F1 Italian Grand Prix 2025: Full Results And Race Report

Wild opening

There was drama even before the race as Nico Hulkenberg was asked to pull into the pits to retire at the end of the formation lap by his Sauber team. The issue was revealed to be a hydraulic issue.

Norris had the best start off the line but was forced into the grass by Verstappen on the way down to Turn 1. The McLaren kept in on the inside and, with the Dutchman running across the chicane, he was forced to give up the lead.

Piastri and Leclerc were embroiled in a stunning battle in the opening stages - the Ferrari getting ahead on the first lap only for a stunning move to the outside of the first Lesmo allowing the Australian into third.

Avoiding Verstappen at the start of lap two meant Leclerc got back in front and that saw Piastri settle into fourth.

DRS leads to back-and-forth battles

Verstappen kept on the back of Norris' McLaren and used the DRS swept back into the lead at the start of lap four while Leclerc ran wide at the same time.

Piastri could see his rivals for victory scampering down the road as Leclerc dropped three seconds back by lap five. The championship leader finally got the move done at the start of lap six by going to the outside of the Rettifilo with DRS assistance.

The second Ferrari was moving forward at a rapid rate at the hands of Lewis Hamilton. The Briton had gone from 10th to sixth by the end of lap seven and latched onto the back of the train for third place.

Verstappen controls as tires raise questions

As the drivers settled in for the first stint, Verstappen was comfortable out in front with a performance harking back to Red Bull's dominance across the past four years. He stretched his advantage to three seconds by lap 11 with Piastri a further five seconds down.

After some of the early stoppers started to post times on the hard tires it emerged that extending the opening stint on mediums would potentially be the fastest strategy.

George Russell was the first of the frontrunners to pit at the end of lap 27, but only teammate Kimi Antonelli responded immediately as McLaren pondered keeping Norris out until going to softs was an option.

But by this time, Verstappen had extended the lead to six seconds despite nasty blistering on his right-front tire.

The four-time champion was still setting fastest sectors of the race on lap 36 despite the band of distress showing on his tire. At the end of lap 36, he pitted for a set of hard tires.

McLaren almost handed victory lifeline but Norris hampered

With McLaren extending, a safety car would have taken the lead away from Verstappen and the Papaya squad was almost given that break.

Carlos Sainz attempted to put his Williams around the outside of Haas' Oliver Bearman at the Roggia chicane for 13th but contact tipped them both into a spin. The bad news for McLaren was that both drivers continued and within a few laps, Verstappen's pace was such that he had bridged the gap for the safety car window.

Piastri was pitted on lap 46, a lap earlier than Norris in order to cover Leclerc off and keep a podium. But when Norris pitted a lap later, an issue on the front left meant that he took an extra four seconds to complete his stop and allowed Piastri through.

But McLaren stepped in to ask for the positions to be swapped, though Piastri was told afterwards that he would be free to race for second.

In front, Verstappen dominated to finish over 19 seconds up on Norris, who did hold off Piastri for second.

Leclerc led home Russell and Hamilton to complete the top six while Alex Albon recovered to seventh from 14th on the grid.

Gabriel Bortoleto finished eighth for Sauber after Antonelli was penalized five-seconds late on for erratic driving, while Isack Hadjar came back from a pitlane start for the final world championship point.

Sainz lost that position when fighting Bearman, who was given a 10-second penalty for their collision and finished 12th.

Tsunoda struggled and ended 13th ahead of Lawson - both drivers having made contact at the Roggia. Esteban Ocon finished ahead of Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto and Lance Stroll.

Fernando Alonso retired with a suspension failure.

F1 Italian Grand Prix 2025 results