F1 arrived in Italy for the seventh round of the season, with an extraordinary Verstappen. He was joined on the podium by Norris and Leclerc.
When the traffic lights went out, poleman Max Verstappen held first place. Lando Norris got off to a flying start and retained second place ahead of the Ferrari drivers. Everything went smoothly without any problems, although the track is particularly narrow with these mammoth wing cars. Piastri, penalized 3 positions for impeding, had an excellent start but was forced to lift his foot.
Behind the leaders, Hamilton gained seventh place, behind Russell. Sergio Perez, however, climbed to tenth position. Max Verstappen immediately tried to distance himself so as not to guarantee the DRS to Norris. The McLarens looked in great form, following the English driver’s first career triumph in Miami. The Ferrari drivers showed that they didn’t have a lot of pace in the first phase of the race.
Piastri glued himself to Sainz’s exhaust, bitterly regretting that penalty which dropped him from second to fifth place. The Madrid native announced via radio that the McLaren was faster. The Spaniard had to defend himself from the Australian’s attacks in the first laps. Norris changed compounds on lap 23, fitting hard tires. He found himself behind Perez, but overtook him without any worries. Red Bull Racing responded with the #1 pitting on lap 25. Although he set the fastest lap, the Englishman fell behind the Dutchman.
Ferrari, suicidal strategy
Leclerc and Sainz didn’t stop immediately, waiting too long. Leclerc stopped on lap 26, finding himself behind the Mexican from RB and also pursued by Piastri. The strategists at the red wall never manage to get ahead of the times and Sainz, naturally, could only pray for the arrival of a Safety Car. The Spaniard then mounted the hard tires too late, together with Lewis Hamilton, on lap 28. He lost the number 55 a lot. The degradation of the hard compounds was more rapid than expected.
Leclerc managed to show a good pace on the hard compounds in the second part of the GP, getting closer to Norris. The latter complained a lot about the pace on the hard tires but then found the right opportunity to put Verstappen down his neck. The latter won with less than 1 second ahead of the Englishman from McLaren. Third place for Leclerc, ahead of Piastri and Sainz. Then the two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton who preceded Perez.
