engine failure on the formation lap. Alpha Tauri teammate Liam Lawson finished 12th as he continues to show he is hitting the ground running after being called up to replace the injured Danial Ricciardo.

Full Championship Standings are Below