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The 2023 F1 Italian GP ended with Max Verstappen breaking the record for the most consecutive wins, previously held by Sebastian Vettel. He did have to overcome a minor obstacle early in the race as Carlos Sainz defended against him with all his might. But once he cleared the Ferrari, that's all she wrote as Verstappen cleared into the distance.
The Red Bull driver was accompanied by Sergio Perez in P2 as he made up quite a few places in the race; and in P3, we had Carlos Sainz for Ferrari. As the Tifosi rejoices on the podium, what did we learn after a record-breaking race? Let's take a look.
#1 What Max Verstappen is doing is special
In the last 10 races, there have been numerous wet weather qualifying sessions and multiple races that featured tricky conditions. There were factors that could have led Max Verstappen to make a mistake. But he didn't. It takes special skill to not have off-days in F1, but the Dutchman does that impeccably well.
We're looking at an all-time great writing his legacy right now and it's about time this gets recognized.
#2 9 months into Fred Vasseur's stint, Ferrari is still the same
It might come across as an unpopular opinion, but maybe a P2 finish was possible for Ferrari if it had been more proactive. There's one thing that's become obvious about the team under Fred Vasseur and it is the lack of change that he has brought.
You can look at a team and you can see that there's nothing different in the manner in which it operates.
The team allowed Charles Leclerc to get held up by Carlos Sainz in the first stint as the gap to Sergio Perez came down from around 4 seconds to nothing. While this might not seem like much, it surely made a difference and one has to ask when a tangible difference will be seen under Vasseur's leadership.
#3 Sergio Perez did the job that was asked of him
Perez got the P2 in the 2023 F1 Italian GP and that is the best that he could have done or been asked to do. This result is surely a confidence booster but the Mexican is going to be measured on a much bigger sample size. There is a hint that Red Bull has lost a bit of confidence in Checo and he will be hoping to rebuild it.
#4 Alex Albon is proving he is the real deal
That was a classy drive for Alex Albon at the 2023 F1 Italian GP. The driver got a chunk of points for Williams and the team can now breathe easy in the championship. A P7 result in the championship would be a massive boost for a team that is starting to put the pieces together with James Vowles at the helm.
#5 George Russell is back from his mid-season hibernation
George Russell can finally claim after the 2023 F1 Italian GP that he's back. The driver was clearly the better of the two Mercedes drivers this weekend and it was obvious in the race also.
The driver needs to continue building on this as the points deficit to his teammate is still too big for anyone's liking.
#6 Alonso seemed almost disinterested in the race
Fernando Alonso's pompous team radios in FP3 make no sense as the 2023 F1 Italian GP race weekend comes to an end. The driver seemed very confident on his team radio, even claiming that 'others were slow'.
Well, that certainly wasn't the case and it does appear that when Alonso found out in qualifying that his expectations were wrong, he lost interest.
He didn't say a word to his race engineer on the team radio during qualifying, and even in the race, just left the door open for Lewis Hamilton to make a pass on him. An off weekend by the Spaniard's and the team's standards.
#7 Alpine can't challenge for anything with that power unit
The 2023 F1 Italian GP race weekend proved what Alpine had been advocating for earlier in the season. The team has been calling for engine normalization as the Renault power unit has been dropped far behind by the competitors that continue to bring reliability upgrades.
A car that tends to fight for points in races was dumped in Q1 and had no pace in the 2023 F1 Italian GP. FIA might need to take a look at this because there could not be a bigger evidence of power unit disparity than what happened this weekend.
#8 Nico Hulkenberg's race showed how poor the Haas really is
Nico Hulkenberg was in P10 on the first lap of the 2023 F1 Italian GP ahead of Fernando Alonso. At the end of the race, he was just ahead of his teammate in a car that had nothing for him. The race once again showed how much the German is dragging out of Haas and how poor the package is overall.
#9 Valtteri Bottas did a nice job in securing that point
In what was a blink-and-you-miss-it performance, Bottas ended up getting a point for Alfa Romeo this weekend by finishing the 2023 F1 Italian GP in P10. The Finnish driver has struggled in a car that tends to give nothing to the drivers and has once again proved his worth with this result.
#10 This is a major miss for Logan Sargeant
For the sake of his career and his future in the sport, Logan Sargeant needed to score points this weekend. Unfortunately, he could not, and as a result, the American has 0 next to his points tally as Albon continues to demolish him in the intra-team battle. Can we really make a case for a driver's future if he is 14-0 in qualifying and 21-0 in terms of points?
