Dutch delight in Italian Grand Prix: Verstappen wins with Leclerc in P2
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The Italian Grand Prix once again proved that you can throw almost anything at Max Verstappen and he'll win in the 2022 F1 season. The Dutchman started from seventh place and dominated the field in a similar style to the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago. Charles Leclerc started from pole position, had help with a VSC pitstop and still sat more than 15 seconds behind his rival before the late safety car. George Russell held on to finish third.
Verstappen wins his 11th race of the season which puts him level on the number of victories Lewis Hamilton has ever managed to achieve in one season. He is two short of the all-time record set by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher in 2013 and 2004 respectively. Verstappen extends his lead in the World Championship and is now only waiting for the mathematics to fall into place for his second title.
Mercedes had good race pace once again. Hamilton started from 19th place on the grid and worked his way up into the top five. Perez moved up seven places and could've finished higher but Red Bull pitted him with ten laps to go. On his debut, De Vries finished 9th one place behind Pierre Gasly. Lando Norris finished in seventh.
Mixed up grid
Formula 1 paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II before the race with a minute's silence after her death in the week before the Grand Prix. For the second time in this Formula 1 season, a mixed-up grid raised anticipation for a Grand Prix. Around half of the drivers were hit with penalties including World Championship leader Max Verstappen who started in seventh place. Charles Leclerc started from pole position in Ferrari's home Grand Prix, though Carlos Sainz had to start from the back.
George Russell started from the front row with McLaren taking the second row entirely. Verstappen lined up next to a fellow countryman for the first time in history as Nyck de Vries replaced Alex Albon. Albon missed out due to emergency surgery on his appendix. The majority of the field chose to start on the medium tyres, apart from the entire front-row, Verstappen and De Vries.
Leclerc controlled the lead going into the first corner, with Russell having to go across the rumble strips. Norris had a terrible start off the line and was lucky he didn't get collected as drivers looked to avoid him. By the end of the first lap, Verstappen had made his way into P3. It took Verstappen a further three laps before overtaking Russell for P2. The Dutchman began his pursuit on Leclerc who had a two-second lead.
From the back, Sainz gradually made his way through the field via some small contact with rival Perez. The Spaniard was in seventh on lap ten whereas Perez was 20th due to a pitstop for hards and a small brake fire.
Ferrari pit first
Sebastian Vettel became the first retirement when he reported power issues. A virtual safety car was deployed just after the drivers had gone past the pits. Verstappen drove past a second time, but Ferrari pulled in Leclerc after asking some questions on the radio. Whilst in the pit lane, the track went green. Ferrari put the medium tyres on Leclerc with 40 laps remaining.
About ten laps into Leclerc's stint, Ferrari confirmed they were putting Leclerc onto plan C. In the meantime, Verstappen continued to open up the gap with strong pace on the soft tyre. Red Bull pitted the Dutchman on lap 26 for medium tyres. Leclerc had a ten-second lead likely solely because of the time gained under the VSC pitstop.
Leclerc pitted on lap 34 for soft tyres. Ferrari placed him ahead of Russell to keep him in third place. He had 20 seconds to cut down with 19 laps remaining. Such was Verstappen's pace, Leclerc hardly ate into the gap. With Daniel Ricciardo stopping on track, the safety car came out with five laps remaining and the race finished under the safety car.