F1: Italian Grand Prix – live updates | Formula One

Tower 31/51. Firm, not to say desperate, defending against Leclerc as Pérez attacks again, from both sides, and they almost touch, and Pérez is foiled again. But for how much longer? “You’re faster, you’ll get it,” Red Bull radio told him. It almost certainly is.

Tower 30/51. The assertive Pérez tests Leclerc’s defenses again in the first corner but the Ferrari driver is holding him back for now, but a Red Bull one-two remains within reach.

Round 29/51. Verstappen sets another fastest lap and now leads Sainz by 5.7 seconds. Leclerc is third and Perez fourth. Later, Hamilton returns to the track and overtakes Fernando Alonso in a short time.

Round 28/51. Hamilton complained about tire degradation, perhaps expecting his harder compounds to last longer. It goes medium, but the heat has an effect on all the cars here.

Tower 27/51. Sainz overtook Hamilton, and his teammate Leclerc soon followed suit, and after being so overhauled the British driver returned to the pits.

Round 26/51. Sainz now holds the fastest lap time, earning that accolade from Verstappen. He remains third.

Tower 25/51. Sainz may have woken up, but the main man has his head backdashing ahead of Hamilton, with Sainz third, Leclerc fourth and Pérez fifth.

Bottas and Hamilton are, I think, the only two who haven’t stopped so far.

Round 24/51. Good news for Sainz is that he was quicker than Verstappen over the last two laps, invigorated by this tire change.

While Russell takes a five-second penalty for leaving the track.

Tower 23/51. Norris now stops and reappears 11th, Hamilton is currently in the lead.

Round 22/51. Yesterday’s top 3 are now 4, 5 and 6 with Verstappen ahead of Sainz then Lelerc.

Round 21/51. The two Ferraris fail to clash on a chicane, while Sainz retreats in front of his teammate. They are seventh and eighth respectively after stopping. Hamilton, who uses more durable tires and has yet to stop, is now fourth.

The top three are now 1 Piastri 2 Norris 3 Hamilton – none have stopped.

Round 20/51. Sainz pulls up and comes out behind Bottas after an awkward save. And I don’t see Leclerc holding Perez back in his current form. Verstappen makes a smooth pit stop of 2.5 seconds. Seamless.

Tower 19/51. Here are the latest scores on the gates: 1 Verstappen 2 Sainz 3 Leclerc 4 Perez 5 Russell 6 Piastri 7 Norris 8 Hamilton 9 Albon 10 Bottas.

Verstappen’s lead is five seconds as Sainz prepares to pit, having held the longest lead a non-Red Bull car has held this season, with 14 laps.

Tower 18/51. Leclerc’s place on the podium is also vulnerable as Pérez is rampant and Ferrari struggles with their tyres. Verstappen leads by 0.4 seconds.

Tower 17/51. Alex Albon also stopped early, after raising concerns about his brakes over the radio. Sainz’s blocking while overtaking took his breath away. Imminent Ferrari pits

Tower 16/51. Red Bull is rampant as Pérez gets his fourth place out of Russell this time around, overhauling Russell at the first corner. You can feel the moody mood of the crowd.

Verstappen already leads with 1.5 seconds.

Verstappen takes the lead

Tower 13/51. Pérez eventually revises Russell at turn one, but both drivers ran off the track, so we’ll have to see what the stewards have to say.

Tower 12/51. Verstappen has deployed around 20% more battery than Sainz so far, and it has to be said that he drives well and calmly under pressure. He leads by 0.55 seconds.

Tower 11/51. Leclerc is drifting to third, having raised concerns about the car before the race, and is now 1.3 seconds off the lead. Russell resists yet another attack from Pérez. There is impressive defensive driving, since Pierre Gasly is the first to pit.

Round 10/51. Russell foils another attack from Perez. Here’s how they stack up: 1 Sainz 2 Verstappen 3 Leclerc 4 Russell 5 Perez 6 Albon 7 Piastri 8 Norris 9 Hamilton 10 Alonso

Tower 9/51. “They have a lot of top speed, damn it,” Verstappen lamented over the radio. He’s challenged here and that’s no mistake, but he’s still second, 0.5 seconds behind Sainz.

Tower 8/51. Another good defense, in this corner, allows Russell to sink and maintain fourth against an attack from Pérez. Red Bull is coming strong though. Sainz still leads but only 0.25 seconds behind Verstappen.

Tower 7/51. There are just 0.7 seconds between the top three, and Pérez wins over Russell and has fourth in sight.

Tower 6/51. Ferrari clearly puts the throttle to test Verstappen, who attacks in the first corner, attacking him on the outside, but Sainz holds him back. We have a contest.

Tower 4/51. So it’s 1 Sainz 2 Verstappen 3 Leclerc 4 Russell 5 Perez. Verstappen set the fastest lap so far on lap three – the pressure is already on.

Tower 3/51. It was a great start from Sainz, crossing and getting directly in front of Verstappen and deftly maintaining his position throughout that grueling first corner.

Tower 2/51. A strong start for McLaren, with Piasti overtaking Albon in sixth, was overtaken as Albon came back ahead of him. Sainz and Verstappen remain the top two.

Tower 1/51. Hulkenburg overtaking Alonson for 10th and Norris overhauling Hamilton are our first steps.

Sainz navigates turns one and two flawlessly, as Russell pressures Leclerc. Sainz leads from Versatappen, Hamilton dives to ninth – an uncertain start on these tough compounds.

Curfew!

They left on the formation lap 3.0. Let’s just hope they all pull through…

Asleep at the wheel…

We’re now down to a 51 lap racerather than the planned 53, because while the engineers are once again dealing with the cars, they will have to do another formation lap, starting around 2:20 p.m. BST.

Meanwhile, a rather anxious radio conversation of Charles Leclerc, which could dissipate the family atmosphere. “The car doesn’t turn very well in right-hand corners, are you ok?”

We will be five minutes late. Motors switched off on the network

Boot interrupted

Eek. Tsunoda stopped on the side during the formation lap, complaining – it seems – of engine failure. We might have a delayed start here

They leave for the formation lap. No soft tires are used at the start of the race. We are witnessing a fast race

The pilots get into position. Not long ago. Given the dry weather and general Monza layout, we’re probably looking at a one-stop race. Turns one and two will be essential, a right turn followed by a left turn.

anthem timeand here is the most relaxed in the world, the Italian one, filled with tricolor air parades.

A little more Verstappen » as he strolls on the track: « I don’t think about when I have to move. There will be an opportunity at the beginning and maybe later but I don’t think about it. As for the record 10th consecutive win that is within reach: “I don’t really think about the number – it would be nice to have it but it’s about the championship not 10th consecutive wins.

Monza looks like a picturea sea of ​​red with a lovely backdrop of distant mountains, as Final Countdown’s enduring Eurorock kicks off on the AP with less than 20 minutes to go.

Ferrari’s optimism may be tempered by recent history, in which only one poleman in the past five has won, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc overhauled by Verstappen last year after starting on the lead.

Max Verstappen is distinctly and, predictably, unfazed by the prospect of not taking pole, told the F1 website yesterday: “I’m happy with the way we set the car up for the race and I hope it will bear fruit on Sunday. I know victory is something that could happen. If it’s 10 in a row that would be amazing, but we have to run the race in the best possible way to achieve that.

Lewis Hamilton was less lively. “I was just struggling. Our car is difficult to optimize. There’s nothing easy about this car,” he sighs.

How they line up:

Some stage readings – here is Giles Richards’ report on a tense qualifying session yesterday:

And a great article on McLaren’s 60 years in the sport, for which impressive rookie Oscar Piastri starts seventh on the grid with team-mate Lando Norris ninth:

Preamble