By Marcella Nadya
Ciao F1 fans, this week, we go racing in Monza, Italy. This Grand Prix marked
Pirelli’s 500th appearance in Formula 1. The race began with retirement news as
Hulkenberg had a mechanical issue during the formation lap, making it his first DNF
of 2025. As the five lights went out, Verstappen briefly held the lead after running off track in a small battle with Norris, but was ordered to give the position back.
Piastri immediately tried to regain the position as Leclerc climbed up to P3, and he subsequently reported that Leclerc was moving under braking. These two battled for P3 for a bit. The other Mclaren driver, Norris, seemed to be struggling and had a lock up which favoured Verstappen to regain the lead. Hamilton did a good job getting his car from P10 to P6.
The first penalty of this race was given to Ocon for forcing Stroll off the track.
Bearman attempted an undercut, though it turned out to be a slow one. The race
was only on its 25th lap when Alonso’s race had come to an end due to suspension
failure. He expressed his disappointment for this unbelievable event. There was
contact between Tsunoda and Lawson. Lawson went for an overtake, but failed and Tsunoda got his position back. As the race went on, Norris finally pitted and
Verstappen led the race, again.
Another contact occurred between Sainz and Bearman. Sainz was ahead
then got attacked by Bearman. It was, however, Sainz’s corner. Their cars came
together in the middle of the road causing a yellow flag. Bearman had nowhere to go
while Sainz turned as if Bearman wasn’t there. This resulted in Bearman receiving a 10 second time penalty.
Norris seemed to be struggling again trying to secure a win that would close the points gap to his teammate, with his chances further hindered by a pit stop
error from the crew. His front left tyre wasn’t properly secured, costing him over five seconds in the pit stop. Mclaren wanted to cover Leclerc. Soon after, a team order was made for Norris to swap position with Piastri who was ahead of him to which Verstappen cheekily said “just because he had a slow pit stop?” on his team radio.
Italian GP is the home race for Ferrari and Kimi Antonelli but it wasn’t one to remember. Ferrari had great
expectations going into this weekend after showing good speed throughout free
practice sessions only to come home to 4th for Leclerc and 6th for Hamilton.
Antonelli’s home race wasn’t the finest either as he was given a black and yellow flag and eventually a 5 second time penalty for driving erratically. He ended up finishing with no points. In the driver’s championship, Piastri extended his championship score to a impressive 324 points following the race.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 