Max Verstappen puts on a clinic to win his FIRST-EVER Italian GP
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Max Verstappen
The Italian GP started with much promise, but eventually ended in a bit of a disappointment. Max Verstappen was the fastest man on track and had the fastest car, and there was not much anyone could do to counter him. By lap 5, he was already chasing down Charles Leclerc, who had started six places ahead.
To compensate for the pace deficit, Ferrari had to try creative strategies, and they chose to pit him rather early when the VSC came out. Max Verstappen stayed out much longer with his old softs, and Leclerc could do nothing to catch him. When Verstappen eventually pitted, his pace was far superior to Leclerc’s, so, Ferrari pitted the Monegasque. Unfortunately, Leclerc couldn’t even get near to catching the Dutchman.
Leclerc could have had a chance to win towards the end, as Daniel Ricciardo retired and the safety car came out. There could have been a grandstand finish, but the marshals couldn’t clear the track in time, and when it was cleared, they could not get the lapped cars out of the way in time. People, especially Ferrari fans were very unhappy with the end of the race, and they booed the Dutchman during his interview.
‘He won in Spa, he wins in Monza’
People were especially critical of the FIA who did not consider red-flagging the race, and later doing a standing start. Some even implied that it was to help Max Verstappen.
Last year in Abu Dhabi, there had been a lap of racing, which was against the rules, as the lapped cars weren’t cleared out of the way. Fans were unhappy that the race didn’t end like Abu Dhabi had, but that would have come with it’s own complications.
On the flipside, some said that this is what is in the rules, and that this is the correct safety car procedure, which was not followed back in Abu Dhabi. For his part, Verstappen was unstoppable and did not put a foot wrong. He deserved the win.
In other news: Carlos Sainz came back from 18th with guns blazing all the way up to fourth, only missing out on the podium narrowly. One more Dutchman in the running today had a great race, Nyck de Vries, as he finished with double points in P9 on his debut.
Even if the safety car was cleared (or the red flag came out), it was unlikely that Leclerc would have been able to take the victory, as you see: the Dutchman’s pace was simply superior. But at least in that case he would have had a chance, and maybe a better start than Verstappen would have done the job. As it stands, Verstappen can lift the trophy in the next race in Singapore.
Also Read: Why is Monza called the Temple of Speed?
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)