Max Verstappen continues to rewrite the history of Formula 1. Despite not starting first in the Italian GP, the Dutchman achieved his 12th victory of the season, tenth in a row -no one had achieved it so far-, to further increase his advantage in the world Cup. With Sergio Pérez second, saving the furniture in a remarkable way and climbing again, Carlos Sainz completed the podium with a numantine race in which he sweated to achieve his best result of the year.
The man from Madrid only gave up with the Red Bulls and gave a master class on how to run defensively, which earned him the recognition of the public to be named driver of the day. The lesson was not only given to the public, but also to his own team. Fernando Alonso finished with a ninth place that helps him add two more points and leave Monza positive, a circuit where Aston Martin already foresaw that he was going to suffer a lot.
Running 20 minutes behind schedule after Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri stalled on the formation lap, the start was as clean as possible. Carlos Sainz resisted the first attack from Max Verstappen, who cooked the overtaking over a very slow fire, aware that the top speed of the SF23 was the best weapon the Ferraris had. Thus, both Sainz ahead and Charles Leclerc just behind him could put his eventual victory at risk.
From behind, as expected, Alonso suffered from the start. Starting tenth little to nothing he could do more than defend himself, something he couldn’t do against Nico Hulkenberg with the Haas. That fight made the Spaniard give up more time than expected against Lewis Hamilton, who was, by far, the one who started the grand prix the best. The German ended up giving in to Alonso before reaching lap 10 of the race, but for the Spaniard from Aston Martin it was not an easy start: he already warned that Monza was going to be to add the minimum and not subtract too much.
Verstappen bared his teeth on the sixth lap. He threw the car at Sainz at the first chicane, but the Ferrari closed him with a swerve over the limit, absolutely legal but risky, which was a warning to the two-time world champion. He wasn’t going to have it easy. The Red Bull leader’s pursuit of the Spaniard was prolonged thanks to the Madrid’s defense, aware that he was going to have to take advantage of the circumstances of Monza. It wasn’t until lap 15 when, just after a blockage in the first braking of the circuit, Sainz gave up first place with a Verstappen who began to fly.
A new phase of the race began, in which tire wear in the fight with Verstappen destroyed Sainz. When the man from Madrid entered the pit lane, he lost almost four seconds to the Dutchman, while from behind Leclerc put pressure on the radio to let him pass.
Alonso fights with Hamilton
The film’s script was more predictable than that of an ’80s slasher. Verstappen began to fly to go to his tenth consecutive victory in the same season, something that nobody had ever achieved in the history of the competition. The difference in tires meant that the leader of the race found himself on the track with Hamilton, who had much more worn hard tires. The seven-time champion conceded to his old rival and the Ferraris before making his stop, after which he met Alonso on the track.
The key to the fight for third place in the World Cup was, in part, here. Alonso warned before the race that his objective was to cover Hamilton, and although he initially gave up ninth place to him (tire difference), his fight was towards the end of the grand prix. However, he did not foresee that he would be with a McLaren driver as judge of the contest. And it is that Hamilton received a five-second penalty when he caused an accident with Oscar Piastri when they were fighting for eighth place.
The Mercedes man left the McLaren man without space, who ended up with a broken wing and forced to stop in the pits. The punishment imposed on Hamilton forced him to grit his teeth, aware that he was going to give up several positions, but also to those behind, including Alonso, who stopped temporizing to try to have those five seconds neutralized. The fight between Albon and Norris hurt the Spaniard, who despite his final arreón could not gain position. In the end, a good ninth that tastes like gold.
Meanwhile, Sainz reached the final stretch of the race asking for oxygen. Leclerc saw a Sergio Pérez arrive in the mirrors with notably more top speed, in the middle of the fight for third place. The fight between the Ferrari man and the Red Bull man gave Sainz a bit of a margin for the first time in the race, although the one who began to chase him was Checo, who needed to vindicate himself against a Leclerc that everything he achieved was welcome . The Mexican caught Sainz with less than ten laps to go, when the Red Bull man beat him to second place.
Sainz then found himself fighting to hold out for third place with Leclerc, while Ferrari forgot about team orders this time. Despite the fact that for practical purposes Ferrari did not care, they had to warn Leclerc not to take risks, while Sainz was forced to defend himself tooth and nail against his own teammate. In the end, the man from Madrid held on to the podium, despite the fact that the Monegasque didn’t like it… and some of his own team.
Sainz: “It’s always a pleasure to compete against Leclerc”
Carlos Sainz took the mass bath that every Ferrari driver dreams of, although not in the first place in the drawer. The unbeatable Red Bull were the only ones who could defeat him, after a race in which he, according to his own words, had to sweat a lot. “The whole race I have been pushing hard to keep the Red Bulls at bay, and that has forced me to use the rear tires a lot, trying to keep them from behind. I have ended up paying the price », he analyzed as soon as he got out of the car, aware that the degradation he suffered in the end on his wheels prevented him from resisting for something else. “I tried everything, maybe that cost me more tyre. I preferred to try it rather than stay with the desire. I have given everything, I have suffered especially at the end of the stints », he pointed out later. Despite the hardness of his fight with Charles Leclerc, especially on the Monegasque side, Sainz did not draw blood. Quite the contrary: he praised his partner. «It has been very hard. It’s always a pleasure to race against Charles when we’ve been able to. He is a great racer, like Max (Verstappen) and Checo (Pérez), and we had fun on the track, as I hope you did too », declared the Spaniard. «I consider that they are part of the races. Especially in Monza we both wanted the podium. It has been a tough battle, but a beautiful one, ”he settled on it.
For his part, Fernando Alonso finished ninth in a difficult race for Aston Martin and in which he minimized the expected loss of points. The Spaniard arrived exhausted at the interview area. Alonso was wiping the sweat from his face and breathlessly admitting that this has been “the most difficult race” so far this season. «The most physical we have done so far. The car was very difficult to drive, with very little grip, and it has been even more stressful than in Zandvoort (Netherlands) despite the rain”, admitted the Spaniard from Aston Martin, who even so considers the objective accomplished. «In difficult races like this you have to score points. Unfortunately, Hamilton left us despite that five-second penalty and we lost six points with him, and in constructors we have lost more points”, he highlighted, in a message that may be directed towards Lance Stroll, who is still not up to the job.
Aston Martin has taken a step back, and they also see how in each grand prix they have different enemies to locate. «Rivals change from weekend to weekend. In Zandvoort it was Alpine, and here it was Ferrari. Here they always release everything and they have done better, and despite that we have not given in too much. Let’s see if we can get them back in Singapore», Alonso.
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