MAX PUTS ONE HAND ON CROWN WITH MONZA WIN
Fifth victory in a row for Red Bull man puts him 116 points ahead
Max Verstappen can wrap up his secondsuccessive Formula 1 World title in the next race at the start of October after sealing his 11th triumph of the season at Monza last weekend.
The victory in Italy, which was assured when the safety car was deployed over the closing stages of the race, has pushed him 116 points clear of Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc. The next round is at Singapore on October 2 and if Max can push the margin out to 138 points, he will be crowned.
“It’s amazing what we are experiencing within the team,” Verstappen said. “We are having an amazing year. I think we’ve had a lot of different challenges on different kinds of tracks and now the car really seems to work at every track [we go to].”
Formula 1 was the leading motorsport series to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth with several marks of respect over the weekend.
As Max Verstappen stood on the top step of the Monza podium, the crowd below him vocalised their displeasure. A late-race safety car neutralised the final six laps of the Italian Grand Prix and – in the eyes of the tifosi – this denied an opportunity for their hero Charles Leclerc to challenge for the win.
The Ferrari fans had started to boo and jeer on the final lap when it became clear racing wasn’t going to continue.
“We didn’t want to win a race behind a safety car,” said Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner of the anticlimatic ending. “We share the disappointment with all the fans as it took away a grandstand finish. It goes against the principle of what we have discussed [with the FIA] previously.”
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto was more critical of the governing body saying the decision to finish the race behind the safety car was “not good for F1 and the show,” adding that race control needed “more experience to be able to do a better job.”
Following Michael Masi’s departure from the FIA after the controversial safety car restart in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year, the role of the race director has rotated between Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas. At Monza, it appeared that the operations of the safety car could have been managed better.
On lap 47, Daniel Ricciardo stopped his McLaren between the two Lesmos. When the safety car emerged from the pits, it picked up third-placed George Russell and was slow to get in front of the race leader. Its usage was then extended when the marshals weren’t able to get Ricciardo’s car into neutral and it required a snatch vehicle to move the McLaren out of the way.
With the track clear on lap 52, the safety car then stayed out for an extra lap, denying fans of an exciting sprint to the flag. In the future, F1 needs to find a solution to ensure racing can resume, potentially waving a red-flag to set up a dash to the flag, as happened in Baku last year.
Whether Leclerc could have passed
Verstappen is another matter. Like at so many races this year, the Red Bull/Verstappen combination was unstoppable and even a seventh-place start for a grid penalty (for power unit changes) did little to hinder the World champion.
To the delight of the crowd, Leclerc led the early stages from pole, defending against a spirited attempt by front-row starting George Russell into the first corner. When a Virtual Safety Car appeared on lap 11, to recover Sebastian Vettel’s broken-down Aston Martin, Leclerc pitted from the lead. Verstappen had already made rapid progress through the field and inherited the top spot. He made his only pitstop on lap 26, whereas Leclerc’s early stop led to a second stop in the closing stages to softs. But a deficit of 20 seconds was too big for the Ferrari driver to close up and Verstappen was comfortable out front.
Russell finished behind Leclerc in third, two places ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who had started on the back row for engine-related grid penalties. In total eight drivers received grid penalties.
One of the beneficiaries of these was rookie Nyck de Vries. He had the rare distinction of driving for two different constructors in the same race weekend. On Friday he did free practice one for Aston Martin, but when Alex Albon was rushed to hospital on Saturday morning with appendicitis, de Vries was in the Williams cockpit for the rest of the weekend.
Despite admitting he couldn’t sleep with nerves, the Formula E champion drove a solid race – earning the driver of the day fan vote – with a ninth-place finish. In just one race he has leapfrogged Nicholas Latifi in the drivers’standings. That doesn’t look good for the Canadian.
De Vries is hoping his performance will help with a seat in F1 in the future. “The whole experience, has just been a dream,” said the 27-year-old Dutchman. “Jumping on a car on the drivers’ parade and seeing all the excitement for Formula 1, getting the opportunity to race, starting in the top
10, executing a good race, scoring points debut, being called Driver of the Day – it’s been amazing.”
After Verstappen wrapped-up all three of the final races in Europe, he now heads to Singapore where he can mathematically take the drivers’ title.