Max Verstappen finishes third in Italian Grand Prix; Mercedes drivers take top two

Max Verstappen finished third in the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Red Bull driver finished behind the two Mercedes cars, with Italian Kimi Antonelli beating George Russell to the top spot.

Antonelli, who had initially started the race at the back of the grid, picked up his seventh win of the season. He is the first Italian to win in Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti, who won the race in 1966 with Ferrari.

The win is another boost for Antonelli’s championship hopes. The Italian has 267 points, with Russel trailing him with 201 points. Verstappen is in sixth with 127 points.

Verstappen, who won the race in Monza last year, started the race in fifth place. Pierre Gasly picked up a surprising pole position with Russell starting in second.

The race had a very eventful start as Charles Leclerc collided with his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton on the first corner, leading to Hamilton dropping down the order.

Verstappen gained a place and then also passed Leclerc with a lovely piece of racing. Shortly after this, Leclerc drove off track after a battle with Oscar Piastri, leading to a hard collision for the Ferrari driver and a red flag.

The restart, which began over half an hour later, started with Russell on pole. Verstappen quickly passed Gasly, who dropped further after this. Verstappen also gained on Russell, but had to contend with Antonelli, who was behind him. The Italian had already passed several cars after the restart. He then got close to Russell and Verstappen, taking the lead in the race.

With current race cars offering extra power boosts via battery deployment, Russell and Antonelli repeatedly traded the lead lap after lap, with Verstappen trailing just about a second behind.

Antonelli and Verstappen were able to make an extra pit stop due to a virtual safety car and lose less time than in normal circumstances. The Italian then climbed up to second place and closed the gap to Russell.

With four laps to go, he was right behind his teammate, but Russell hit the brakes too hard when Antonelli was trying to pass him, leading to Antonelli being forced off track. Antonelli was successful during his second attempt to overtake Russell on the 50th lap.

Verstappen had more difficulty trying to pass Hamilton and Piastri and finished in third with a 10-second gap to the Mercedes cars.