Verstappen finishes first at Monza, claims 11th race victory

Max Verstappen won his first-ever Italian Grand Prix at Monza, zooming from seventh on the grid — past pole sitter Charles Leclerc — to first place. The Belgian race driver's recent victory is his 11th win for the Formula 1 2022 season behind a Safety Car, a familiar sight for most fans, especially those who rue the 2021 race finale at Abu Dhabi.

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s (RBR) frontman made it to the top three as early as Lap 4 and then snatched second place from Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s George Russell a lap later.

An unfortunate incident saw Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Sebastian Vettel retire on Lap 12. The German driver’s retirement from the race eventually required a Virtual Safety Car. During the same time, Scuderia Ferrari’s Leclerc pitted to change from soft tires to medium tires.

Verstappen extended his first stint and swapped for medium tires on Lap 26, relinquishing the lead back to Leclerc, who then pitted a second time for soft tires on Lap 33.

The Dutchman seemed assured of a comfortable victory until a Safety Car on Lap 48 was deployed for the stationary McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo. That allowed the top five to pit for soft tires anticipating a restart.

The Italian Grand Prix was then neutralized until the final laps (53) leaving Verstappen at the top, Leclerc following at second place, and Russell trailing at third.

Because of the unlikely end to the battle at Monza, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) issued a statement regarding its decision to end the Italian Grand Prix behind a Safety Car.

“While every effort was made to recover Car #3 (Ricciardo) quickly and resume racing, the situation developed and marshals were unable to put the car into neutral and push it into the escape road. As the safety of the recovery operation is our only priority, and the incident was not significant enough to require a red flag, the race ended under Safety Car following the procedures agreed between the FIA and all competitors. The timing of the Safety Car period within a race has no bearing on this procedure,” said an FIA spokesperson.

“We had a great race,” said Versatppen. “On every compound, we were quickest. And the deg (tire degradation) was very good. So we had a really good race car. I was just controlling the gap at the end, but of course, then the safety car came out. Unfortunately, we didn't get a restart. But overall, we had again a really good day.”

Here are the standings for the recently concluded race at The Temple of Speed:

1. Max Verstappen Red Bull
2. Charles Leclerc Ferrari
3. George Russell Mercedes
4. Carlos Sainz Ferrari
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
6. Sergio Pérez Red Bull
7. Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes
8. Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Red Bull
9. Nyck de Vries Williams/Mercedes
10. Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari

Photos from the FIA and Formula 1

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