Max Verstappen rejoices at the disappointment of Charles Leclerc. Photo: REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini.
Five wins in a row: the Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won again this Sunday, depriving himself ferrari of a home win in Monza, and in the meantime he has come a little closer to the world title of the Formula 1. He also unlocked another level in his career, because the victory in the Italian Grand Prix was the first of his record.
Everything was ready for the party Stablewho was celebrating 75 years as a car manufacturer and the centenary of the Monza racetrack, north of Milan, with Charles Leclerc as the main hope, after taking pole on Saturday … but Verstappen and Red Bull had other projects besides being simple guests.
The F1 world champion got his own 11th win in 16 races, the 31st of his still young career (24 years old) and the first in Italy, to be in an unbeatable position to keep his crown. It seems that all that remains is to bet on which of the next competitions will be there.
With the pole on Saturday, Leclerc had brought hope to all the ‘fans’, but the Monegasque failed to make the ‘Fratelli d’Italia’ (the Italian anthem) sound like he did in 2019.
Verstappen cut first with the checkered flag, after a race finish neutralized by the safety car after the crash suffered by Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren).
“The ending was frustrating, but that’s the way it is”Leclerc declared in Italian for the ‘fans’, who as always went up on the podium to cheer him on, accompanied by Verstappen and the British George Russell, third in his Mercedes.
“We were the fastest, we deserved the victory, it is clear that it is a shame not to have achieved a finish in the race, but it was a very good day for us”, said Verstappen … booed by the Italian public.
With 116 points advantage now in the world championship on Leclerc, it seems that only a catastrophe could deprive the young Dutchman of repeating the Formula 1 world title, which ended his season in Europe and now goes to the Far East for the next races: Singapore on October 2 and Japan on 9 October.
Verstappen, sanctioned with five positions in the standings for changing engines beyond the authorized times, started from 7th place, but at the start he has already gained three positions after the first corner.
On lap 2 he is fourth after overtaking Ricciardo and on lap 5, on the straight, he overtook Russell thanks to the power of his Red Bull. Only Leclerc remained in front.
The victory was not decided on the track, but in the pits. Red Bull’s strategy (one stop against two for Leclerc) was obviously the right one and Verstappen didn’t even need to fight wheel to wheel with the opponent to beat him in a race which, moreover, was deprived of action at the end when the direction decreed the finish line with the safety car.
Neither in Italy nor elsewhere, nothing and no one seems to be able to stop Verstappen: with six races to go in the World Championship, the Dutchman is able to beat the record shared by the Germans Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2013) for the most wins in a single season (13).
This time the Italian team doesn’t have much to blame, except for the fact that if they had copied Verstappen’s strategy perhaps they would have had a better chance of winning, even if the track also hinted that Red Bull’s pace was much higher. .
The good news for Ferrari was the great comeback of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who started from 18th position and finished 4th.
Before the competition began, a minute’s silence was observed for the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a respected homage by the public and the largely British teams.
Alonso also blew out the candles in Monza. The Spanish veteran raced his 350th Grand Prix, equaling the record set by Finnish Kimi Raikkonen, although he was unable to finish it due to mechanical problems with his Alpine when he was in the points.
At just 41 years old, Alonso will break the record in Singapore, although he has no plans to stay there, as he has just signed a two-year contract with Aston Martin.
The response of the FIA
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) had to go out to defend its procedure at the Italian Grand Prix, which ended with the drivers behind the safety car for not being able to pull off the Australian’s McLaren faster Daniele Ricciardowhich he left in a nice section of the circuit, with five laps to go.
In a statement released after the race, an FIA spokesperson, according to the official Formula 1 website, noted this. “While every effort was made to quickly recover car number 3 (Ricciardo) and restart the race, the situation developed and the stewards were unable to put the car in neutral and push it into the correct position, the escape route..
It was not possible to resume the race and the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) ran out of options to complicate the victory of the Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull).
“Since the safety of the recovery operation is our only priority, and the accident was not significant enough to require the red flag, the race ended with a Safety Car following the procedures agreed between the FIA and all competitors. . The timing of the safety car period within a race is not related to this procedure, “he said.
De Vries’ unforgettable debut
the Dutch Nyck de Vries (Williams) closed a great debut in Formula 1, accidental due to the loss of the Thai alessandro albino for appendicitis, something unexpected and “at the last minute”, which ended up doing him good. He was ninth and scored points.
“It helped me that it was all at the last minute because there was no time to think, I got carried away and the team helped me a lot, they guided me.”commented to Dazn.
De Vries was “extremely happy and grateful for the opportunity” he was given and for “taking advantage of it and scoring points” for the team on its debut.
The Dutchman, chosen as driver of the day at the Italian Grand Prix, faced his third free practice of the season on Friday with Aston Martin and on Saturday, due to the Albon accident, he sat in the Williams car, with which ended the weekend.
Source: Clarin
