Engines roaring. Adrenaline pumping. 20 drivers. One winner. This is F1.

Starting here in Monza fresh out of qualifiers, the top 5 are: P5 Sergio Perez {Checo}, P4 George Russel, P3 Charles Leclerc, P2 Max Verstappen, and in pole position Carlos Sainz. 

After a slight delay, the race begins with Carlos blazing ahead. However, Max is hot on his tail, only a few seconds behind, yet Carlos persists. Carlos slides across the track, blocking every maneuver Max tries to pull. Carlos retained P1 until lap 15 until Max finally overtook his position. 

As the race continues on, Checo begins to push Charles in P3. Checo was determined to achieve a podium position, and he pushed Charles to his limits. He eventually overtakes Charles, and Carlos persists in fighting Max for P1. Despite his efforts, Max had taken off, out of Carlos’ view, he had built up enough momentum to significantly surpass him. 

The teams are swiftly alerted to Box {pit}, and the top 5 pits change their medium tyres to hard tyres. They all fall back in the ranks but it doesn’t matter because all the other teams still needed to box. Soon they regain their positions, and Checo makes a move for P2. Carlos defends stiffly again, but eventually Checo makes his way into P2. 

During the last few laps, Charles decided it would be a great idea to try to make the podium. He pushes Carlos, even though they’re on the same team, inches away from his tires. The operators were on the edge of their seats watching in horror as Charles played around. It was the last lap and Charles was still pursuing P3, yet he stopped when Carlos approached the finish line. After the race Charles admitted: “It has been a while since I had that much fun in a race!” He was pushing just to tease Carlos, and the two laughed about it after the fact. 

As the cars sped over the finish line, they finished with:Max P1, Checo P2, Carlos 3, Charles P4, and George P5. Monza made Max’s 10th win in a row, breaking the record for F1. In addition, this was the 6th time Max and Checo came in P1 & P2 the entire season. As the three winners made their way to the podium above the fans, the crowd went wild. It was a primarily red crowd, for it was a home race for Ferrari, which Carlos was ecstatic. It made it even better for him since it was his birthday weekend, and he made a podium position!

“It was a great weekend all along and to be able to celebrate a podium with the tifosi is the perfect icing on the cake!” ~Carlos Sainz