F1 Italian GP: Verstappen secures win behind safety car
11th September 2022Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the pack across the finish line as the race ended behind the safety car, after McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo retired out on track late on.
How the race unfolded…
It was a great reaction from the two drivers on the front row: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell. As the two went into the first corner, Russell went around the outside but the Briton was pinched to the inside line and had to take the shortcut into the second phase of the opening chicane.
However, slightly further back, McLaren’s Lando Norris got a poor getaway and found himself down to sixth by the end of the first lap, from third on the grid. On the other side, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen moved up to third place – ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who as demoted to fourth as he crossed the start finish line to complete the first lap.
By lap five, Verstappen made a move on Russell, into turn one, and the Mercedes driver refused to fight the Red Bull driver. This decision allowed the defending Dutch world champion to slip up into second place. A lap later, the Dutchman sat two-seconds behind the race leader, Leclerc.
At the end of lap eight, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was the first driver to pit from the race. The Mexican driver swapped his yellow-ringed medium compound tyres for the white-ringed, durable, hard tyres. However, as Perez raced out of the pit lane the brakes on his front-right tyre began to smoke. The Red Bull driver was soon advised to shift his brake-bias rearwards, towards his his rear tyres.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel pulled off to the side of the circuit, on the exit of Lesmo 2 (turn five) on lap 12. As a result of the VSC, Leclerc ventured into the pit lane to swap his worn soft tyres for a fresh set of the mediums while both Verstappen (now P1) and Russell (now P2) remained out on track.
When the Monegasque drove towards the pit exit, the VSC was lifted and the race got back to green-flag conditions. Fortunately, Leclerc was able to return to the circuit ahead of Ricciardo who was in fourth place.
Verstappen finally pitted to discard his worn soft tyres for the medium compounds, at the end of lap 25, which allowed Leclerc to slip into the lead of the race. This came after Russell pitted from the race, a lap prior, to swap his soft tyres for the hards.
By lap 28, the top three order stood as: Leclerc in P1, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz respectively while Russell remained in contention for a podium position, three-seconds behind the Ferrari’s Spaniard.
Sainz finally pitted from the race, at the end of lap 31, to exchange his mediums for the soft tyres for a fairly aggressive final stint. Alonso pitted a lap later but the Alpine’s Spaniard was set to retire from the race with a overheating issue. Leclerc soon pitted three laps later for a set of soft tyres.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, on lap 41, was ordered to cool down his brakes as he was informed that the team would have to retire the car.
With 10 laps to go, Perez – who had managed his earlier brake issues – pitted from fifth to slap on a fresh set of soft. As a result of his pit stop, the Mexican driver sacrificed track position to both Hamilton and Norris who moved up to P5 and P6 respectively.
On lap 48, Ricciardo found himself stopped on the edge of the track between both Lesmo corners ( ) with an engine problem. As a result, the safety car was deployed. Despite the marshal’s best efforts, the race ended behind the safety car with Verstappen in the lead ahead of Leclerc and Russell respectively.
Podium:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- George Russell, Mercedes
That’s it for the article: F1 Italian GP: Verstappen secures win behind safety car! With the grid set, who do you think will win the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Italian GP: Leclerc takes pole ahead of Verstappen
- Italian GP: Sainz tops FP2 ahead of Verstappen
- Motorsport mourns death of Queen Elizabeth II
- Will Ferrari fluster at Italian Grand Prix
- Dutch GP: Verstappen secures home win after late safety car
To keep up to date with the latest news from Apex Motorsports, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!
Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
