VERSTAPPEN TAKES THE WIN AT FERRARI’S HOME RACE BEHIND THE SAFETY CAR

In front of Ferrari’s passionate home crowd, Max Verstappen extended his championship lead in Monza after taking his fifth straight win, with the race ending behind the Safety Car.

Reese Mautone reports.

Beginning the race out of position in P7, Verstappen’s clean opening run down to Turn 1 where he avoided a slow-moving Mclaren and capitalised on the free outside line created an opportunity for the Dutchman to quickly work his way up the grid.

Max Verstappen – Red Bull Racing RB18 makes a pitstop during the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on September 11, 2022.

At the end of Lap 1, the Red Bull driver found himself in P4 closing in on Pierre Gasly, and by Lap 4, Verstappen was chasing down George Russell for P2.

As for the rest of the field, Turn 1 was taken relatively smoothly aside from slight contact between Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas which forced Lewis Hamilton to take evasive action through the escape road.

An ERS failure for Sebastian Vettel resulted in disappointment for the former Ferrari driver who was forced to retire at his final outing in Italy. Stopping his Aston Martin on the side of the back straight, Vettel triggered a Virtual Safety Car which saw Leclerc react by pitting for a set of mediums.

Having inherited the lead as a result of Leclerc’s timely pitstop, Verstappen followed suit on Lap 26 opting for medium tyres.

On Lap 33, Leclerc took his second of three stops, pitting for soft tyres and returning to the track around 19.5 seconds behind Verstappen.

All the while the battle at the front faded in excitement, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton stormed through the field, each making up 14 places after starting in P18 and P19 respectively due to back-of-the-grid penalties.

Sergio Perez had a self-admittedly messy race, losing places at the start from his already out of position grid slot, as well as suffering from overheating brakes which saw his right brake start to smoke and catch on fire at his first pitstop.

Threatening Verstappen’s seemingly comfortable win, Daniel Ricciardo’s Mclaren found itself stationary ahead of the second Lesmos on Lap 47.

A Safety Car was declared on Lap 48, however, picking up George Russell as opposed to the race leader, Max Verstappen until Lap 51. This, along with marshals struggling to push Ricciardo’s stricken car and having to wait for the assistance of the cherry picker, extended the period for which the race was run under SC conditions.

Race winner Max Verstappen,second placed Charles Leclerc and third placed George Russell celebrate during the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on September 11, 2022.

Anticipating a last lap restart, the top four contenders held intervals large enough to pit without gaining or losing a position to one another, with all opting to take either scrubbed or fresh soft tyres.

Much to the audible dismay of the Tifosi, the late timing of the Safety Car saw the Italian Grand Prix end anticlimactically, diminishing any last-ditch attempts for Charles Leclerc to clinch the win, or to be joined on the podium by his teammate, Carlos Sainz, who ultimately finished in fourth.

George Russell took the final podium place in P3, overlooking the unimpressed sea of red whose disagreement at the events surrounding the safety car was made known, and shared with Mercedes who likened it to Abu Dhabi 2021.

Aside from the podium fight, results down the grid made an impact on the spectacle of racing.

Williams fill-in Nyck De Vries impressed yet again as he scored points on his F1 debut.

The 2020-21 Formula E Champion crossed the line in P9, notably ahead of his teammate for this weekend and 2023 seat rival, Nicholas Latifi who finished in P15. De Vries was voted as driver of the day by fans, earning 24% of the vote.

On a weekend in which Fernando Alonso equalled Kimi Raikkonen’s record for most F1 race starts, the Spaniard was forced to retire in the pits on Lap 33 after complaining of a loss of power.

So too did Lance Stroll on Lap 41, making it a double DNF for Aston Martin and the first time the Canadian has failed to finish a race this season.

Max Verstappen now has a 116-point lead over Charles Leclerc in the WDC, while Red Bull holds the top spot in the Constructors’ Championship on 545 points over Ferrari. The Italian team has been forced to shift its priorities to defending second place from Mercedes as opposed to fighting for P1.

Set for a small break after a busy triple header, the European portion of the 2022 F1 season has concluded. The drivers will next take to the track in Singapore at the end of the month.