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BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - AUGUST 01: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on August 01, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Joe Portlock/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202508012223 // Usage for editorial use only //

Max Verstappen Takes a Dominant Win at Italian Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen took a lights-to-flag victory at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday (September 7). Almost 20 seconds behind, Lando Norris came home in second, followed closely by the sister McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

“It was a great day for us,” Verstappen stated after the race. “Lap 1 was a bit unlucky, but after that, the car was flying. It was a fantastic execution by the whole team. We’ll go race-by-race [for the rest of the year], but today was an excellent result.”

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton came fourth and sixth, respectively, split by the Mercedes of George Russell. Alex Albon took another strong result for Williams to finish seventh, while Gabrielle Bortoleto claimed eighth in what has been an impressive rookie season. Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar rounded out the top 10.

The top three starting positions from one week ago were reversed in Monza, with Max Verstappen lining up on pole, followed by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the second and third grid slots, respectively. The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc occupied fourth, giving the passionate Italian fans – also known as tifosi – plenty to cheer for.

Verstappen left the track through the first corners, a move that gave him an advantage, and he was forced to give first place to Norris to avoid a penalty. Leclerc was the strongest starter, taking a place from Piastri through the first chicane. Piastri retook the position, only to lose it again.

Verstappen used his drag reduction system (DRS) to pass Norris back into first place at the beginning of lap 4. Despite following Leclerc closely, Piastri had been unable to get past, but finally retook third place on lap 6. All four frontrunners were now back to their starting positions.

Lewis Hamilton, starting from 10th, was also giving the tifosi reason for optimism, moving up to sixth place by lap 7.

At the front, Verstappen had opened a gap of three seconds to Norris, who was another four seconds ahead of his main title rival, Oscar Piastri.

In what was likely a one-stop race for most, several midfield cars began taking to the pits at around lap 20. However, all frontrunners remained on track.

Fernando Alonso was forced to retire his Aston Martin on lap 25, his front left suspension failing as he ran over the ripple strips at the side of the track.

On lap 27, Piastri’s race engineer asked if he would be able to extend his stop by 15 laps, indicating that the hard compound tires were not working very well for cars that had already stopped. Norris’ race engineer also took to the radio, asking if he would be happy to extend on the medium tire and finish the race on soft compounds.

One lap later, George Russell took to the pits for a new set of hard tires. At the front, Max Verstappen’s medium tires were showing blistering, which would have caused concern on the Red Bull pit wall.

Verstappen stopped on lap 38, opting for the hard compound tire. Both McLarens remained on track and were still discussing a switch to the faster but less durable soft tires. Within two laps of stopping, Verstappen was setting the fastest lap times of the race.

Oscar Piastri was the first of the McLarens to pit on lap 46 and, as expected, the team put him on the red-striped soft compound tires. Lando Norris pitted one lap later, allowing Max Verstappen to retake the lead of the race.

The McLaren team made a mistake during Norris’ stop, taking an extra four seconds, and allowing Piastri to take second place. The team asked Piastri to allow Norris past two laps later, and he did so, while expressing some displeasure.

Almost 20 seconds ahead, Max Verstappen took a dominant victory for Red Bull, the first race win under new team principal Laurent Mekies.

Norris took three points out of Piastri’s championship lead, reducing the deficit to 31 points.

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Peter Molloy began following Formula 1 during the 1985 Australian Grand Prix. He cheered for a certain Ayrton Senna, who was driving the same black and gold colors as a toy F1 car that Pete had been given. Pete continued to be a fan of Senna throughout his childhood. Fast forward many moons, and Peter now combines significant journalistic experience with decades of watching F1 to cover the latest on-track and off-track action.

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