Italian GP: Max Verstappen Takes Historic Tenth Race Win In A Row

 

Max Verstappen just had his name printed in Formula One history for having won his tenth grand prix in a row in Monza and that took making an effort to improve from P2 to podium position in P1 in a one-two finish for Red Bull. 

Coming into the race, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz seemed posed for an eventful race having poled at the qualifying session by 0.013s ahead of Verstappen for his career's fourth. The Spaniard kept defensive tactic against the Red Bull driver to lead until Lap 15 when they raced abreast down the straight before Verstappen gained head lead going into the corner and sped off in the lead as Sainz trailed. 

Sainz later lost the second position to Sergio Perez as they both battled down the straight on Lap 46 and with Perez having the DRS advantage while Sainz raced a bit wide to the walls, the Red Bull driver raced ahead to take the second position and he maintained the position to the chequered flag for podium finish in P2. behind Verstappen. 

"I never would have believed that it was possible," Verstappen said afterwards. "But, we had to work for it today amd that made it a lot more fun."

It was not a bad final after all for Sainz whose birthday was on Friday and he finished the race in third for his first podium position of the 2023 season. Behind Sainz was his teammate, Charles Leclerc in fourth.

With the weather humid and dry in Monza, the grid was devoid of drama from the start, however, there were a couple of incidents later on amongst which was Lewis Hamilton bagging five second penalty for collision with Ocon Piastri on Lap 41. 

Another moment was the two McLaren, Lando Norri and Piastri slightly having their tyres colliding earlier before the moment Hamilton collided with Piastri. Hamilton was trying to improve from starting in P8 which he eventually did for having finised in sixth behind his teammate, George Russell. 

"It was a bit unfortunate and I misjudged the gap I had with Piastri right at the end," Hamilton recalled the incident. "It was totally my fault and I went and apologized to him straight afterwards."