Verstappen takes Red Bull to podium finish at Italian Grand Prix

Red Bull took a podium finish at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza as Max Verstappen finished third.

The Dutch driver was able to prevail in a tight squabble with other drivers to take a podium finish as he returned to the top 3, grabbing his fourth podium in the last six races.

It was a more unfortunate race for his stand-in teammate Liam Lawson, who finished 14th in a race that was derailed by front wing damage in the early stages.

Verstappen sits on 127 points for the season, with the four-time world champion currently 6th in the standings. Usual teammate Isack Hadjar sits 8th on 71, having missed the last two races, while Lawson is on 51 and sits behind Hadjar in 9th.

In the Constructor’s Championship, Red Bull sit fourth after 13 races. The Milton Keynes-based team have 204 points, which sees them sit 83 behind 3rd place McLaren and 119 ahead of their junior team Racing Bulls in 5th.

While Verstappen’s former teammate Pierre Gasly took a shock pole the day before, Red Bull had their drivers at different ends ahead of the race. The Dutchman started 5th, having been promoted a place due to a grid penalty for Oscar Piastri after the Australian impeded Lawson. As it was, multiple engine and set-up changes meant Lawson started from the pit-lane.

In the early phase of the race, Verstappen was able to get himself up to third. He got past Lewis Hamilton after the Ferrari got in a tangle with his own teammate, held off a challenge from Piastri and then made a fine move on lap 2 to swipe third from Charles Leclerc.

Moments after Leclerc was passed by Verstappen, the Ferrari driver lost control while fighting Piastri and had a big crash into the tyre barrier by the final corner, causing a red flag.

That lead to a lengthy pause while the tyre barrier was repaired before the eventual re-start, with Verstappen 3rd and Lawson 15th after making some early moves.

Lawson’s Racing Bulls stand-in Yuki Tsunoda then caused a second formation lap when he lined up incorrectly, for which he would later escape a penalty.

When racing eventually restarted, Verstappen would hold off an early fight from Alpine’s Franco Colapinto before passing Gasly to take second on the road.

On lap 12, Verstappen tried his move, getting past the race leader George Russell and engaging in multi-lap conflict with Russell, but on lap 15, Russell got past Verstappen and soon brought through his Mercedes teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

While that was going on, Lawson’s race would take a turn for trouble. The New Zealander was fighting the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg over 11th place, when on lap 14, the two cars made contact and Lawson sustained front-wing damage. This forced Lawson into the pits for an extensive stop for a new wing.

At the front, Verstappen was keeping pace with the two Mercedes cars as they duelled over the lead, before the Dutchman then chose to pit on lap 28 when a virtual safety car was deployed after Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin ground to a halt by the side of the track.

Verstappen had pit alongside Antonelli, but while the Mercedes would fly past other cars on his way to a sensation victory from 19th on the original grid, the Red Bull wouldn’t have it quite so easy to get past those ahead. Nonetheless, Verstappen would clear Gasly, Hamilton, Lando Norris and eventually Piastri to take third, and with it a podium.

Lawson by contrast had his momentum stalled by the long pit-stop and then others pitting behind the virtual safety car, which left him out of the points.

F1 will return next weekend, with the sport heading to Madrid for the first Spanish Grand Prix at a new track in the suburbs of Spain’s capital city.