Verstappen Claims Dominant Victory in Italian Grand Prix

Published: Wednesday, September 10, 2025

by Thomas Mazurowski

MONZA, Italy — Max Verstappen took the checkered flag at Monza Circuit on Sunday, notching his third win of the season and beating out McLaren rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen qualified first on Saturday morning, ahead of the McLaren duo. Despite fighting for the top spot early on, Norris and Piastri were unable to catch the Red Bull for the remainder of the race, finishing second and third respectively. Charles Leclerc came home fourth with George Russell rounding out the top five.

The race start was hectic as normal for Monza. Each of the top four got a good jump off the line. Verstappen nearly drove Norris off-track and missed the first corner while Leclerc and Piastri battled hard for third. Kimi Antonelli immediately dropped back to 10th from a sixth place start.

Piastri sent it around the outside to get past Leclerc by the end of the lap. Verstappen was instructed to give the lead to Norris for going off track. The Dutchman retook the lead by lap four and stayed there for the rest of the race. Further back, Lewis Hamilton surged up to sixth from a 10th place grid position.

Things cooled down throughout the field by lap nine. The entire midfield pitted around lap 20, with most taking hard tires to the end of the race. Fernando Alonso suffered a suspension failure on lap 25 and was forced to retire the car. 

Russell was the first to pit out of the front runners. Both Ferraris and Verstappen came in by lap 38, leaving the McLaren duo out front as the only contenders left to pit. The team held out until lap 45 when they boxed Piastri, hoping to make a late charge on soft tires.

Norris suffered a slow stop the next lap. Piastri stormed to second because of the delay, but later gave it back after the team controversially ordered them to swap positions. The move was criticized by Verstappen over the radio and later became the subject of nearly the entire post-race press conference. The Dutchman would finish over 19 seconds ahead of the McLarens.

The “Temple of Speed” lived up to its name this weekend. On top of his dominant victory, Verstappen secured pole with the fastest lap ever recorded in Formula 1, clocking an average speed of 164.465 mph. The race itself was also the quickest grand prix ever run, finishing in a time of 1:13:24.32. Both prior records were set at Monza Circuit as well.

In the Drivers’ Championship, Piastri still leads with 324 points, followed by Norris with 293. The race win boosted Verstappen to 230 points, a daunting 94 points back from the lead in third. Further behind, Alex Albon’s seventh place finish put him ahead of Kimi Antonelli for seventh in the standings at 70 points to the Italian’s 66.

McLaren still dominates the Constructors’ standings with 617 points. Ferrari sits second with 280 points after a solid performance in their home race, bouncing back from a double retirement in the Dutch Grand Prix.

Formula 1 will return at the Baku City Circuit for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 7 a.m. EDT.

Thomas Mazurowski can be reached at thomas.mazurowski@student.shu.edu.

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