F1 Italian GP: Max Verstappen denies Ferrari at Monza for record-breaking 10th win in a row
Max Verstappen denied Ferrari a dream home victory at Monza as he claimed a record-breaking 10th consecutive F1 victory at the Italian Grand Prix.
The two-time world champion came out on top of a wheel-to-wheel duel with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to take a lead he never relinquished on his way to a historic 10th win in a row.
Polesitter Sainz put in a valiant defence to keep Verstappen at bay during the opening 15 laps, but the two-time world champion eventually got by in his superior Red Bull.
A lock-up from Sainz at the first chicane opened the door for Verstappen, with the pair running side-by-side through Curva Grande.
Verstappen held the outside line, which became the inside for the Variante Della Roggia - where the Dutchman got the move done.
Sergio Perez charged past the Ferrari duo on his way to claiming second place to complete a 1-2 for Red Bull, some nine seconds behind his teammate.
Verstappen's win is his 12th from 14 races in what is turning out to be an incredible 2023 season for the 25-year-old, who has extended his championship lead over Perez to 145 points.
"I never would have believed that it was possible," Verstappen said of his latest achievement.
"We had to work for it today and that definitely made it a lot more fun."
The Ferrari pair squabbled hard for the final spot on the famous Monza podium, with Sainz fending off multiple attacks from Charles Leclerc to just seal third.
Despite both picking up five-second time penalties, the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth.
Alex Albon took an impressive seventh place in his Williams having defended brilliantly ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas completed the top-10.
The race was delayed by 20 minutes when the start was aborted after Yuki Tsunoda's AlphaTauri suffered an engine failure on the formation lap and became stuck in gear.
