The 2023 Italian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio d'Italia 2023) was a Formula One motor race held on 3 September 2023 at the Monza Circuit in Monza, Italy. It was the fourteenth round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.
The race was won by Max Verstappen for Red Bull Racing for his tenth consecutive win in a row, breaking previous Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel's record of nine consecutive race victories of 2013, and extending Red Bull Racing's consecutive race wins record as a constructor to 15. Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and polesitter Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari made up the podium, Sainz's second podium at Monza Circuit.
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4 and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.[9]
A reduction in allocated tyre sets from the standard 13 to 11, referred to as the Alternative Tyre Allocation (ATA), was trialled again during this Grand Prix, with the intention of making tyre usage more sustainable. This is the second and last time this season that it was trialled after the Hungarian Grand Prix. The usage of tyre compounds during qualifying was mandated as hard in Q1, medium in Q2 and soft in Q3, assuming that the weather is dry.[10]
Practice
Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first practice session was held on 1 September 2023, at 13:30 local time (UTC+2). Max Verstappen topped the session, with Carlos Sainz Jr. recording the second-fastest time and Sergio Pérez recording the third-fastest.
The second practice session was held later that day at 17:00 local time (UTC+2). It was topped by Carlos Sainz Jr., with Lando Norris recording the second-fastest time and Sergio Pérez recording the third-fastest. The session was red-flagged early when Lance Stroll's fuel system failed, forcing him to sit out the rest of the session. It was later red-flagged again when Sergio Pérez spun into the gravel at turn 11. However, Pérez's crash was late enough in the session to retain the third-fastest time.
The third practice session was held on 2 September 2023, at 12:30 local time (UTC+2), with Sainz topping the session ahead of Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.[11]
The third session was run on soft tyres. In his fastest lap, Verstappen's left-rear wheel snapped into the gravel but he still set the provisional fastest lap. However, Sainz beat Verstappen to pole by 0.013s, taking pole position in front of the Tifosi.[12]
The race was held on 3 September 2023, and was scheduled at 15:00 local time (UTC+2),[11] but was delayed by 20 minutes due to an aborted start procedure.
The formation lap was aborted after Yuki Tsunoda broke down on track; his car was wheeled off via truck. Initially, the drivers were sent round for an additional formation lap, before a 20-minute delay was imposed. A third formation lap was held at the end of the delay, before the race start. As two unscheduled formation laps had taken place, the race distance was reduced by two laps.
Polesitter Carlos Sainz Jr. had a good start and held off second-placed Max Verstappen for the first 14 laps. Even when Verstappen was allowed DRS, he was unable to make an overtake as Sainz continued to make a strong defence. Sainz locked up coming into the first corner on lap 15, giving Verstappen a chance. Verstappen eventually passed Sainz and led the race for the next five laps until he came in for a stop. Meanwhile, George Russell and Sergio Pérez were having their own fight for fourth place behind Charles Leclerc. On lap 14, Pérez was able to pass Russell at the first corner, but both cars missed the chicane and Pérez had to give the position back. Due to another incident against Esteban Ocon at the same corner after his stop, in which Russell overtook Ocon off the track, Russell was given a five-second penalty.
Behind Verstappen, who quickly pulled several seconds ahead, the other drivers were having close battles, with Pérez and Leclerc duelling at the second corner. Lewis Hamilton made an error trying to pass Oscar Piastri, cutting across him in the braking zone of turn 4. Piastri's front wing was damaged and he had to make an unscheduled pit stop for repairs. Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for the collision but he had enough of a gap over Alexander Albon at the end to avoid losing any positions when the penalty was applied. Meanwhile, Sainz would run out of room at the first corner. He was forced not to only take the run-off area, but give Pérez second place. As the race was reaching its closing stages, Leclerc locked up twice and almost collided with Sainz. Sainz himself would lock up into the first corner as Verstappen won his second consecutive Italian Grand Prix. With ten consecutive wins since the Miami Grand Prix, this broke Sebastian Vettel's 2013 record of nine consecutive wins in a row – and Red Bull Racing extended their record of most consecutive wins for a constructor to 15, having won every race since the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.[15]
^1 – The race distance was scheduled to be 53 laps before being shortened by two laps due to an aborted start procedure.[16]
^2 – George Russell received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. His final position was not affected by the penalty.[16]
^3 – Lewis Hamilton received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Oscar Piastri. His final position was not affected by the penalty.[16]
^4 – Oscar Piastri finished 11th, but he received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.[16]
^5 – Logan Sargeant received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas. His final position was not affected by the penalty.[16]
^6 – Yuki Tsunoda did not start the race due to an engine failure during the formation lap. His place on the grid was left vacant.[16]
Oscar Piastri
