Even Verstappen's class isn't enough for a victory at Italian GP

Max Verstappen started the Italian Grand Prix on the soft tyre, making Red Bull Racing’s attacking intent immediately clear. He made the most of that compound at the start in a fight with Oscar Piastri. The Australian seemed to get ahead after the first chicane, but entering Turn 4, Verstappen braked later than the McLaren driver and passed him around the outside.

A few corners later, Verstappen launched another crucial attack. Heading into Ascari, he didn’t hesitate for a second to pass Charles Leclerc as well. Leclerc was then overtaken by Piastri, before he slid off at Parabolica due to a mistake and triggered a red flag.

At the restart, Red Bull again chose attack with the medium tyre for Verstappen, while most others opted for the hard. Verstappen put it to good use once more. A poor launch cost him P3 to Franco Colapinto, but he re-passed the Argentine around the outside heading into Turn 4.

By the start of lap seven, Verstappen had also caught Pierre Gasly and swept past him with ease. The gap to leader George Russell was then just over a second, but that wouldn’t stay the case for long.

Within four laps, Verstappen latched onto Russell, and on lap 12 he even overtook him. In the laps that followed, Verstappen couldn’t shake Russell. The four-time world champion showed his supreme class when it came to defending, but on lap 15 it ended. Russell simply had more pace and got back ahead of Verstappen - fittingly at the entry to Verstappen’s beloved Turn 4. One lap later, Kimi Antonelli followed suit, with Verstappen offering much less resistance.

Verstappen then seemed to be losing touch with the Mercedes drivers, but their intra-team battle kept him in contention. Even after the Mercedes pair were told to work together, Verstappen remained close.

The duel ended when the Virtual Safety Car was called on lap 29 for Lance Stroll’s stoppage. Russell stayed out on his hard tyre, while Antonelli and Verstappen pitted on their mediums. Antonelli took a fresh set of new mediums; Verstappen a fresh set of hards.

With 23 laps to go, a serious recovery drive began for Verstappen, who had to fight back from P7 to the podium. That went quicker than expected. 11 laps after his pit stop, on lap 39, Verstappen had already picked off Oscar Piastri for third place. At that point Verstappen was nine seconds behind Russell and two behind Antonelli.

Instead of looking forward, it turned into a direct fight for third. Piastri stayed within a second of Verstappen and a few laps later, retook P3 from him. This yo-yoing caused the gap to the top two to grow.

In the end, Verstappen still managed to shake off Piastri. Piastri remained within a second but couldn’t launch another attack. Verstappen’s salvation ultimately came in the form of Lando Norris, who began attacking his teammate. As the two McLarens fought each other, Verstappen’s cushion grew and his podium looked secure.

In the end, Verstappen once again made the difference for Red Bull Racing. His overtakes and defensive driving even brought him to first place at one point, but the RB22 simply wasn’t good enough to hold that position. Even so, Verstappen maximized with a superb race, securing his fifth podium of the season.