31 facts and stats from a record-breaking Italian Grand Prix

italian gp, podium — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 Stats

31 facts and stats from a record-breaking Italian Grand Prix

The race at Monza was a thriller from the start!

Sundaram Ramaswami

Tuesday 5 September 2023 23:57

One particular stat made all the headlines after the Italian Grand Prix this past weekend, but Max Verstappen's tenth consecutive win wasn't the only storyline of note.

The good news is: it was the most competitive race of the season!

The bad news is: we didn't get much value for money when it comes to time!

All of that and more...coming up.

Italian Grand Prix general stats

Article continues under video

This marks the fourth consecutive year where the pole-sitter at Monza has failed to secure victory.

With a duration of 1 hour and 13 minutes, the race became the ninth-shortest in F1 history, and the shortest without a red-flag interruption.

The race had a total of five race leaders, the most observed in a race since last year’s USA GP.

So far this year, only three drivers have completed 100% of all laps - Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton.

The race saw only two compounds being used throughout, the mediums and hards. No driver opted for the softest compound available during the Grand Prix. The most recent dry race that did not see the utilisation of softs was the 2022 French GP.

Red Bull

Verstappen secured his 47th career race win and became the first driver in the sport's history to claim ten consecutive Grand Prix victories. This surpasses the previous record of nine consecutive wins held by Alberto Ascari in 1952-53 and Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

With his 15th straight podium finish (starting from Abu Dhabi 2022), Verstappen matched Fernando Alonso for the third-longest podium streak in F1. Only Lewis Hamilton (16) and Michael Schumacher (19) have had longer streaks.

The race also marked Verstappen's 15th consecutive top-two finish in F1, equaling the record set by Michael Schumacher in 2002.

Having scored in each of the 33 races since Imola 2022, the reigning champion now holds the second-longest scoring streak in F1 alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen led a majority of the race and, in the process, became just the sixth driver to lead over 2,500 laps in F1.

Sergio Perez crossed the finish line just six seconds behind his teammate, securing his first podium finish at Monza since the 2012 race.

It was Red Bull’s 28th one-two result in F1 but their very first one at Monza. With six one-two finishes in 2023, that’s the highest they’ve taken in one season.

The Milton Keynes-based team also reached a significant milestone as they led the championship for the 100th race. They became the fifth team in F1 history to achieve this feat, following Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, and Williams.

Red Bull lead the championship by 310 points at the moment, the highest margin any team has held in F1 till date. They went past the 297 points lead Mercedes had at the end of the 2016 season.

Aston Martin

The race had just about enough laps to eventually see Fernando Alonso clock his 20,000th Grand Prix lap in F1. He’s the first ever to reach the milestone.

The Spaniard scored two points with a P9 finish, only his second points-scoring result at Monza in the hybrid era.

Lance Stroll is the sole driver in the top 11 who has not stood on the podium at least once. His best result this year is P4, which came at the Australian GP in April.

Ferrari

Ferrari have failed to convert each of their last eight pole positions to a race victory. The most recent instance of a non-Red Bull driver winning from pole was Carlos Sainz at the 2022 British GP. (Although George Russell won from P1 in Brazil 2022, the pole-sitter was in fact Kevin Magnussen).

With a P3 finish, Sainz took his first podium finish of the year, and second one overall at Monza.

Sainz led the race for the first 14 laps of the Italian GP, which stands as the longest any non-Red Bull driver has led a race this season.

Both Ferrari finished in the top-four on Sunday, the first time they’ve done so this season. Mercedes

For the very first time in the hybrid era, a Mercedes-powered car didn’t feature in the top three of the Italian GP.

The last three fastest laps have all been taken by cars powered by Mercedes engines.

McLaren

Lando Norris finished eighth, keeping his perfect scoring record in Italy intact.

Oscar Piastri achieved his first ever fastest lap in F1, also marking McLaren's first fastest lap of the year.

Despite his fastest lap, Piastri finished outside the points, missing out on the additional point for the fastest lap.

Williams

P7 equals Alex Albon best result for Williams which he first set at the Canadian GP. This also marks the first instance of him securing points in consecutive races for Williams.

Williams ran the longest stint of the race, doing 35 of the 51 laps on the hard tyres.

AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda didn’t start the Grand Prix, after facing engine troubles on the formation lap. The previous instance of a driver failing to start a race was again Tsunoda at the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP.

Rookie Liam Lawson finished outside the points in P11 in just his second F1 race. This marks the best result achieved by a driver in the second AlphaTauri seat this season.