Verstappen steals Leclerc's Monza thunder: 2022 Italian GP as it happened

A strategic slow-burner of an Italian GP ended in an anticlimax, with the brilliant Max Verstappen winning behind the safety car.

The brilliant Red Bull man quickly scythed through the field into second, before forcing Ferrari‘s hand in the pitstops.

Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc simply didn’t have the race pace to hold off the Dutchman, relinquishing the lead to make a second stop when it became clear that Verstappen would catch him.

George Russell drove a composed race to round out the podium, while Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton rose through the field from lowly starting positions to finish fifth and sixth respectively.

Lando Norris managed to get his McLaren into seventh as the team gained some ground in its battle with Alpine, whilst F1 debutant Nyck de Vries finished a brilliant ninth on his substitute performance for Williams‘ Alex Albon.

Here’s the 2022 Italian GP as it happened.

As the lights went out on lap one of the Scuderia’s home race, pole-sitter Leclerc made just about a good enough start to maintain the lead.

Russell attempted to go through the first chicane with the Ferrari driver, but had to take to the escape road and clattered over the sausage kerbs.

The Mercedes driver kept second though, with Daniel Ricciardo third whilst Verstappen made up three places to go into fourth, passing Pierre Gasly into the Ascari chicane.

Norris had a poor getaway and found himself defending in sixth, as Hamilton went through the first turn escape road leaving him in 20th.

On lap two Verstappen slipstreamed past Ricciardo into the first corner, setting the fastest time on the next tour of 1min 26.181sec.

The Dutchman was in Russell’s DRS range two laps later, but found his rapid progress slowed with the pace advantage not enough to get by.

The Red Bull driver made it count on the start / finish straight of lap five though, nailing Russell on the inside of the first chicane.

Sainz passed Sebastian Vettel into the Curve Michele Alboreto to the roar of the crowd, elevating himself into the points, as Perez passed Esteban Ocon for 13th.

Lap six saw Sainz join the end of a DRS train led by Ricciardo, with Gasly, Norris, De Vries, and Zhou following.

Hamilton’s efforts to scythe through the field weren’t quite successful as some of the other front runners – lap seven saw him still mired in 18th behind Nicholas Latifi.

Perez then pitted on lap eight, putting on hard tyres with his right front smoking. Flames were seen coming from the brake duct as he rejoined.

Sainz overtook de Vries for eighth at the start of lap nine, before passing Alonso later on the start / finish straight.

The Spaniard assertively went up the inside of Norris for sixth a lap later as progress continued.

Vettel’s Aston was seen smoking as he said “I’m losing power.” The German pulled off to the right just after the second Lesmo on lap 12, with the virtual safety car deployed.

Leclerc pitted, saying it was the “best solution,” whilst Verstappen stayed out.

Leclerc emerged just ahead of Ricciardo in third, but slid wildly out of the first chicane as he attempted to defend from the McLaren.

Lap 14 saw Gasly dive past Ricciardo into the first corner, but locked up, ran over the run-off and had to cede fifth place back.

“Do not short shift, corner exit,” Ferrari told Leclerc as lap 16 rolled by in a bid to preserve his tyres, but the Monégasque told them it wasn’t possible.

Hamilton blasted past Lance Stroll for eleventh on lap 17, as Leclerc put in a 1min 25.145sec lap. It was the fastest of the race so far, as the Ferrari driver slowly chipped away at Verstappen’s advantage, getting it to under 10sec.

Norris overtook Alonso in the first chicane a lap later, before lap 19 saw Gasly pit from sixth.

On the same lap de Vries, who was still in the points in eighth, was shown a black and white flag for exceeding track limits.

Ricciardo came in on lap 20, as did de Vries. Sainz complained to Ferrari that his pace was going, asking why he was being left out.

Lap 22 saw Perez get into ninth as he slipstreamed Bottas, as Alonso asked Alpine two laps later if he had a problem with electrical deployment. “Wow” was the reply when he was told all looked well with the A521.

Hamilton was close to Alonso by lap 25, but had a wiggle coming out of the final corner, losing a chance of an overtake.

“Box, box” Verstappen was told on lap 26, coming out second as Leclerc retook the lead.

The opening of lap 27 was witness to Hamilton passing Alonso on the main straight, whilst Verstappen was closing on Leclerc, going half a second faster to get the gap down to 8.5sec

The Red Bull set another fastest lap immediately after, 1min 24.798sec looking ominous as he closed in on Leclerc.

Sainz was called in on lap 31, putting on the soft tyres and coming back out in eighth behind Perez.

Lap 32 was the end of Alonso’s race, as came in to retire after seeing an issue on the telemetry.

Sainz dived up the inside of Perez on lap 33 at the second chicane, as Leclerc was called into the pits. The latter emerged in second as Hamilton also pitted and came out in 12th.

Norris was called in on lap 36 from fourth, but his slow stop stymied McLaren plans to get him into sixth.

Norris emerged into the midfield DRS train of Ricciardo, Gasly and Hamilton, losing out to all three as he rejoined.

Hamilton had soon cleared the entire midfield dogfight, before Norris, on new soft tyres, followed him through on lap 38.

Leclerc then set the fastest lap of 1min 24.336sec. The Ferrari driver was closing on Verstappen, but with a 19.3sec margin and 14 laps left, catching the Red Bull was looking a tall order.

Stroll was told to cool his brakes and retire his car on lap 41, with both Aston Martins out.

Schumacher pulled off a daring move up the inside of Latifi to get past for 14th, wheels smoking, into the first chicane. The Canadian would fight back at the next switchback, before the Haas made it stick into the first Lesmo.

Lap 43 saw Perez coming in for soft tyres, emerging sixth and promoting Hamilton and Norris to fifth and sixth respectively.

The Mexican was soon bearing down on Norris, with the McLaren man telling his team “No comms please, I’m busy.”

Ricciardo then stopped on track on lap 48 with an engine failure, bring out the safety car and potentially completely changing the complexion of the race.

Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell all pitted for fresh tyres, with the caution period looking long as the stranded McLaren was stuck in gear.

It would be of no use however, the race finished under safety car, with Verstappen taking his fifth consecutive win – roundly booed by the partisan crowd on the in-lap and the post-race interview.

A disappointed Leclerc came in second, whilst Russell impressively took third. With Sainz fourth and Hamilton fifth, the day’s standout performer was Nyck de Vries, the Dutchman coming home ninth on his F1 debut.

2022 Italian Grand Prix race results