Verstappen completes Italian double in record time
MONZA, Italy : Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the fastest Formula One race in history on Sunday to complete an Italian double while McLaren's Oscar Piastri had his overall lead trimmed to 31 points after obeying team orders.
Australian Piastri finished third after handing back second place to teammate Lando Norris after the Briton suffered a slow pitstop due to an apparent wheelgun problem.
Norris had pitted after Piastri for strategic reasons, despite being ahead on track, and had been assured by his race engineer that he would come out ahead.
Verstappen meanwhile cruised untroubled to the chequered flag to win the Italian Grand Prix by 19.2 seconds and take his first win since Imola, another race in Ferrari's backyard, last May to end a nine race drought.
The 53-lap race was officially timed at one hour 13 minutes and 24.325 seconds, and an average speed of 250.706kph around Monza's 'Temple of Speed'.
"The whole weekend, we were on it. It's super enjoyable to win here," said Verstappen of his third success of the season and career 66th that also ended McLaren's run of five wins in a row.
"I could see the pace was good, I just needed to settle in," the reigning world champion added after ceding the lead to Norris at a chaotic start and then taking it back without too much effort.
"I could see the pace was there and quite quickly we were back in the lead. This was an unbelievable weekend."
SLOW STOP
The title battle between Piastri and Norris, effectively a two-horse race, was always the centre of attention and controversy erupted after the team reversed positions.
Piastri initially suggested slow pitstops were just a part of racing but ultimately obliged.
Verstappen fuelled the flames over the car radio when told about the swap by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase: "Ha! Just because he had a slow stop?," said the Dutch driver with affected incredulity.
McLaren apologised to Norris over the radio for the 5.9 second stop and Piastri, who had pitted in 1.9 seconds a lap earlier, played it down.
"It is something we will discuss. We have discussed it before. It was a fair request. Lando qualified ahead, and was ahead of me in the race, and he lost the spot through no fault of his own," said the Australian.
"I said what I had to say on the radio, and when I got the second request, I was not going to go against the team. There is a culture within the team to protect outside of Lando and I and that is a very important thing going forward."
Last year's winner Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari, after a brief tussle with Piastri, giving the massed tifosi something to cheer after both cars crashed out in the Netherlands last weekend.
George Russell was fifth for Mercedes and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton sixth on his first appearance at the 'Pista Magica' in the red Ferrari overalls after starting 10th.
Alex Albon gave Williams a tidy fistful of points in seventh with Sauber's Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto eighth, Mercedes' Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli ninth - after collecting a five second penalty.
Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar took the final point after starting in the pit lane, another impressive result after his first podium in Zandvoort.
Piastri now has 324 points to Norris's 293 with Verstappen on 230 and eight rounds remaining. Reigning champions McLaren are 337 clear of second-placed Ferrari.
Verstappen missed the first chicane after the start as Norris went wheel to wheel and edged ahead after going onto the grass runoff.
The champion was back ahead on lap four and showed a surprising turn of speed as he pulled away, with the gap steadily opening up and drivers suffering minimal tyre degradation on a hot afternoon.
