With Norris, Piastri, Russell, and Leclerc lining up the first two rows at the Italian GP, we’re in for an exciting race.
Champion leader Verstappen will have some work to do today to make up some places from 7th in his RB20, as Red Bull appear to be struggling more than ever this season.
Pole-sitter Norris is currently 70 points behind Verstappen in the world championship, and desperately needs to maintain his lead in this race to catch up to him.
Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, and Hamilton are on the medium compound, whilst both Red Bulls have opted for the hard compound, with rumours of rain on the way.
The formation lap is over… it’s lights out and away we go!
Norris leads into turn one whilst Russell locks up and takes to the run-off area, and falls back into P7 with reported wing damage.
After giving each other space, the McLaren drivers switch spots, with Piastri and Leclerc overtaking Norris, Piastri now sits in first. By the end of lap 1 Piastri is half a second ahead of Norris.
Perez, in 8th behind Russell, comes on the radio to report that the Brits car is dangerous and he should be brought into the pits for repairs as he’s lost his front right endplate, “George has a lot of damage, it’s dangerous.”
It remains very tight at the top of the grid
Hulkenberg comes in for a new front wing following his contact with Ricciardo, which has been noted by the stewards. Tsunoda also picked up damage during a shunt with Hulkenberg and retires his RB on lap 8.
Ricciardo is given a 5-second time penalty for the incident with the Haas, for forcing another driver off the track, whilst Hulkenberg is hit with a 10-second penalty for his shunt with Tsunoda.
Piastri has broken DRS from Leclerc and sits happily in P1.
Perez overtakes Russell with DRS, as the Mercedes driver suffers from less downforce due to damage to his car. Shortly after, Russell is called into the pits for a front-wing change and comes out in P16.
Ricciardo also pits and serves his 5-second penalty, coming out behind Russell in P18. A normal pit stop around this track is around 22 seconds long.
Norris collides with a bollard coming into pit for new hard tyres on lap 15, attempting to undercut Leclerc in the fight with Piastri for P1.
Leclerc and Hamilton follow Norris and pit on lap 16. The undercut has worked for McLaren and Leclerc comes out behind Norris in 7th.
The other McLaren of Piastri pits from the lead, coming out in P4, ahead of his teammate, and Sainz now leads the race. The Ferrari driver comes on the radio and claims that the teams will struggle on their tyres later in the race due to these early stops.
Ricciardo is under investigation and gets a 10-second time penalty for failing to serve his first penalty correctly as an RB mechanic touched the front wing before the penalty was served.
Norris is given a strange message over the radio, being told it’s likely that the time will need to “cover for the other car.”
After leading the GP on his 30th birthday, Sainz pits and comes out in 6th. Verstappen, Perez, and Piastri now lead the race.
Verstappen is told he can “pick up the pace” before he’s called in to pit on lap 23 for hard tyres. He suffers from a long 6.2 seconds in the pits due to a problem with the right rear tyre.
McLaren are given team orders to race, with Piastri and Norris in P1 and P2, whilst Perez comes into pit and comes out behind Verstappen in P8.
Magnussen is hit with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.
Ricciardo makes his way past Gasly into P14 as the Alpine driver locks up and runs off the track, and then Bottas, into P13.
Colapinto makes his first overtake on track against Gasly up into 15th; the driver is doing incredibly well for his first race with Williams.
Norris is making mistakes on track due to a lack of grip and is falling back behind his teammate, whilst Leclerc gains behind him.
Norris comes in for his second pitstop on lap 33 for a second set of hards. He comes out P6 behind Verstappen after a slow 3.3-second stop and says, “I don’t know why I’m killing my left front so much.”
Mercedes attempt an undercut to Red Bull but Russell suffers from a long 4.2-second stop, as he comes out in P12.
Perez then pits to protect himself from Russell and comes out just ahead of the Brit in P9.
McLaren proposes a one-stop to Piastri who’s in P1 but he notes that the front-left is “dead.” He comes in for a second stop which is relatively slow, but gets him out ahead of Verstappen.
Russell passes Perez after leaving the track slightly and sits in 8th whilst Verstappen holds off Norris for 4th.
It’s a Ferrari 1-2 as of lap 41, the team could be going for a one-stop for both drivers.
Norris manages to get past Verstappen into P4, and the Red Bull then takes to the pits for a second stop and medium tyres, coming out behind Hamilton in P6.
As Piastri hunts down Sainz for P2, Verstappen takes the fastest lap of the race and is chasing Hamilton for P5.
He can’t hold the papaya off for long and Piastri moves into second place, but he is still around 12 seconds behind race-leader Leclerc.
On lap 48, Norris finally manages to get past Sainz and up into the podium spots.
Leclerc is hanging on to his one-stop with a 7-second lead, whilst the tifosi cheer from the grandstands.
He manages to hold on and Charles Leclerc wins the Italian Grand Prix, with an incredible drive and win at Monza – the crowds go wild!
Piastri, Norris, Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen, Russell, Perez, Magnussen, and Albon round out the top ten.
Leclerc screams in joy on the radio, “Mamma Mia!” and receives driver of the day.
