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Max Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza ahead of Charles Leclerc as the race ended behind the Safety Car.
Having started from seventh on the grid, Verstappen made his way to the front using a one stop strategy to beat the Ferrari of Leclerc as the race ended with six laps behind the Safety Car. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, with Carlos Sainz Jnr taking fourth having started from 18th on the grid.
When the lights went out, Leclerc led away down to the Rettifilo chicane but came under pressure from Russell’s Mercedes around the outside. Russell took to the inside runoff at the chicane and hopped over the kerbs to move into the lead, but immediately yielded his illegitimate position back to Leclerc. Behind, Verstappen gained three places on the opening lap, then passed Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren to move into third on the second lap.
By the fourth lap, Verstappen was well inside DRS range of Russell in second. Verstappen slipstreamed the Mercedes down the pit straight at the start of lap five and pulled to the inside under braking of the Rettifilo chicane to take the place. Having started from near the back, Sergio Perez was the first to pit at the end of lap seven, but rejoined with flames licking from his right-front brakes. However, he continued on his way on his hard tyres with Red Bull choosing not to pit him again.
As the three leaders pulled away, fourth-placed Daniel Ricciardo became the cork in the bottle as the field followed behind the McLaren. Sebastian Vettel pulled off the circuit at the exit of the second Lesmo with a smoking Aston Martin, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car. Ferrari pitted the leader for medium tyres under the VSC, which ended on his way out of the pit lane. Fortunately, he managed to rejoin just ahead of Russell and the train to retain third position as Verstappen inherited the lead.
Having started from 18th place, Carlos Sainz Jnr eventually passed Ricciardo to move up into fourth behind his team mate soon after the race resumed. With clean air and fresh tyres, Leclerc began steadily catching Russell ahead of him, while Verstappen pulled out a gap of ten seconds over the Mercedes behind.
Russell was the first of the leaders to pit at the end of lap 23, switching to the hard tyres and rejoining behind the two Ferraris in fourth place with Sainz yet to stop. Verstappen followed suit two laps later, but switched to mediums, allowing Leclerc to move…
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