Monza

The four-time world champion earned his third Italian Grand Prix at the famous track and is the first driver to win from pole position at Monza since 2019.

Max Verstappen claimed a dominant victory at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of title contenders and McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

It was a first win since May for Verstappen – and only his third of the season – and capped a wonderful weekend at Monza for the four-time world champion, who had posted the fastest lap in Formula 1 history at the track on Saturday to claim pole position.

“That was unbelievable, guys! Well done, everyone,” Verstappen said on team radio. “We executed that really well. What an unbelievable weekend. We can be really proud of that.”

Norris was second, nearly 20 seconds behind Verstappen, to trim the gap to Piastri in the title race to 31 points. He had started the day 34 points behind the Australian driver, who was not happy after he was ordered to let his teammate past towards the end of the race.

The switch came after Norris had a slow pit stop, which appeared to put his title chances further in jeopardy when he came out behind his teammate. But McLaren ordered Piastri to let the British driver past, which he did despite grumbling about the decision on team radio.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton had solid performances at the team’s home race. Cheered on by the passionate, red-clad “Tifosi” fans, Leclerc finished fourth while Hamilton surged through the field at the start to cross the line in sixth – after starting from 10th following a five-place grid penalty.

Norris was desperate to rebound from a disastrous Dutch GP, where he retired with a rare engine problem. Starting from second at Monza, he tussled with Verstappen from the start and was forced off into the grass at the first corner.

“I always know it is going to be a good fight with Max, and it was,” Norris said. “One of those weekends where we are a bit slower, but a good fight, and I enjoyed it.”

Verstappen was told to give the place back and duly did so, but the Red Bull driver reclaimed the lead at the start of lap four, diving past Norris into turn one.

From there, it was almost a procession to victory for Verstappen. He briefly found himself behind the McLarens after pitting on lap 38, but retook the lead when Piastri was brought in on lap 46, followed by Norris a lap later.

McLaren have been determined to keep the fight between their two drivers as fair as possible but their approach was always likely to lead to controversy at some point.

That was certainly the case at Monza, as they interfered after the sort of twist of fate that often turns driver’s races.

Norris unquestionably deserved the second place on the balance of the race, but his pit stop problem left the team with an agonising quandary.

It is normal practice to pit the lead driver first in such a scenario but McLaren decided they wanted to pit Piastri first, saying they made the decision to ensure he was clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had pitted earlier on a conventional strategy.

Norris questioned it when told of the decision, saying he was fine “as long as there was no undercut”, which would be him being passed by Piastri going faster on his out lap. He was assured there would be no such thing.

Piastri’s stop was faultless at 1.9 seconds but Norris’s front right wheel gun had a problem and his stop was 5.9, so Piastri was in the lead when Norris re-emerged on to the track.

Piastri was immediately told to let Norris back past. His engineer Tom Stallard said: “Oscar, this is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past and then you are free to race.”

Piastri replied: “I mean, we said a slow pit stop was part of racing, so I don’t really get what’s changed here. But if you really want me to do it, then I’ll do it.”

After the race, Norris said: “Every now and again we make mistakes as a team. Today was one of them.”

The point of view of both drivers is understandable, and it will be interesting to see how McLaren manage this in the increasing tension of a title fight.

Speaking to Sky Sports later, Piastri was accepting of the decision, saying: “The decision to swap back was fair. Lando was ahead of me the whole race. I don’t have any issues with that.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen snatched pole position for the Italian Grand Prix from Lando Norris with the fastest lap in Formula 1 history.

The Dutchman’s time of one minute 18.792 seconds beat the lap set by Lewis Hamilton at Monza in 2020 for Mercedes by 0.095secs – at an average speed of 164.484mph.

Norris had just leapt to the top of the times after a difficult first run left him seventh, but Verstappen pipped him by 0.077 seconds for his first pole since the British Grand Prix in July.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, leading Norris by 34 points in their championship battle, was third fastest, ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

But the seven-time champion has a five-place penalty and will start the grand prix at Monza 10th.

That promotes Mercedes’ George Russell to fifth, ahead of team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Verstappen’s pole time seemed to surprise even the Dutchman himself, after he struggled for pace through the practice sessions.

McLaren have traced the engine failure in last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix that dented Norris’ title hopes to a broken oil line – a McLaren issue rather than a problem with the Mercedes engine.

Leclerc’s fastest time was his third attempt to do a lap on the soft tyres after aborting his first two runs.

The second incident led to a scare because Leclerc passed a Sauber just after a red flag was thrown because of gravel on track, despite braking as hard as he could.

He was worried he would receive a penalty, but stewards immediately reviewed the incident and accepted there was nothing he could do.

Verstappen was 0.575secs off Hamilton, while the second Williams of Alex Albon was seventh.

A number of drivers ran wide during the session, and the red flag was as a result of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar running off track at the Ascari chicane and spraying the circuit with gravel.

Gravel at the second Lesmo, deposited by Norris, also needed to be cleared.

Other drivers to run wide and kick up gravel included Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who was ninth fastest behind George Russell’s Mercedes.

Russell ended the session parked on the grass beside the track before the Roggia chicane as a result of a power loss, which left him stuck in seventh gear with the rear wheels locked.

Hadjar completed the top 10.