Max Verstappen climbed up from seventh to win F1 Italian GP with Charles Leclerc in second from George Russell.
It was a clean getaway in F1 Italian GP at Monza from Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari from Mercedes’ George Russell, who had to take avoiding action at Turn 1. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen moved up to third from seventh by the end of Lap 1.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was fourth from AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, with McLaren’s Lando Norris in sixth after a slow start. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso slotted in seventh from Williams’ Nyck de Vries, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in the Top 10.
Outside the points, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez started to climb up the order but Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was kinda stuck. Among the three, the Spaniard was the man on charge as he was up in the Top 5 in no time.
Perez was following him but he pitted early with front-right brakes issues with the Mexican dropping to last. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, slowed to retire after power unit issue with the Virtual Safety Car deployed.
Ferrari called Leclerc early and returned third with Verstappen leading from Russell. Behind the Monegasque was Sainz who cleared Ricciardo on re-start. The Australian came under pressure from Gasly too where the Frenchman passed him at Turn 1.
But since he went off, he gave back the place, while Alonso cleared Norris for sixth. The Brit came back on him to retake the place as Ricciardo and Gasly pitted where the Australian kept track position over the Frenchman.
At the front, Ferrari switched Leclerc to a two-stop after Verstappen extended his first stint and took the F1 Italian GP lead from the Monegasque, who had to recover a lot after his second stop. Russell slotted in third on the hard tyres from Sainz.
Perez was fifth from Ricciardo as Hamilton passed Gasly and Norris at one go to be seventh. The McLaren driver pitted late and a slow stop cost him track position but he got through his teammate to be seventh behind Hamilton in the order.
Ricciardo was eighth from Gasly, as de Vries hung on the final points place handsomely. The Dutchman had Guanyu on his tail as the two got to fight for points after retirement for Alonso and also Stroll earlier in the grand prix.
While it looked like the end would be smooth but a late safety car for Ricciardo changed a bit after the Australian faced power unit issue. The front-runners pitted with Verstappen leading from Leclerc, Russell, Sainz and Hamilton in the Top 5.
Perez was sixth from Norris with Gasly, de Vries and Guanyu in the Top 10. With the delay in recovering the car, the F1 Italian GP ended under the safety car with Verstappen winning from Leclerc, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Norris, Gasly, de Vries and Guanyu.
Outside the points, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was 11th from Haas’ Mick Schumacher, Bottas, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
DNF: Ricciardo, Stroll, Alonso, Vettel
RACE CLASSIFICATION (LAP 53/53)
Points on debut for @nyckdevries 👏#ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/OCVijR05ho
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2022
UPDATE: De Vries was let off with a reprimand for erratic driving during the safety car. The dash on his car was showing him driving under the delta time but he wasn’t informed about it while he was battling the car with brake issues.
Upon hearing the deliberations and agreeing that it was the first time for de Vries in race trim, the FIA stewards let him off with a reprimand instead of a higher penalty. “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 45 (Nyck de Vries), the team representative and have reviewed video, audio and telemetry evidence,” said the stewards.
“The driver advised that after the second lap under the Safety Car he was unsure about why his display was showing that he was at risk of being under the delta time. At the same time, he was dealing with brake issues and was in radio contact with the Team over this issue, so did not get any advice from the Team in relation to his delta.
“He therefore reduced speed in order to remain above the delta time. The Stewards took note of the fact that the driver was a “last minute” replacement for the usual team driver and had driven this car for the first time in FP3 at this event. Therefore, in mitigation the Stewards decide to impose the penalty of a Reprimand instead of a higher penalty.”
Also, with the race ending under safety car, the FIA stated: “While every effort was made to recover Car #3 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.”