Verstappen sets record of 10 consecutive wins

Italy Max Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez defeated two home Ferrari drivers to win the Italian Grand Prix and take sole possession of the record for winning streak on the evening of September 3.

Completing 51 laps in 1 hour 12 minutes 13.618 seconds, Verstappen won his 10th consecutive race and surpassed the old record - 9 races - set by his senior Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

"I thought Sebastian's record would never be broken. But we had to work very hard to do it and this new record deserves to be honored," Verstappen said about the record he just set with Red Bull.

The defending champion was also pleased with his performance at Monza. He added: "Red Bull had good pace today and I think I managed and used the tyres well. Ferrari have a very high top speed, it was difficult to get close and attack at Turn 1, so I tried to force them to make mistakes."

Verstappen drives in front of two Ferraris on the Monza track, Italy on September 3. Photo: AP

Ferrari will be hoping that Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc's advantage in first and third place in the Italian Grand Prix at home to Monza will help them impose their strategy on Verstappen. Ferrari also decided ahead of the race to use a new engine in a bid to take on Red Bull.

However, the advantage of the head start only helped Sainz hold on for 14 laps, before falling behind due to the fierce destructive power of the RB19. Meanwhile, Ferrari's intention - to let Leclerc take advantage of the new engine power, pass Verstappen right after the start and then proactively choose tactics to hold the Dutch driver - also soon failed.

Verstappen defended well against Leclerc's attack, while maintaining his lead. The gap between Sainz and Verstappen was maintained at 0.5 seconds. The speed advantage from the new engine prevented Sainz from being beaten by Verstappen, despite the Dutchman's advantage from the DRS wing.

Verstappen complained over the radio that the SF23’s impressive pace was making his RB19 attack in vain. However, Red Bull’s instructors encouraged the driver that Sainz was having some trouble with the rear of the SF23. And as the Austrian team had predicted, Sainz, despite his efforts, soon had to retreat.

The Spaniard's mistake when locking the wheels at Rettifilo at the start of lap 15 gave Verstappen the opportunity to attack and gain a more favorable lane. The RB19 exited the corner well and ran parallel to the SF23 at Curva Grande, then passed at Variante de la Roggia. From then on, without the SF23's hindrance, the Red Bull driver continued to accelerate and set a fastest-lap to widen the gap with the group behind.

Having solved the problem early, Verstappen immediately put the Ferrari duo under pressure. Sainz faced an attack from the faster Leclerc. Feeling the heat from his teammate, Sainz took the initiative to pit first on lap 19, a lap ahead of Leclerc. After returning to the track, Sainz was once again forced to defend against Leclerc, and both began to feel the pressure from Perez - the Red Bull driver who had previously taken nearly 20 laps to overtake George Russell.

After Perez retired for tyres on lap 21, the Sainz-Leclerc-Perez trio were neck and neck for second place behind Verstappen. Perez attacked Leclerc hard on lap 32 at the first two corners but failed. However, the Mexican finally managed to pass Leclerc on the following lap at Rettifilo. Perez then continued to chase Sainz, who had been defending as best he could for several laps. But Perez's RB19 got close enough to overtake the Ferrari on the main straight into Turn 1 on lap 46.

After a long battle with Perez, Sainz faced team-mate Leclerc for the remaining five laps of the race for a podium spot on his home track. Sainz’s defensive efforts looked hopeless as he struggled with poor tyres after several defensive laps. The Spaniard could only try to gain a favorable lane to prevent Leclerc from passing.

Sainz was almost passed by Leclerc at Turn 1, but quickly fought back and ran parallel at the Curva de Grande before moving up at Variante de la Roggia to regain third place. Leclerc had to lock up to avoid a collision with his teammate.

Sainz (right) defended well against the attacks of teammate Leclerc to preserve third place at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix. Photo: AP

On the final lap, Leclerc tried to attack his teammate again on the main straight. However, Sainz again took the lead before Turn 1 to prevent Leclerc from passing. The Monaco driver again locked his wheels and cut the corner to avoid a collision. This time, Leclerc complained over the radio that his teammate had made an illegal move while braking at Turn 1.

However, thanks to his tireless efforts from start to finish, Carlos Sainz finished in the top 3 for the first time in the 2023 season.

Italian Grand Prix 2023 Results

Rank on one's own	Racer	Team	Location start	Number of tire changes	Fastest individual lap	Achievements	Point
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	2	1	1 minute 25,240 seconds	1 hour 12 minutes 13.618 seconds	25
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	5	1	1:25,520	+6,604 seconds	18
3	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1	1	1:25,501	+11,193	15
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	3	1	1:25,580	+11,377	12
5	George Russell	Mercedes	4	1	1:25,847	+23,028	10
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	8	1	1:25,582	+42,679	8
7	Alexander Albon	Williams	6	1	1:26,389	+45,106	6
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	9	1	1:26,144	+45,449	4
9	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	10	1	1:26,105	+46,294	2
10	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	14	1	1:25,988	+64,056	1
11	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	7	2	1:25,072	+70,638
12	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri	12	2	1:25,842	+73,074
13	Logan Sargeant	Williams	15	1	1:26,840	+78,557
14	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	20	1	1:26,617	+80,164
15	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	16	2	1:25,983	+82,510
16	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	17	2	1:25,758	+87,266
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	13	2	1:25,894	+1 lap
18	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	19	2	1:26,278	+1 lap
19	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	18		1:26,963	Abandon the race
20	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	11		-	Abandon the race

+) Fastest-lap: 1 minute 25.072 seconds set by Oscar Piastri (McLaren) on lap 43.

Individual rankings after 14 stages

Rank on one's own	Racer	Team	Point
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	364
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	219
3	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	170
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	164
5	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	117
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	111
7	George Russell	Mercedes	109
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	79
9	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	47
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	37
11	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	36
12	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	36
13	Alexander Albon	Williams	21
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	9
15	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	6
16	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	4
17	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	3
18	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	2
19	Logan Sargeant	Williams
20	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri
21	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri
22	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri

Team standings after 14 races

Rank on one's own	Team	Point
1	Red Bull	583
2	Mercedes	273
3	Ferrari	228
4	Aston Martin	217
5	McLaren	115
6	Alpine	73
7	Williams	21
8	Haas	11
9	Alfa Romeo	10
10	AlphaTauri	3