The Italian Grand Prix 2023 was the 14th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy, during the weekend of the 1st to the 3rd of September.

Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Sergio Pérez, and Carlos Sainz, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.

Final results

1
1
VER
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:13:41.143
Finished
2
3
PER
Sergio Pérez
Red Bull
+6.064
Finished
3
2
SAI
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
+11.193
Finished
4
1
LEC
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
+11.377
Finished
5
1
RUS
George Russell
Mercedes
+23.028
Finished
6
2
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
+42.679
Finished
7
1
ALB
Alexander Albon
Williams
+45.106
Finished
8
1
NOR
Lando Norris
McLaren
+45.449
Finished
9
1
ALO
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin
+46.294
Finished
10
4
BOT
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo
+1:04.056
Finished
11
1
LAW
Liam Lawson
AlphaTauri
+1:10.638
Finished
12
5
PIA
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
+1:13.074
Finished
13
2
SAR
Logan Sargeant
Williams
+1:18.557
Finished
14
2
ZHO
Guanyu Zhou
Alfa Romeo
+1:20.164
Finished
15
2
GAS
Pierre Gasly
Alpine F1 Team
+1:22.510
Finished
16
4
STR
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
+1:27.266
Finished
17
4
HUL
Nico Hülkenberg
Haas F1 Team
+1 Lap
18
1
MAG
Kevin Magnussen
Haas F1 Team
+1 Lap
19
1
OCO
Esteban Ocon
Alpine F1 Team
Steering
20
9
TSU
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
Engine
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
GAS
11
ZHO
12
MAG
13
LAW
14
HUL
SAR
15
ALB
16
17
18
19
SAI
RUS
20
VER
STR
LEC
21
ALO
PER
22
NOR
23
PIA
24
OCO
25
BOT
26
27
HAM
28
29
30
31
GAS
32
33
MAG
ZHO
LAW
34
35
36
37
38
39
HUL
40
41
PIA
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51

There were a total of 25 pit stops during the race.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 10-15: 7 stops
  • Laps 19-25: 11 stops

The fastest pit stop was Lando Norris's, stopping the clock at 23.727 seconds during his pit stop on lap 22, while the slowest one was was Oscar Piastri's, who stopped the clock at 31.799 seconds, 8.072 seconds slower than Norris, during his pit stop on lap 41.

These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.

Strategy

We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Pierre Gasly, Guanyu Zhou, Kevin Magnussen, Liam Lawson, Nico Hülkenberg and Oscar Piastri decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.

The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 1 stop strategy.

1 stop

  • 2
    Logan Sargeant
  • 1
    Alexander Albon
  • 2
    Carlos Sainz
  • 1
    George Russell
  • 1
    Max Verstappen
  • 4
    Lance Stroll
  • 1
    Charles Leclerc
  • 1
    Fernando Alonso
  • 3
    Sergio Pérez
  • 1
    Lando Norris
  • 1
    Esteban Ocon
  • 4
    Valtteri Bottas
  • 2
    Lewis Hamilton

2 stops

  • 2
    Pierre Gasly
  • 2
    Guanyu Zhou
  • 1
    Kevin Magnussen
  • 1
    Liam Lawson
  • 4
    Nico Hülkenberg
  • 5
    Oscar Piastri

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.08 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 positions.

This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.

It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.

Incidents

There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, Esteban Ocon, who had issues with the steering of the car on lap 39, and Yuki Tsunoda, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 0.

Steering

  • Esteban Ocon
    Lap 39

Engine

  • Yuki Tsunoda
    Lap 0

Qualifying

#1
SAI
#2
VER
#3
LEC
#4
RUS
#5
PER
#6
ALB
#7
PIA
#8
HAM
#9
NOR
#10
ALO
#11
TSU
#12
LAW
#13
HUL
#14
BOT
#15
SAR
#16
ZHO
#17
GAS
#18
OCO
#19
MAG
#20
STR

Carlos Sainz managed to get the pole position by 0.013 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:20.294. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.

Q1

  • Max Verstappen
    1:21.573
  • Alexander Albon
    1:21.661
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:21.788
  • Yuki Tsunoda
    1:21.852
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:21.911
  • Logan Sargeant
    1:21.930
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:21.965
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:21.977
  • Lando Norris
    1:21.995
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:22.043
  • Oscar Piastri
    1:22.106
  • Liam Lawson
    1:22.112
  • George Russell
    1:22.148
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:22.249
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:22.343
  • Guanyu Zhou
    1:22.390
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:22.545
  • Esteban Ocon
    1:22.548
  • Kevin Magnussen
    1:22.592
  • Lance Stroll
    1:22.860

Q2

  • Max Verstappen
    1:20.937
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:20.977
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:20.991
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:21.240
  • Alexander Albon
    1:21.272
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:21.369
  • George Russell
    1:21.382
  • Oscar Piastri
    1:21.527
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:21.543
  • Lando Norris
    1:21.581
  • Yuki Tsunoda
    1:21.594
  • Liam Lawson
    1:21.758
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:21.776
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:21.940
  • Logan Sargeant
    1:21.944

Q3

  • Carlos Sainz
    1:20.294
  • Max Verstappen
    1:20.307
  • Charles Leclerc
    1:20.361
  • George Russell
    1:20.671
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:20.688
  • Alexander Albon
    1:20.760
  • Oscar Piastri
    1:20.785
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:20.820
  • Lando Norris
    1:20.979
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:21.417

Track evolution

Q1
-0.521
seconds faster
Q2
-0.574
seconds faster
Q3

As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 14 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.

The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.