Only one week after returning to action from the summer break, the Formula One drivers were back in action in Monza for the FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA 2025. Coming in at one hour and thirteen minutes, this race would be the fastest race victory in Formula One history.
Only 19 cars lined up on the starting grid, with Nico Hulkenberg being told to retire the car on the formation lap with a mechanical failure. He entered the pit lane at the end of the lap, forfeiting his P12 starting position.
Max Verstappen had an uncharacteristically slow start from pole position, moving to squeeze Lando Norris on the run down to the first corner. Norris’ McLaren was squeezed onto the grass near the pit exit before Verstappen moved towards the racing line. Norris kept alongside the Red Bull into the first corner, with Verstappen cutting the second corner.
Norris was upset at Verstappen’s tactics to maintain his lead, and Red Bull agreed that Verstappen should give up the place to the McLaren. Verstappen did so down the main straight, immediately attacked by Oscar Piastri. Piastri tried to make a move around the outside of turn two, nearly colliding with the Red Bull, but couldn’t get by.
This allowed Charles Leclerc, who had been battling with Piastri on the opening lap, to get a run on Piastri and promote himself to P3. Leclerc had to immediately go on the defensive, pushing hard to maintain his position. Leclerc struggled to get his Ferrari stopped in the first chicane, locking up for three consecutive laps. On lap six, Piastri finally overtook the Ferrari for P3.
While that battle was happening, Verstappen managed to overtake Norris to return to the lead of the race. It was a relatively straightforward pass in the first chicane with some help from the DRS. This unleashed him to pull away from the two McLarens behind, who seemingly had no answer for the Dutchman’s pace at this point.
On lap seven, Lewis Hamilton overtook Gabriel Bortoleto for P6, attempting to recover from a five-place grid penalty he had earned the last time out in the Netherlands for a pre-race yellow flag violation. Bortoleto had done a great job in the opening laps to apply pressure on George Russell. The top cars had already spread out a lot at this point.
As the halfway point approached, some of the drivers from the midfield began to trickle into the pit lane to exchange their mediums for sets of hard tyres.
After making his pit stop, Fernando Alonso suffered a bizarre failure of the front-right suspension when he went over a kerb. He was able to limp back to the pit lane, avoiding a safety car.
While the rest of the lead cars were trying to extend their stints, Russell was the first of the leaders to dive into the pit lane on lap 28. He was followed by Leclerc on lap 34, with the Monagasque driver just barely managing to slow down at the pit entry.
Verstappen pitted for hard tyres on lap 38, while McLaren decided to take the alternative strategy, hoping to change to the soft tyres in the closing laps with some help from a safety car.
It briefly looked like this may have panned out, as Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman collided with just over ten laps remaining in the race. Bearman was on the inside of Sainz into the second chicane, colliding with the Williams when Sainz turned into the corner. The incident earned Bearman a five-second penalty for causing a collision.
Crucially for McLaren, both of the spun drivers managed to recover unaided, avoiding a safety car. As the laps ticked down, the possibility of a safety car dried up and McLaren was forced to make their pit stops.
Piastri was the first to pit for softs on lap 45, followed by his teammate the next lap. There was drama in the pit lane, as an issue tightening the wheel nut on the front-left tyre of Norris’ McLaren left him with a slow stop. He rejoined the race behind his teammate.
After a few laps, the McLaren pit wall decided to swap their drivers, essentially undoing the slow stop. Piastri reluctantly complied, despite some protesting over the team radio. This returned Norris to P2, but neither driver would catch Verstappen, who earned his 66th race victory.
Next on the calendar, the teams will head to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 21.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 53 | 1:13:24.325 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 53 | +19.207 | 18 |  | |
| 3 | 53 | +21.351 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 53 | +25.624 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 53 | +32.881 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 53 | +37.449 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 53 | +50.537 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 53 | +58.484 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 53 | +59.762 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 53 | +63.891 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 53 | +64.469 | |||
| 12 | 53 | +79.288 | |||
| 13 | 53 | +80.701 | |||
| 14 | 53 | +82.351 | |||
| 15 | 52 | +1 Lap | |||
| 16 | 52 | +1 Lap | |||
| 17 | 52 | +1 Lap | |||
| 18 | 52 | +1 Lap | |||
| DNF | 24 |
| 1 | O. Piastri | 324 |  | |
| 2 | L. Norris | 293 | -31 | |
| 3 | M. Verstappen | 230 | -94 | |
| 4 | G. Russell | 194 | -130 | |
| 5 | C. Leclerc | 163 | -161 | |
| 1 | McLaren | 617 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 280 | -337 | |
| 3 | Mercedes | 260 | -357 | |
| 4 | Red Bull | 239 | -378 | |
| 5 | Williams | 86 | -531 | |
