Italian GP: Verstappen scores record 10th win in a row

Max Verstappen has re-written the F1 history books, with this latest triumph at Monza earning him 10 consecutive race wins. Sergio Perez finished second, handing Red Bull a 1-2 finish.

Ferrari put up a valiant fight on home turf, with polesitter Carlos Sainz keeping Verstappen at bay for the first 14 laps – the most laps led by a non-Red Bull driver so far this season. But he ultimately had to settle for a podium appearance in third place.

1. Verstappen wins, 6.064 secs from Perez
2. Sainz on podium for Ferrari
3. Albon P7 for Williams

Verstappen makes history at Monza

Verstappen’s been on a victory charge, but Monza proved to be his toughest battle of the season so far. Ferrari opted for a low-drag set-up and it worked, handing Carlos Sainz a triumphant pole position on Saturday. But on the flip side, this also meant that the Spaniard would have to deal with rear tyre degradation in the race.

As the laps went on, Verstappen amped up the pressure on Sainz, eventually forcing his Ferrari rival into a mistake at the first chicane on Lap 15. He sweeped past around the outside at Curva Grande and, in typical fashion, went on to open a comfortable gap.

“I never would have believed [10 wins in a row] was possible, but we had to work for it today and that was definitely a lot more fun,” said Verstappen, who has now beaten Sebastian Vettel’s 2013 record for the most consecutive F1 race wins.

“We had good pace, we were good on the tyres, but [Ferrari] had a lot of top speed. It was so hard to get close and make the move into Turn 1. I had to force [Sainz] into a mistake and luckily it came at some point where he locked up, and I had better traction out of Turn 2, which was good, so we could do my own race.”

Sergio Perez also beat the Ferrari drivers, giving Red Bull it’s sixth 1-2 finish this year.

Leclerc puts the pressure on Sainz

The Ferrari duo of Sainz and Charles Leclerc provided plenty of heart-racing entertainment for fans at the team’s home race. The two battled wheel-to-wheel right till the chequered flag, with some very close calls – including a huge lock up for Leclerc on the very last lap.

Sainz’ displayed some skilled defending to keep his teammate at bay and secured the last spot on the podium.

Mercedes also bagged some valuable points. Both, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton overcame five-second time penalties to finish fifth and sixth, respectively. Alex Albon continued his solid run, improving on his Dutch GP performance by one place to finish P7.

Lando Norris was eighth for McLaren, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

2023 F1 standings

Verstappen now leads the championship by 145 points from his teammate Perez. Alonso holds on to third overall, but he’s 49 points behind Perez.

F1’s next stop is the Singapore GP on September 15-17.

2023 Italian GP results