Monza: The Ultimate Track Guide

Ferrari were on pole for their home race but Verstappen secured a record-breaking tenth successive victory at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix.

There were two red flags on Friday afternoon at Monza, with Lance Stroll stopping on track at the start of the second Free Practice session and Sergio Perez crashing out towards the end. Carlos Sainz set the fastest time in final practice on Saturday morning and he carried that pace into qualifying. Sainz took pole, with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc completing the top three. Alex Albon impressed once again in qualifying, setting the sixth fastest Q3 lap time.

On the formation lap ahead of the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda came to a stop on the back straight. The start of the Monza race was subsequently delayed by around 20 minutes and after three formation laps, the Grand Prix finally got underway.

Sainz led into Turn 1 with all 19 drivers making it safely through the first chicane. On Lap 2, at the second chicane, Albon overtook Oscar Piastri for sixth place while Verstappen challenged Sainz at the first turn on Lap 6. Unable to find a way past that time, Verstappen’s next real attempt did not come until Lap 15 when Sainz locked up at Turn 1. That gave the Red Bull the momentum to get the job done at the next chicane.

Both Perez and George Russell ran off track as the Red Bull attempted to overtake the Mercedes at the start of Lap 14. Perez made a move stick two laps later. The first chicane was a hot spot of action throughout the race, with the two McLarens making contact there on Lap 24. More McLaren contact followed on Lap 43, as Piastri made contact with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

With Russell cleared, Perez set off in pursuit of Leclerc. His overtake came on Lap 32, when he then began hunting down the second-placed Ferrari. Perez had closed in ten laps later and spent a handful of laps attempting to overtake the Ferrari before finally finding his way past five laps from the end.

With the Red Bulls now ahead, the two Ferraris began to battle against one another for the final podium place in front of the Tifosi. Leclerc got past Sainz as the duo nearly made contact and locked up in a thrilling battle. Sainz got back ahead as Leclerc was told to take “no risk” on the final lap.

Verstappen scored an historic tenth consecutive Grand Prix win, leading home Red Bull’s sixth 1-2 finish of the 2023 season.

Leclerc took a home pole at Monza for Ferrari but the Scuderia could not hold off Verstappen on Sunday, who took his 10^th win of the year.

While the teams observed a minute of silence ahead of Free Practice in memory of Queen Elizabeth II, Ferrari sported a special yellow livery to celebrate 70 years of the Italian manufacturer at the Italian Grand Prix. Ferrari also celebrated Monza’s centenary year at the track, with Charles Leclerc taking pole position. 

Nyck de Vries was drafted in to replace Alex Albon ahead of Saturday’s action as the Williams driver was suffering with appendicitis. De Vries impressed in qualifying, reaching Q2 and comfortably out-qualifying his team-mate. 

Grid penalties for almost half of the grid meant that polesitter Leclerc was the only driver to start in the position that he qualified. George Russell – who qualified sixth – joined Leclerc on the front row. 

At the start of the race, Russell pulled alongside Leclerc, but the Ferrari was able to just stay ahead as plenty of drivers behind cut the chicane. Starting seventh, Max Verstappen made up places at the start, passing Daniel Ricciardo for third at the start of Lap 2. Verstappen then passed Russell for second on Lap 5. 

Further back, Carlos Sainz was making progress through the field having started near the back and was up into seventh place by Lap 10. Former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel came to halt on Lap 12 in his final Italian Grand Prix appearance. His stoppage brought out the Virtual Safety Car, under which race leader Leclerc pitted. Verstappen pitted on Lap 26, taking on medium tyres. Leclerc then pitted for a second time eight laps later, rejoining with soft tyres, but was unable to catch Verstappen in the closing stages. 

Six laps from the end, Ricciardo stopped on track bringing out the Safety Car. The race finished behind the Safety Car, with Verstappen clinching his tenth victory of the 2022 season. Leclerc and Russell completed the podium, while De Vries picked up points on his debut. After moving up to ninth on the final grid, he finished where he started.

Championship rivals Hamilton and Verstappen collided in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix as Ricciardo secured McLaren’s first victory in almost a decade.

Sprint Qualifying was back in action at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, with the drivers having just an hour of practice before the qualifying hour. Traffic proved to be an issue in Q1 as the drivers searched for slipstreams around the Monza circuit, though a complete farce in Q3 – like in years gone by – was avoided. Valtteri Bottas secured pole position for the sprint race.

Carlos Sainz suffered a crash on Saturday morning in Free Practice 2, but his car was fixed in time for the sprint race. Both Mercedes started on the front row for Sprint Qualifying, but Lewis Hamilton lost positions at the start, falling to fifth. Pierre Gasly picked up damage to his front wing and crashed out. As the Safety Car was deployed, Robert Kubica spun at the rear of the field. The rest of the sprint race passed without drama and Bottas crossed the finish line first.

Despite his qualifying efforts, Bottas was consigned to starting from the back of the grid after taking on new power unit elements. His penalty promoted Max Verstappen to pole, with Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren starting alongside him. Ricciardo seized the opportunity into Turn 1 and took the lead of the race.

Behind Ricciardo, Hamilton and Verstappen went wheel to wheel into the second chicane, with the Mercedes driver running across the chicane following light contact with the Red Bull. Antonio Giovinazzi – who had qualified in the top ten – spun on the opening lap after contact with a Ferrari, undoing his good work from the previous two days.

While Hamilton made a move on Lando Norris, Verstappen endured a slow pit stop. Hamilton’s pit stop was also sub-par, but was good enough to see him come out of the pit-lane alongside his title rival. Somewhat inevitably, the pair collided at the chicane, with the Red Bull ending up parked on top of the Mercedes. Both drivers were out of the race.

As the Safety Car came into the pit lane, Ricciardo led from Charles Leclerc – who was soon overtaken by Norris, making it a McLaren 1-2. That’s how it would remain, with Ricciardo sealing McLaren’s first victory in almost a decade. Bottas, who had started nineteenth, joined the pair on the podium following an impressive comeback drive.

Lewis Hamilton set a new record for the fastest ever lap in qualifying for the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, but the race will be remembered for Pierre Gasly’s stunning victory with AlphaTauri.

Qualifying for the 2020 Italian Grand Prix saw some of the fastest ever lap times in Formula 1 history. While there was the usual jostling for position, with all the drivers keen to pick up a slipstream, qualifying at Monza came to a less farcical conclusion than twelve months previously. It was Lewis Hamilton who would take pole with the fastest ever lap in F1 history, securing pole by 0.069 seconds.

On race day, the Grand Prix started in the usual fashion, with Hamilton pulling clear at the front. Carlos Sainz, who had qualified a career-best third overtook Valtteri Bottas at the start – and it wasn’t long before Sainz’s McLaren team-mate Lando Norris also passed the Mercedes. Bottas was passed by more cars – with both Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo finding their way through.

Sebastian Vettel, who qualified in a disappointing seventeenth, retired on Lap 6 with brake failure, while Kevin Magnussen came to a halt thirteen laps later. The Safety Car was called as a result. However, with Magnussen’s car stopped near the pit exit, the pit lane was closed. Despite that, race leader Hamilton pulled into the pit lane. Sainz assumed the lead as a result of Hamilton’s stop.

The pit lane eventually opened two laps later, with most of the field opting to stop. Crucially, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Kimi Raikkonen did not stop. Their fortunes for the afternoon were greatly improved when a heavy crash for Charles Leclerc brought out the red flags.

While repairs were carried out on the tyre barrier, it was announced that both Hamilton and Antonio Giovinazzi had received ten-second stop/go penalties for entering the pit lane when it was closed.

The race began again on Lap 28 with a standing start. Hamilton led the field away, with Pierre Gasly second and Kimi Raikkonen third. A lock-up for Stroll saw him run wide at the second chicane, luckily missing the car in front of him. Hamilton pitted to serve his penalty, allowing Gasly into the lead of the race.

As Max Verstappen was forced onto the sidelines, Sainz set about moving up the order, overtaking Raikkonen with a bold move at Turn 1. Stroll also passed the Alfa Romeo soon after. That was the order in which the top three would remain, though Sainz kept the pressure on Gasly until the very end, eventually finishing less than half a second behind the AlphaTauri.

Gasly claimed France’s first Grand Prix win in over 24 years, while the Red Bull junior team took their second victory – twelve years after Vettel took their first at the same circuit. Sainz and Stroll completed the podium, with all three podium finishers claiming the second top three finish of their careers.

Charles Leclerc powered to pole for the Italian Grand Prix and brought Ferrari their first home victory since 2010, much to the delight of the loyal tifosi.

Saturday’s qualifying session led to a farcical situation at the end of Q3 where Carlos Sainz was the only driver who reached the chequered flag in time to start his final lap. The other drivers backed each other up, none of them wishing to go without the all-important slipstream. Charles Leclerc took pole position, starting alongside Lewis Hamilton on the front row.

Leclerc kept the lead at the first turn, as a number of drivers cut the first chicane – including Max Verstappen, who picked up front wing damage. Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon enjoyed a wheel-to-wheel battle; or at least Sainz did, with the Red Bull driver forced to drive through a gravel trap.

On the sixth lap, Sebastian Vettel spun and re-joined the track right in front of Lance Stroll, who took avoiding action and spun his Racing Point. Stroll then committed the same crime as Vettel, forcing Pierre Gasly to go through the gravel. Both drivers picked up a penalty for the incident, and Vettel pitted for a change of front wing before taking his ten-second stop/go penalty.

In the battle for the net lead, Leclerc fended off Hamilton, with Hamilton left unimpressed by Leclerc’s aggressive defence. Sainz retired with a loose wheel following his pit stop, while Daniil Kvyat came to a halt with an engine failure. Leclerc locked up and skipped over the first corner, leading to another attack from Hamilton – but the Mercedes driver made a mistake himself, allowing team-mate Valtteri Bottas into second place.

Bottas tried to chase down the leader, but no one could stop Leclerc from taking Ferrari’s first home victory in nine years. Renault had a strong race, with Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg finishing fourth and fifth. Leclerc became Formula 1’s youngest back-to-back Grand Prix winner.

Kimi Raikkonen took a surprise pole position with the fastest lap in Formula 1 history, but Mercedes reigned on Ferrari’s home ground on Sunday as Lewis Hamilton took the win in a tight strategic battle.

Marcus Ericsson suffered a large crash on Friday afternoon as a result of his DRS remaining open at the end of the main straight. Saturday’s qualifying session saw a close fight between Ferrari and Mercedes, with the lap record being beaten several times in quick succession.

It was Kimi Raikkonen who set the ultimate pace, with less than two tenths separating the top three on the grid. Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso decided to race each other in Q2, ruining both of their qualifying attempts.

Raikkonen led away at the start, but there was drama behind as Sebastian Vettel defended from Lewis Hamilton, with the Ferrari driver spinning and ending up at the back of the field. Brendon Hartley failed to make it to the first turn as he got squeezed off the start line.

Hamilton soon dispatched Raikkonen for the lead, but the Finn quickly took the position back just a few corners later. Hamilton pitted after Raikkonen, but remained behind the Finn, while Mercedes tactically kept Valtteri Bottas out in order to halt his compatriot’s charge. Bottas was later forced off the track by Max Verstappen, the latter of whom was unimpressed at being handed a penalty for the incident.

With eight laps to go, Hamilton took the lead and remained there until the end. Raikkonen finished second to take his 100th podium finish and, although Verstappen finished ahead of Bottas on track, Bottas took third place as a result of the Dutchman’s five second penalty.