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Italian Grand Prix: F1 Race Results

Italian Grand Prix: F1 Race Results

An excessive heat warning greets the Formula 1 drivers for today’s race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Hannah May 7 min read

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Lando Norris lines up in pole position for the race at Monza’s Temple of Speed, can he convert it to a win?

George Russell Italian Grand Prix Monza race
George Russell picked up front wing damage to his W15 during the race at Monza. (Image Credit: @F1 on X)

McLaren driver, Lando Norris takes a second consecutive pole position after setting the fastest time in Qualifying. However, the 24-year-old British driver still believes he had more to give. Will Norris be able to overcome previous disappointing starts off the line and maintain the lead down the long 476m start-finish straight to Turn 1?

His teammate, Oscar Piastri lines up behind him in P2.В?After the McLaren front-row lockout, the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers take their starting positions. Reigning champion Max Verstappen starts from P7 after suffering issues with the RB20.

Despite the excessive heat warning, there was also a 40% risk of rain appearing during the race.

Starting grid

The starting grid for today’s race was as follows:

Lights out

The Red Bull drivers in P7 and P8 started on the hard compound tyres. Joining them on the hards were Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, and Valtteri Bottas. All of the other drivers began the race on medium compound tyres.

As the lights went out, Norris maintained his lead. Into Turn 1, George Russell locked up trying to avoid the back of Piastri’s car. He went off track, conceding places in the run-off area.

In the second chicane, the two McLaren drivers went wheel-to-wheel. On the exit, Piastri took the lead and Norris also lost P2 to Charles Leclerc.

Across the line after lap one, Piastri was in the lead, followed by Leclerc, Norris, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen, Russell, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, and Fernando Alonso in P10.

Russell suffered damage to the front wing end plate on his W15. Perez complained that the damage to Russell’s car was dangerous as he split the two Red Bulls.

Into lap four, Norris set the fastest lap of the race. Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg were noted by Race Control for causing a collision at Turn 8, kicking up dust.

Hulkenberg also ran into Tsunoda’s side pod into Turn 1 damaging his front wing and causing Tsunoda to use the runoff area.

Pit stops begin

Crossing the line to start lap six, Leclerc set the new fastest lap time. Hulkenberg entered the pits, Haas switched his tyres for hards and changed the front wing. Their pit stop was unfortunately slow.

On lap eight, Tsunoda was told to box and retire the car. Red Bull gave their drivers a radio message to hold position and let the medium tyre runners push, playing the long game.

Daniel Ricciardo was handed a five-second time penalty for the incident with Hulkenberg.

On lap 11, Perez overtook Russell’s damaged Mercedes in the DRS zone down the start-finish straight. Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen made a move on Ricciardo for P11.

At the end of lap 11, Russell was called into the pits for a front wing change. Mercedes managed a 10.5-second stop. Next, Ricciardo entered the pits and served his penalty with an 8.5-second stop.

Alonso was the next driver to stop for the hard compound tyres, coming out just in front of Russell for P15. Meanwhile, Piastri gained the fastest lap of the race as his teammate ran wide at the second Lesmo and reported understeer on the team radio.

Undercut for second place

After gaining on Leclerc, McLaren told Norris to box to undercut Leclerc. On his way into the pits, he slightly touched the speed entry board as he locked up across the pit entry line. He re-entered the race behind Ocon in P9. He then overtook Ocon for P8 almost straight away.

Leclerc and Hamilton came into the pits. Ferrari completed a 2.5-second stop, while Mercedes’ was 2.3 seconds. Leclerc came out behind Norris, meaning McLaren’s undercut was successful. Hamilton re-joined the race in P10 behind Stroll.

Piastri pitted at the end of lap 16, rejoining in P4 ahead of his teammate with Albon splitting the two. Sainz inherited the lead of the race, opting to stay out longer. Leclerc complained on the radio, asking the team why they pitted him when he was undercut.

Ricciardo was under investigation for failing to serve the time penalty correctly. He was then handed a 10-second penalty. The replay showed an RB mechanic automatically touching the car when Ricciardo came in.

The start of lap 19 saw a flurry of fastest laps, ending with Leclerc’s fastest lap of the race so far. Cloud cover cooled the track surface. Meanwhile, a replay showed Verstappen understeering and going wide at the second Lesmo, with Perez close behind.

Papaya rules and Red Bull strategy

Red Bull then told Verstappen that he could pick up the pace. Meanwhile, McLaren reminded Norris about “papaya rules” which were clarified to be the rules of engagement and fairness, after the Hungarian Grand Prix debacle. The suggestion was that Norris would need to cover and assist Piastri in maintaining his lead.

At the start of lap 22, Verstappen was called into the pits. Norris had the fastest lap of the race. At the start of lap 23, Piastri picked up the fastest lap time.

Red Bull suffered a slow stop of 6.2 seconds due to the right rear tyre struggling to come off. He rejoined in P8 behind Ocon on the hard compound tyres once more, meaning he needs to pit once more in the race. Next lap, Perez had a 2.8-second pit stop and came out just behind his teammate, also on the hards again.

Halfway point

On lap 25, Albon overtook Bottas for P11. Meanwhile, Magnussen was handed a 10-second time penalty for his collision with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. Piastri then set another fastest lap of the race, maintaining a lead of 1.8 seconds to Norris. Magnussen then overtook Bottas for P12.

At the race’s halfway mark the top ten were as follows: Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez, Russell, Ocon, and Alonso. Rookie, Franco Colapinto was in P16 behind Ricciardo.

Ricciardo battled with Pierre Gasly for P14. Piastri was flying, setting another fastest lap and opening the gap to Norris to 2.5 seconds.

Into lap 29, Norris set the next fastest lap of the race, starting to close the gap to his teammate. Meanwhile, Ricciardo overtook Bottas for P13.

The young Argentinian rookie, Colapinto overtook Gasly for P15 on lap 31. Then, Ferrari told Leclerc that Norris was starting to struggle and Red Bull was suffering from graining.

Russell and Perez battled for P7, managing to avoid contact but Russell overtook off track and had to hand the place back.

Meanwhile, Norris made a mistake on lap 31 dropping him to 4.8 seconds behind Piastri. Consequently, Leclerc was right on his tail, cheered on by the Tifosi at the Scuderia’s home race.

Next round of pitting

Norris was in the pits at the start of lap 33, rejoining behind Verstappen in P6 splitting the Red Bulls.

Russell was next into the pits with a 4.2-second stop. The slow stop damaged his undercut attempt, re-joining the race in P12 behind Ricciardo.

The heat seemed to be the leading cause for difficult, slow pit stops. However, Perez’s next stop was 2.3 seconds managing to re-join ahead of Russell for P9.

McLaren then asked Piastri if a one-stop was possible, Piastri replied: “I don’t think so”. Hamilton then came into the pits.

It was round two for Russell and Perez, the two battled once more for P8. Russell managed to stick the overtake.

Meanwhile, Piastri was in the pits with reports that he had run over someone’s foot. His pit stop was slow, bringing Norris back into play. However, Norris had Verstappen to pass and Verstappen was on the defence.

Norris vs Verstappen and Piastri vs Sainz

At the start of lap 40, Norris attempted an overtake on Verstappen but was unable to pass into Turn 1. At this point in the race, the top 10 were as follows: Leclerc in P1, Sainz, Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Magnussen, Russell, Perez, and Albon in P10.

On lap 41, Norris pulled out behind Verstappen into Turn 1 and managed to overtake. However, the time he spent stuck behind the Red Bull reigning champion may have harmed his race.

On lap 44, Verstappen set the fastest lap of the race, chasing down Hamilton for P5. Meanwhile, Piastri was within DRS range of Sainz in the battle for second.

Ferrari was trying to maintain tyres until the end of the race. It would either lead to tyre destruction or Grand Prix glory.

On lap 45, Piastri passed Sainz for P2 and was now 11.5 seconds behind the race leader, Leclerc. Norris was then on the tail of Sainz, whose tyre performance had dropped off a cliff.

Closing stages

The Spanish Ferrari driver was celebrating his 30th birthday in front of the Tifosi, but unfortunately for him lost third place to Norris at the start of lap 48. However, waiting to pass Sainz puts Norris 4.5 seconds adrift of Piastri ahead.

On lap 50, the top ten were: Leclerc in the lead, followed by Piastri, Norris, Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen, Russell, Perez, Magnussen, and Albon. As it stands, Red Bull would hold onto their Constructors’ Championship lead by 10 points ahead of McLaren.

Leclerc looked to be on course to take the win at his team’s home race. The Monagasque became the tyre whisperer amid roars from the Tifosi.

At the chequered flag, Leclerc crossed the line for victory in Monza. Joining him on the podium were the two McLaren drivers, Piastri in P2 and Norris in P3. Norris also picked up the fastest lap of the race point on the final lap.

Grand Prix classification

Full results can be found here.

Featured Image Credit: @F1 on X

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