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Formula 1 saw one of its most amazing and action-packed races in a while at Monza where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen returned to winning ways after snapping at McLaren’s dominance, something that has been the roaring narrative of the season. Amid countless fans, enthusiastic Tifosi and plenty of unbridled excitement for a great race, Formula 1 most certainly delivered a cracker at Monza, widely recognised as among the fastest tracks ever on the calendar. This was the 75th instalment of a Grand Prix held at Monza and it was, as seen in the end, a race to remember and cherish for the fans. But which key talking points stood out and made it one to revere?
Great day in the field for Max Verstappen
The great is to it in style. Verstappen won his third Italian Grand Prix at Monza from pole and took his third win of the current world championship season in displaying great temerity and skill, never really coming under any sign of pressure from the two pursuing McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Even as the world championship fight for Verstappen looks rather out of hand given the imposing form and stellar run of the papaya liveried machines, his win at Monza is a reminder of the Dutch driver’s pure skill.
Not only did he set the fastest ever lap recorded on F1 history a day earlier during qualifying, he won a brilliant race from pole in a finely executed one stopper. Also, the win at Monza was Verstappen’s seventh win on the Italian soil. That is an achievement in itself.
Leclerc’s P4, the only consolation for countless Tifosi
He won here the last time around. He has also won here in his first year in red, circa, when he grabbed a ballsy win from pole in 2019. But in the just completed Italian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc could only go as far up the order as fourth. While his teammate Lewis Hamilton showed some glimpses of form in recovering rather well from tenth on the grid to finish sixth, Leclerc could muster a fighting fourth albeit missing out of the podium places where he’s been a regular here at Monza.
Electric and powerful at the start, Leclerc had waltzed past the McLaren of Oscar Piastri to take third in the very early stages but on pure race pace, fell out of flavour and couldn’t hold on to his third. Overall, it was a decent podium for the famous Monegasque, if also, one sans a podium.
Alex Albon delivers yet again for Williams
The weekend at Monza was a rather special one for the often underrated Alex Albon. Now, a resourceful and consistent figure at the famed British marquee, Albon finished the race with a brave seventh with impressive moves on drivers like Kimi Antonelli. He was the only Williams driver to fetch any points as the Monza weekend turned out to be another one to forget for Albon’s teammate Sainz, who had a moment with Ollie Bearman that resulted in car damage with the Spaniard finishing eleventh in the end. Rather impressively, Albon has now overtaken former F1 driver Ricardo Patrese for third most starts with Williams, taking his tally beyond 82 starts.
Not quite the weekend for Alonso
Fernando Alonso unfortunately had to retire from the Italian Grand Prix thanks to a front right suspension failure as he went over the Ascari kerb; he had barely finished the half distance at Monza. When on lap 25, Alonso encountered the incident despite at a time where he was running in seventh and, hence in points. Resultantly, he had to limp back into the pits and retire from the race. The Italian Grand Prix, thus, didn’t turn out to be a memorable one for the double world champion.
