F1: Verstappen wins Italian GP for 10th in row.

World Driving Champion Max Verstappen out dueled both Ferraris early, passed Carlos Sainz Jr. on lap 15 and then eased to his 10th straight F1 win in the Italian GP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

In what was an exciting 2023 Italian GP with close battles and passes all race long, Verstappen’s record 10th consecutive win breaks a tie he enjoyed with Sebastian Vettel with 9 consecutive wins. It was Verstappen’s 12th win of the year in 14 races, and his 47th career F1 win.

Sergio Perez battled hard with the two Ferraris and picked them off one at a time to make it a Red Bull Honda 1-2 finish.

“To get through Charles and then Carlos – I had to use all of my tires,” said Perez.

“I really thought at times, especially at the beginning… in the end we managed to get both of them. I feel a lot more comfortable in the car so I think we’ll see my best form in the next races.”

Polesitter Carlos Sainz Jr. finished third for the final podium position after a hard battle with his teammate Charles Leclerc who finished 4th.

“Very tough, very tough,” said Sainz.

“It can’t get any tougher than it was today. To keep up with the Red Bulls, I paid the price with the rear tires, but I did  everything I could to defend. Hard racing, it’s always a pleasure to race Charles when we had a chance. We had fun out there!”

George Russell came home a lonely fifth despite having a 5-second time penalty for passing off track, likewise Lewis Hamilton’s 5-second time penalty for crashing into Oscar Piastri didn’t cost him a place as he finished sixth.

Alex Albon gave Williams some more points in seventh, defending from the other McLaren of Lando Norris in a race to the finish line, as the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10.

Liam Lawson finished on the brink of the points in his second appearance in place of Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri, with Piastri 12th after the incident involving Hamilton and a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Williams rookie Logan Sargeant was left to rue his own coming together with Bottas – and a five-second time penalty for causing that collision – en route to 13th, followed by the other Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

It was a quiet afternoon for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll after his back-of-the grid start, the Canadian taking 16th at the checkered flag from the Haas machines of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, who had another challenging race day.

Two drivers failed to make it to the finish, with Ocon retiring late on in the second of the Alpines and Yuki Tsunoda watching the action from the sidelines after a reported engine failure on the formation lap put his AlphaTauri out before the race had even started.

2023 Italian GP Results – 51 Laps