Unstoppable Verstappen beats Leclerc at Italian GP amid Safety Car finish

Despite starting from seventh because of a grid penalty for using too many engine parts, Verstappen breezed his way to a fifth successive win to edge closer to winning a second world championship title. 

An 11th victory in 16 races has given Verstappen an 116-point lead over Leclerc, meaning he could wrap up the world championship as early as the next race in Singapore. 

F1 2022 Italian Grand Prix Race Results 

Verstappen was already up to third by the first turn at the start of the second lap as he scythed his way through the field with ease. 

Having dived down the inside of George Russell’s Mercedes on Lap 5, Verstappen then set about catching pole sitter Leclerc. 

Red Bull opted to keep Verstappen out during a Virtual Safety Car period on Lap 12 when Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin broke down to favour track position, while Ferrari brought Leclerc in for medium tyres. 

Despite Ferrari’s gamble on an aggressive two-stop strategy, Leclerc never looked to have the pace to reduce the near-20-second gap to Verstappen. 

A Safety Car was called after McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo ground to halt on Lap 47 but a slow recovery of his car meant there was no time to restart the race, which ended under Safety Car conditions. 

Russell completed the podium in third place behind Verstappen and Leclerc, while Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton recovered from 18th and 19th to take fourth and fifth respectively. 

Sixth place went the way of Sergio Perez, who finished ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. 

After being called up as a late stand-in to replace the unwell Alex Albon, Nyck de Vries turned in a brilliant drive to score points on his F1 debut as he sealed ninth place ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou.