Oscar Piastri, McLaren (P3) 7/10
This was perhaps Piastri’s weakest race weekend since the Canadian Grand Prix. The Australian qualified in a “lowly” third, and a poor opening lap saw him lose out to Leclerc who slowed his progress for a few too many laps. He then didn’t have the pace to close in on Norris ahead of him, only getting ahead of his fellow McLaren driver after a poor pitstop for the latter. Ultimately Piastri was asked to switch positions back with his teammate, which he reluctantly agreed to do. He still has a healthy advantage at the head of the Championship, but it wasn’t a good race for him by any stretch of the imagination.
Lando Norris, McLaren (P2) 8/10
Norris was the better of the two McLaren drivers this time round, but neither of them had the pace to match Verstappen out front. The Briton resigned himself to a P2 finish early on, and was comfortably quicker than Piastri for much of the Grand Prix. The late pitstop scare was the only hitch in Norris’ race weekend, but he and the team will be hoping to return to their usual dominance in Azerbaijan.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull (P1) 10/10
While a Championship is next to impossible for Verstappen and Red Bull this year, the Dutchman reminded us exactly why he is a four-time World Champion with his dominant performance in Italy. He did briefly lose the lead to Norris at the start, but the Red Bull driver clearly had the measure of both McLarens in ultimate pace, as he passed Norris on the fourth tour and never looked back from then on. In the end Verstappen won the race by almost 20 seconds, which is pretty much unheard of in the modern ground-effect era of F1.
