Max Verstappen notched a record-setting 10th straight victory in Formula 1 competition on Sunday after dominating the Italian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull Racing driver broke a tie with Sebastian Vettel for the most consecutive victories in series history. It was also the 15th consecutive win for Red Bull.
Despite starting second behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the opening stint, Verstappen eventually worked his way around the Spaniard on lap 15, never looking back the rest of the way at Monza Circuit.
“I never would have believed (10 wins in a row) was possible, but we had to work for it today and that was definitely a lot more fun,” said Verstappen. “We had good pace, we were good on the tires, but (Ferrari) had a lot of top speed.
“It was so hard to get close and make the move into turn one. I had to force (Sainz) into a mistake and luckily it came at some point where he locked up, and I had better traction out of turn two, which was good, so we could do my own race.”
A spirited battle for second brewed between Sainz and Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, with Perez vaulting to second for a Red Bull sweep.
Sainz claimed the final podium positon, with Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc behind him in fourth.
George Russell was the first Mercedes driver across the line in fifth. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton followed his teammate home in sixth for a double points finish in the Mercedes camp.
“Fifth place was probably the maximum today and I think we’d have taken that result before the weekend,” Russell said. “We’ve outpaced McLaren and Aston Martin here, but unfortunately Ferrari were just a step ahead of us here – and then Red Bull out front.
“They were so fast in the high-speed corners today, I just couldn’t keep Perez behind any longer than I did in the early laps. It was a tough race because the degradation was high, but the long pit-stop loss just means that a two-stop strategy isn’t really competitive; that means a lot of time in DRS, but it’s not easy to overtake with such small pace differences between cars,” Russell continued.
“I’m looking forward to heading to Singapore next. We were competitive there last year and I think that our car will be better suited to that circuit, so hopefully we can fight a bit closer to the front than we managed here.”
Alex Albon gave Williams a solid points result in seventh, with McLaren’s Lando Norris finishing eighth.
The rest of the top 10 was occupied by the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.
Haas F-1 endured a tough outing on Sunday, as both entries finished one lap down in 17th (Nico Hulkenberg) and 18th (Kevin Magnussen).