Max Verstappen would put in a performance reminiscent of his 2023 season to dominate at the Italian Grand Prix.
Nico Hulkenberg’s race ended before it could even begin, being asked to retire the car as the cars came round to the end of the formation lap.
The start of the race was a rather feisty one for those at the front, with Norris managing to get the better launch, though he would get squeezed onto the grass by Verstappen. As the two reached turn 1, Verstappen would go a bit deep and would cut the chicane to keep the position, which he would give back at the start of lap 2.
Charles Leclerc managed to take third from Piastri on the opening lap, but only briefly, as Piastri made a daring move around the outside of lesmo 1. This would only be a brief retake the position, as Leclerc would get back ahead on lap 2.
Verstappen would retake the lead on lap 4, where he would then quickly move to build a gap of over 1 second, putting Norris out of DRS range.
Piastri had been closely following Leclerc for a few laps, and would finally put himself back into the podium places on lap 6 with a tight move into the opening chicane.
Lewis Hamilton had a productive opening to the race, managing to climb from 10th to 6th in just 7 laps.
The race settled down for a period after that, as Russell struggled to overtake Leclerc, the gaps at the front began to widen further and a DRS train began to form behind Bortoleto in 7th, which reached down all the way back to Stroll in 15th.
Bortoleto and Alonso appeared to detach themselves from the DRS train, putting Yuki Tsunoda in the lead of it for a brief moment, before he would be overtaken by Kimi Antonelli on lap 18.
Ollie Bearman, who was in this DRS train, would pit at the end of lap 18 to try for an undercut, having been in 11th place. Yuki Tsunoda would respond one lap later, and while he would initially be ahead of Bearman, the Haas’ heated tyres gave him an advantage as he made an overtake at the de la Roja chicane.
Alonso and Bortoleto would pit the lap after that, and a slow pit stop would cost him his position to the Aston Martin.
Fernando Alonso’s race would have a premature end after he would suffer a suspension failure after going over the curb on the exit of the Ascari chicane.
Discussions had started to be made regarding what strategy Norris should go onto. He was asked about the softs, which he didn’t opposed, but suggested to do the opposite of what Verstappen does, which would end up being going onto hard tyres on lap 38.
There would be a tangle between Sainz and Bearman on lap 40, with it appearing that Sainz turned in on Bearman as the two were alongside at the de la Roja chicane.
A McLaren car would finally pit at the end of lap 45, when Piastri would come in to cover off Leclerc. Norris would pit one lap later, but issues with the front left tyre would cause a long pit stop, meaning that Piastri would take 2nd place.
Piastri would be told to give the position back to Norris, with the team refering back to last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, where a similar situation occured but with it being Norris losing out on that occasion.
Although they were now free to race, Piastri would not have an answer for Norris’ pace, with the Brit a le to pull out a gap of a couple of seconds by the end of the race.
Verstappen would finish the race roughly 20 seconds ahead of Norris in 2nd place, going on to win the shortest full race in F1 history.
The next race will be the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which will take place in two weeks on September 21.
