Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands celebrates on the podium after winning the Italian Grand Prix race at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

ITALY — For anyone that tuned in after the first six laps of the Formula 1 (F1) race in Monza, Italy on Sunday, Sept. 7, the top five drivers were all in the same order they started. Viewers would probably then assume nothing much had or would happen in the race. Past seasons of F1 would support such a conclusion, but in this 2025 season, every race seems to have countless twists and turns.

The course at Monza is nicknamed the “Temple of Speed” for good reason. Max Verstappen’s pole setting lap in his Red Bull earned him not only the top spot on the grid for the race on Sunday, but it was also the fastest F1 lap recorded, ever. From start to finish on Sunday, this year’s race was the fastest race in F1 history. Not only do the cars reach high speeds, they fly around the track quicker than anywhere else on the calendar.

Verstappen harnessed that speed in the race as well, winning by nearly twenty seconds over the second and third place McLaren cars of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Ferrari super fans called the “Tifosi” who always flock to the Ferrari “home race” in Monza were heartbroken not to see a Ferrari on the podium, but Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton brought their Ferrari cars to the finish in fourth and sixth, sandwiching George Russell’s Mercedes in fifth.

That was how the race ended, but how did is start? Verstappen had a decent start from pole, but Norris had a quicker start in second and came up alongside the leader. Pushing Norris wide to the right and a little onto the grass, Verstappen then moved left across the track to block the charging Piastri from third. This move, slowing down Piastri, simultaneously allowed Norris to challenge Verstappen for the lead and Leclerc to challenge Piastri for third.

Norris was able to just get into the lead entering the first corner, but Verstappen refused to give up and cut across the chicane since he no longer had enough room to make the corner. Drivers are not allowed to cut across the track and gain an advantage, so despite Verstappen’s protests he had no other path but leaving the track, the team asked him to give the position to Norris so they could rest easier knowing they would not get a penalty for the track cut.

Behind those two dueling, Leclerc managed to sweep past Piastri and claim third position. It was brief, however, as Piastri made a gutsy move around the outside of Leclerc’s Ferrari in a very high speed corner. Now McLaren was looking at first and third place in the race.

As the next lap got underway, Verstappen poured on the speed and rocketed past Norris to reclaim the lead. Similarly, Leclerc had a great slipstream and sailed past Piastri. Now McLaren was looking at second and fourth.

Piastri hounded Leclerc for the next few laps, getting alongside the Ferrari several times, but never able to pass him. Finally, Piastri found a way past Leclerc. Norris, however, had lost touch with Verstappen who was storming away from the field in front. McLaren had to settle for second and third, the same places they started.

The tire degradation in Monza was lower than expected, so even though Pirelli was trying to get teams to need two stops to make things more interesting, a one stop strategy was the best way to go. Several drivers in the middle of the pack went for hard tires earlier than expected to get away from the chain of drivers they were stuck in, but no one seemed to get a significant advantage on those new tires.

This led McLaren to the decision to extend their time on the medium tires they started on and put on soft tires towards the end of the race to see if they could get any kind of pace advantage over Verstappen. Norris was asked if he wanted first or second pit stop, his choice as the lead driver on track, and he was worried about the undercut from Piastri if his teammate and rival pitted first.

The team assured Norris there was no threat of an undercut, so Piastri was called in for his stop. Textbook perfect, and Piastri was back out on track quickly. Norris was called in the next lap, and the person in charge of fitting the front left tire on the car was unable to get the bolt secured until the third try. A six-second pitstop allowed Piastri to get by Norris who came out in third place.

Norris’ emotions at that time are unknown because he went radio silent at that point. McLaren administration got on the radio to Piastri and asked him to switch positions with Norris. This might sound perfectly okay for them to ask, but the important factor here is that Piastri is leading the driver’s championship in F1 by 34 points over his teammate Norris.

Since PIastri passed Norris, he would extend that lead by three points. If Norris got second place back, it would decrease by three points instead. In nearly any other era of this sport and with nearly any other driver pairing directly competing for a title, a team request like this would not motivate a driver to yield.

But Piastri did. He willingly (albeit begrudgingly) let his rival by and allowed a six-point swing to his disadvantage take place. Why?

For starters, one would be hard-pressed to find a nicer person around the F1 paddock. Nice tends to go out the window once the visor is down and cars are on track. So what else motivated Piastri?

He is a team player, he knows McLaren is trying to be fair to their two drivers, and this was not something that was a result of bad driving or bad decisions on Norris’ part. But, the team also dropped a mention of Hungary 2024.

That race was Piastri’s first win, but also a controversial one because better pit strategy saw Norris take the lead from Piastri. The team got on the radio and told Norris there was no bad driving on Piastri’s part and they never meant for the strategy to determine the winner between their two drivers. Norris debated with his team lap after lap, clearly not wanting to give up a race win to his teammate.

Eventually Norris relented, thinking playing nice with the team would have better long term effects than one more race win. Piastri seemed to come to a similar decision in Monza on Sunday, thinking it would be better overall to allow Norris to claw back three points than to have an irate team no longer working with him in this championship run.

Still, it was awkward. Fans typically would rather see race outcomes decided on track, not through radio messages and team orders. At the end of the day, McLaren is trying to be as fair as possible in this championship run between their two drivers, but they really need to get out of their own way and avoid mixups like this moving forward.

Drivers have a week off as they take to the track again in Azerbaijan next, with the feature race starting at 7 a.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, Sept. 21.