Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Max Verstappen wins Italian GP for record 10th straight F1 victory

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car after a pit service during the Formula One Italian Grand Prix auto race, at the Monza racetrack, in Monza, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023. (Christian Bruna/Pool via AP) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car after a pit service during the Formula One Italian Grand Prix auto race, at the Monza racetrack, in Monza, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023. (Christian Bruna/Pool via AP)
Share
MONZA, Italy -

Runaway Formula One leader Max Verstappen secured a record 10th straight win with victory at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, with a Red Bull one-two on Ferrari's home track.

"That's a nice stat," Verstappen said on team radio immediately after the win.

Another flawless performance from the two-time defending champion saw Verstappen beat teammate Sergio Perez by 6.064 seconds. Carlos Sainz Jr. was third, 11.193 behind Verstappen and less than two tenths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc as the two Ferrari drivers battled for the final spot on Monza's iconic podium.

"I never would have believed that was possible but we had to work for it today and that made it definitely a lot more fun," Verstappen said.

Verstappen had started second, behind Sainz, but eventually got past him at the start of lap 15 and from then on -- just like the rest of the season -- no one could match the Red Bull pace.

The record became all but a foregone conclusion as Verstappen began to pull away, swiftly building an advantage of more than five seconds five laps later.

"Very tough, very tough. It can't get any tougher than it was today," Sainz said. "To keep up with the Red Bulls, I paid the price with the rear tires but I did everything I could to defend."

The victory also saw Verstappen increase his huge championship lead to 145 points in a crushingly dominant season for the 25-year-old Dutchman.

Verstappen has won 12 of the 14 races for unbeaten Red Bull and matched Sebastian Vettel's F1 record of nine straight victories last weekend at the Dutch GP. He is closing in on his own F1 record of 15 wins set last year and onto 47 overall.

Perez has the other two victories this season and Red Bull has also won 24 of the past 25 races, including last year.

There are eight more races remaining for Red Bull to try to complete the first perfect year by a F1 team.

"I'm very proud also of the whole team effort, the whole year already," Verstappen said. "What we are doing at the moment, winning every race this year, it's something that we definitely are enjoying because I don't think these kind of seasons come around very often.

"That's the same of course with winning 10 in a row."

It was a second straight victory for Verstappen at Monza. Before last year he had never finished the Italian GP higher than fifth.

His record bid got off to a slightly delayed start, however, as Yuki Tsunoda went off on the formation lap with a suspected power unit failure. There had to be an aborted start and, with the drivers effectively doing three formation laps, the race was shortened by two laps.

Ferrari was hopeful of its first win at the Temple of Speed since 2019 and Sainz, who turned 29 on Friday, got off to a great start as he held off Verstappen into the first corner -- much to the delight of the thousands of passionate red-clad tifosi.

Sainz managed to defend several attempts by Verstappen to get past in a tense fight between the two. That didn't last long, however, as Sainz locked his brakes going into the first chicane on lap 15 and that allowed Verstappen to get past him on the exit and pull away.

Sainz was left to fend off Perez for second place but lost that battle too with four laps remaining and was then forced to fight hard again to keep Leclerc behind for the final podium place.

"Very happy because a P3 in Monza in front of the tifosi is as good as it can get, at least for this weekend because clearly Red Bull were in the end quite a bit quicker than us today as we expected," Sainz said. "It was a day to try, and I tried everything I could to keep them behind."

George Russell was fifth, ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, despite both drivers receiving five-second penalties in separate incidents.

Alex Albon matched his best finish of the season with seventh. Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Scammers are increasingly using emails to extort money from victims by threatening to reveal compromising photos, videos and personal information to their friends and family members, according to a new warning from Mounties in Metro Vancouver.

An Air Canada flight headed to Toronto from Frankfurt diverted to Edinburgh due to an emergency Thursday, the airline says.

BREAKING

BREAKING

Canadian singer K’naan has been charged with sexual assault after being arrested by police in Quebec City.

WATCH LIVE

WATCH LIVE Helene's winds batter Florida as Category 3 storm races toward the coast

Tropical storm force winds began battering Florida on Thursday as Hurricane Helene prepared to make landfall, with forecasters warning that the enormous storm could create a "nightmare" surge along the coast and churn up damaging winds hundreds of miles inland across much of the southeastern U.S.

An NDP MP has introduced a bill that would criminalize residential school denialism, saying it would help stop harm caused toward survivors, their families and communities.

Vancouver police blocked traffic and the SkyTrain's Millennium Line suspended service to VCC-Clark Station due to an "unstable crane" in the area Thursday.

Local Spotlight

Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.

Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.

A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.

An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.

Fire has destroyed a barn and 17,000 plants at a family-owned business in Lower Coverdale, N.B.

Before influencers on social media, Canada’s Jeanne Beker was bringing the world of high fashion down to earth and as Calgary’s Glenbow Museum gets a major make-over, it will include a new exhibition showcasing the pop culture icon.

A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.

Stay Connected