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Having never stood on the podium in Monza before today, Max Verstappen secured his eleventh race win of the 2022 F1 season this afternoon at the Italian Grand Prix, after having started the race in P7.
With this win, the Dutchman has further extended his lead in the World Drivers' Championship standings and is on his way to mathematically winning his second consecutive title in the very next race in Singapore. Verstappen is now two wins short of matching Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher's record for most wins in a given season.
Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc simply did not have the pace to match the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and finished the race in second. The race came to a rather anticlimactic end this afternoon, having finished behind the safety car that was brought out after last year's race winner Daniel Ricciardo had to stop in the second sector as a result of reliability issues. This denied Leclerc the opportunity to continue fighting for what could have been his second win in Monza.
Further down the grid, George Russell, who started on the front row this afternoon, took yet another podium finish in Monza with a third-place finish. He now stands a mere seven points shy of third place in the drivers' standings as he slowly closes the gap to Sergio Perez.
Carlos Sainz drove a particularly impressive race as he charged his way through to P4 after starting the race from P18 as a result of an engine penalty. The Spaniard would have certainly liked the race to have restarted so he could fight Russell to secure a podium finish in front of the Tifosi. Similarly, Lewis Hamilton made his way to P5 after having started the race from P19, with just 19 points now separating him and Sainz in the F1 drivers' standings.
Earlier this weekend, Alex Albon confirmed that he would not be racing in Monza after suffering from appendicitis. It was later announced that Mercedes reserve driver Nyck de Vries would be taking his seat at Williams to make his F1 debut at the 2022 F1 Italian GP.
The Dutchman kicked off the weekend with an impressive run in qualifying, where he out-qualified his teammate Nicholas Latifi. He then went on to secure his first-ever championship points with a ninth-place finish in the main race. Despite having raced only once this season, de Vries now stands ahead of Latifi in the F1 drivers' standings, with two points to his name.
A total of four drivers, including Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel, retired from the race in Monza.
Here are the 2022 F1 Driver Standings after the Italian GP
Also Checkout:- F1 Standing 2022
