Kiwi driver Liam Lawson has once again impressed at the Formula One Italian Grand Prix at Monza, crossing the line in eleventh and falling just short of securing points.
The 21-year-old lined up at twelfth on the grid, following an impressive result at the Dutch GP, starting last and finishing thirteenth.
Lawson started right behind his AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda - who didn't end up racing thanks to a suspected power box failure during the formation lap.
While still an impressive result, Lawson said he was "disappointed" not to have scored any points for the team.
“A couple of things went wrong today, we need to look into the start, as I could have done a better job, and that’s where we lost the chance. The pace wasn’t too bad then, but the race slightly got away from us," he said in a statement from AlphaTauri.
"I’m still learning the procedures and definitely starting to feel more comfortable in the car, but I’m just a little bit disappointed with my race, as I think we may have had the pace for points today."
But he did say he's starting to adjust to the car and felt much more prepared going into the race weekend.
"I’m not sure, though, so we need to look into it. These races are longer than I’m used to, so definitely adjusting, but I felt much more prepared than I did last weekend, so I’m happy about that.”
Runaway F1 leader Max Verstappen secured a record 10th straight win with victory, with a Red Bull one-two on Ferrari's home track.
“That's a nice stat,” Verstappen said on team radio immediately after the win.
Another flawless performance from the two-time defending champion saw Verstappen beat teammate Sergio Pérez by 6.802 seconds. Carlos Sainz Jr was third, 11.082 behind Verstappen and just ahead of Charles Leclerc, as the two Ferrari drivers battled for the final spot on Monza's iconic podium.
“I never would have believed that was possible, but we had to work for it today, and that made it definitely a lot more fun,” Verstappen said.
Verstappen had started second, behind Sainz, but eventually got past him at the start of lap 15 and from then on — just like the rest of the season — no one could match the Red Bull pace.
The record became all but a foregone conclusion as Verstappen began to pull away, swiftly building an advantage of more than five seconds five laps later.
“Very tough, very tough. It can’t get any tougher than it was today,” Sainz said. “To keep up with the Red Bulls, I paid the price with the rear tires, but I did everything I could to defend.”
The victory also saw Verstappen increase his huge championship lead to 145 points in a crushingly dominant season for the 25-year-old Dutchman.
Verstappen has won 12 of the 14 races for unbeaten Red Bull and matched Sebastian Vettel’s F1 record of nine straight victories last weekend at the Dutch GP. Pérez has the other two victories.
It was a second straight victory for Verstappen at Monza. Before last year, he had never finished the Italian GP higher than fifth.
Ferrari was hopeful of its first win at the Temple of Speed since 2019 and Sainz, who turned 29 on Friday, got off to a great start as he held off Verstappen into the first corner — much to the delight of the thousands of passionate red-clad tifosi.
Sainz managed to defend against several attempts by Verstappen to get past in a tense battle between the two. That didn’t last long, however, as Sainz locked his brakes going into the first chicane on lap 15 and that allowed Verstappen to get past him on the exit and pull away.
Sainz was left to fend off Perez for second place but lost that battle too, with four laps remaining and was then forced to fight hard again to keep Leclerc behind for the final podium place.
George Russell was fifth, ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who kept his place despite a five-second penalty for colliding with Oscar Piastri.
Alex Albon was seventh, with Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas completing the top 10.
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