MONZA, Italy —
Max Verstappen won the
Formula One Italian Grand Prix on Sunday to leave himself in touching distance
of his second straight Formula One title.
اضافة اعلان
Championship leader Verstappen claimed his first win
at Monza and his fifth GP in a row after fighting from seventh on the grid to
finish
Charles Leclerc on another difficult day for Ferrari.
The race ended with jeers from the crowd and Ferrari
frustration as the drivers had to finish the final six laps with the safety car
after Daniel Ricciardo lost his engine and ended up at the side of the track.
However Red Bull’s Verstappen is 116 points ahead of
Leclerc in the drivers’ standings and can retain his crown in Singapore next
month after winning his 11th race of the season, one he largely controlled
despite being hit with a grid penalty on Friday.
“It was unfortunate, everyone wants to finish under
a green flag, but unfortunately we were short of laps,” Verstappen told
reporters.
“But I had new softs so I wasn’t too worried.”
The massed ranks of red in the stands loudly voiced
their disapproval when the cars came over the line as they were denied the
chance to see their man Leclerc try to overtake dominant Verstappen, who was
also booed on the podium by Italian supporters.
“The end was frustrating, I wish could have had a
bit of racing at the end, unfortunately we were second because of what happened
before,” said Leclerc.
The Monegasque lost out to Verstappen despite
starting on pole but said after the race it had been “a positive weekend
overall” despite Ferrari’s plan of changing from soft to medium tires during an
early virtual safety car backfiring.
“I think we all had the doubt, I think if I hadn’t
done it Max would have done it,” said Leclerc.
“It was a bit
unfortunate because in the middle of the pit lane we have the virtual safety
car ending so we didn’t have any of the benefit of stopping at that moment and
from that moment we were on the back foot.”
George Russell of Mercedes rounded off the podium,
while Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz surged from 18th on the starting grid to
fourth.
Ferrari fall short
Seven-time world champion
Lewis Hamilton also raced from the back of the Mercedes to finish an impressive
fifth while a delighted Nyck de Vries scored points on his F1 debut by
finishing ninth as a stand-in for Williams’ Alex Albon.
Hamilton later told Sky Sport Italia that the finish
“brought back memories” of last season’s controversial climax in Abu Dhabi,
where Verstappen snatched the title on the final lap of the campaign.
“That is the rule that it should be, right? So only
one time, in the history of the sport that they haven’t done the rule,” said
Hamilton.
Leclerc started on pole and held off an early
overtake attempt from
Russell to keep first place while Verstappen was already
bursting through to second by lap five.
Verstappen took the lead on lap 13 when the virtual
safety car was introduced after Sebastian Vettel crashed out and Leclerc
pitted, a move which would eventually cost Ferrari the race.
Verstappen pitted on lap 26 to change from his softs
to mediums and rejoined the fray just behind Leclerc with the same compound in
which his Ferrari rival had already driven around the track 13 times.
That tire wear made the difference when Leclerc
handed Verstappen the win by pitting again to go back to softs seven laps
later.
Daniel Ricciardo’s race ended with six laps
remaining and with his car stuck beside the track that allowed everyone to pit
knowing a safety car would come out.
What they didn’t know was that the car would remain
on the track until the end of the race, meaning Verstappen strolled over the
line for a victory which would likely have come regardless.
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