Verstappen's F1 hippodrome: Goin' up, goin' down in Italy
Verstappen ticked off yet another win with his branded Red Bull marker pen in Monza – where will he start Singapore from?
The F1 hippodrome is booming: Max Verstappen is treating 2022 like some kind of grand prix bingo card, ticking off the different positions he can win from.
Seventh? 10th? 14th? It doesn’t matter really. You feel he should just start from the pitlane just to give us all a bit more of a laugh.
The inevitability of Sunday afternoon in Monza was alleviated by some charges through the field, after a penalty system which appears to have hit its logical conclusion by reaching peak absurdity. Who was starting where? Not even F1 knew.
Here’s what was going up and down at the Temple of Speed.
Goin’ down
The graphic we never knew we didn’t need
Really upset to see my parents’ old Fiat Multipla get it in the neck from Crofty. #Insights.
It's called the Temple of Speed for a reason! 🚀#F1 cars complete a lap of Monza 1 minute and 15 seconds quicker than a family car would 🚗#F1Insights #ItalianGP @awscloud pic.twitter.com/xZfkSzhJRI
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2022
DRS train misery
The 2020 and 2021 Italian GPs were fascinating case studies in races which threw up unexpected results but still managed to be mostly boring anyway.
2022 was just reassuringly dull from start to finish – even Ferrari couldn’t find a way to make it exciting in some kind of home capitulation, Leclerc just quietly getting out of the way with a second scheduled stop.
F1 could ban DRS at Monza to stop the trains forming, but this could potentially make things even worse. Perhaps only let the second car in the train have DRS within a certain time limit?
Not going to El Plan
Alonso could feel there was an issue with his Alpine before the team could see it in telemetry. His reaction when his soon-to-be ex-employers told him it couldn’t see an issue? “Wow.”
Aston Misery
Both Silverstone machines were slow, then broke down. Only way is up from here…
Goodbye SEBtember 11th, you’ve been the worst 💔#ItalianGP #MonzaGP #F1 #Vettel pic.twitter.com/cq20Tb0ZvB
— Sebastian Vettel Updates (@ocsebvettel) September 11, 2022
Goin’ Up
Pantomime villain
Burning £80 Mercedes baseball hats might be going a bit far, but nothing wrong with fans booing winner Max Verstappen after the race.
Thumbs up for pantomime partisan antics.
The Tifosi showing their true colors #Tifosi #MonzaGP #MaxVerstappen https://t.co/ATrRwr0xL1
— Eems (@Eems55555) September 11, 2022
De Vries dub
Nyck De Vries interrupted his morning espresso to save the day for Williams on Saturday and then Sunday.
Turns up in quali and puts it in Q2 before scoring two points in the race, probably banishing Nicholas Latifi to IndyCar which he’ll ruin for the next few years.
You can already see him stalling his Dale Coyne DW12 somewhere halfway round Mid-Ohio, bringing out another ‘caution’…
https://twitter.com/Georgee257/status/1568969383254310913
Scenic surroundings
It might not have been a thriller, but with ever more car parks and Middle-Eastern TilkeDromes on the calendar, there’s something reassuring watching F1 cars blast through parkland in Northern Italy.
Even pictures featuring a crane and a portaloo look good.
Autumn leaves 🍁🍂 pic.twitter.com/BE9eQWsbii
— 𝙅𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙈𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙧 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙨 (@JMD_helmets) September 12, 2022
Last chance saloon
It may increasingly appear as if Mick Schumacher is about to be ejected by Haas into the F1 ether with a cheery wave from Guenther, but at least he’s going out in style.
This thrilling dive on Latifi had to be move of the race.
Superb battling between Latifi and Schumacher ⚔️
Catch up with all the best action from Monza 🇮🇹#ItalianGP #F1
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2022