Italian Grand Prix Round-up

The Italian Grand Prix was not short of excitement and the temple of speed was at it's finest again in 2025, producing the goods for the fans around the world.

Before the race had began, Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly had changed some bits outside of Parc Ferme so they were required to start from the pitlane which reduced the amount of cars on the grid from 20 to 18. On the formation lap, Nico Hulkenburg was unfortunately pulled from the race start by his team after they had discovered a hydraulic issue on the Kick Sauber on the fire up on the grid, the first retirement of the afternoon.

As the lights went out, Norris had an excellent start against Verstappen and was along side and Max went over the first chicane and stayed in the lead even though Norris was along side his wing mirror with his front wheel. Antonelli had a horrendous start dropping from P6 to P10, getting bad wheelspin in the second phase, comprising his race.

Leclerc managed to jump Piastri down into turn 1 but pulled off an amazing move on the Ferrari man round the outside of Lesmo 2 with more downforce on the McLaren. Verstappen was obliged to give the position back to Norris, which he did down the main straight going onto lap 2. He then fought back and Piastri was forced wide and Leclerc switchbacked him on the exit of turn 2, back up into P3. Piastri had another run but Leclerc locked up and pushed him wide again at turn 1 on the next lap as Verstappen had a little lock up too on lap 4 turn 1 and was forced to go over the chicane.

Lewis Hamilton had a decent start to the race, making an early move on Alonso on lap 5 down into turn 1 and 2 laps later, the same move on Bortoleto and the hunt for Russell was on. Piastri finally cleared Leclerc too on the main straight on lap 6, again into turn 1 where Hadjar also went too hot into the corner, attempting a move on Colapinto and was forced onto the escape road.

On lap 2, Ocon forced Stroll off track into turn 4, making the Canadian go on the escape road and round the bollard, resulting in Ocon receiving a 5 second time penalty. Antonelli started to makes some progress too with a optimistic dive on Tsuonda in turn 1, up to P9. Norris, who was chasing Verstappen, went wide at Lesmo 2, spraying some gravel onto the track and soon after, Gasly also went wide there, spraying more stones onto the track but the racing line was clear so no intervention.

Fernando Alonso was having a good race against Bortoleto and into the pits went really hard on his brakes and made up lots of ground to the Brazilian and overtook him on the pitstop after a slightly slow stop from the Sauber pit crew. It all came crashing down for the Spaniard though with a suspension failure after running wide at the exit of Ascari, the second retirement of the race. "Unbelievable" was what he had to say to his team on the radio after he crawled back to the pits.

There was some more drama soon after with Lawson attempting to go round the outside of Tsunoda at turn 4 but instead breaking some of the Redbull man's floor, ruining his race pace. Sainz also attempted to go round the outside at the same turn against Bearman but the Brit did not back out after Sainz completed the move and clipper his rear tyre, sending them both spinning around. Bearman received a 10 second time penalty and 2 penalty points, putting him up to 10 which is dangerously close to the 12 required for a race ban.

Alex Albon had an extraordinary afternoon with incredible race pace, coming out the pits from P14 to P9, just behind Antonelli who was on fading hard tyres. The Thai driver attempted a move around the outside of curve Agrande and was slightly forced onto the grass by the home hero and soon after passed the 19 year old. Antonelli received a 5 second time penalty and 1 penalty point for 'erratic driving' on Albon.

The race was coming to the final laps and McLaren still had to pit and Piastri went first for the softs and Norris the lap after. Norris had a very bad pitstop and was stationary for 4 seconds longer than he should of which meant Piastri powered passed him out of the pits, exactly what McLaren did not want. The team proceeded to ask the Aussie to swap places which left a bitter taste in his mouth but he complied into turn 1 on lap 49. Verstappen 'joked' about the team orders on the radio laughing about "they let him past just because of a bad pitstop?" Lando retook P2 and Piastri in P3.

Max Verstappen absolutely dominated the at monza winning by over 19 seconds, breaking the record for the quickest ever Formula 1 race by over a minute. His 3rd win at Monza and his 3rd win this season took him to 66 wins in his career and completing the Italian double in 2025. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri completed the podium but had absolutely no answer to the Dutchmans pace. Leclerc in P4 and Russell rounding out the top 5. Hamilton had a decent recovery drive to P6 with an amazing race from Albon in P7 , Bortoleto P8 continuing his momentum this season. Antonelli P9 after a difficult afternoon but nonetheless back in the points followed by Hadjar; pitlane to P10 for the French man making up for a bad qualifying for VCARB with a point for them.

This was the full result from the Italian Grand Prix and the updated drivers standings: