Max Verstappen Ends Win Drought at Italian GP as McLaren Drama Unfolds

Max Verstappen ended his long winless streak by crushing McLaren at the 2025 Italian Grand Prix, their first real defeat of the year.

The Red Bull ace was first across the line, with Lando Norris battling to second place, and trimming the gap on teammate Oscar Piastri as champion to just 31 points. However it did not come without a few dramatic moments to the McLaren pair.

The race was electric in the very beginning. Verstappen and pole-sitter Norris went at it hammer and tongs at the start, swapping positions in a heart-pounding start. Norris took the lead briefly but by lap four, Verstappen was ahead once more and he never looked back, cruising to his third win of the season, his first since May in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Key Highlights

• Max Verstappen ends win drought with dominant Italian GP victory over McLaren
• McLaren drama as pit stop blunder forces Piastri to hand back position to Norris
• F1 2025 title fight heats up: Verstappen strikes back, Norris closes in on Piastri

McLaren, who've been on a tear with victories in nearly every race this year, couldn't keep up with Verstappen's blistering pace. The focus shifted to their internal battle for second and third. Piastri started strong but had to scrap with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc early on to hold his spot. Things got tricky during the pit stops, though.

On lap 46, McLaren brought Piastri in first for fresh soft tires, and the stop was lightning-fast at 1.9 seconds. Norris followed a lap later, but a glitch with the left-front wheel gun turned his stop into a nightmare—5.9 seconds stationary, enough for Piastri to jump ahead and snag second.

Suddenly, McLaren had a tough call to make. Reminding everyone of last year's Hungarian GP mix-up, the team radioed Piastri to hand the position back to Norris, who had led him all race long before the stops. Piastri wasn't thrilled—"I don't really get what has changed," he said over the airwaves—but he played ball and let Norris through. It meant Norris gained those crucial three points, keeping the title fight alive with eight grands prix and three sprints still to go.

Down the order, Leclerc faded to fourth for Ferrari, with Mercedes' George Russell in fifth and Lewis Hamilton sixth after a solid drive from 10th on the grid. Williams' Alex Albon shone in seventh, Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto took eighth, and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli dropped to ninth after a five-second penalty for tangling with Albon. Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar rounded out the top 10, recovering from a pit-lane start.

Also Read: Max Verstappen's Red Bull Future Hinges on Spanish Grand Prix

Post-race, the McLaren camp was all about teamwork. Piastri said they'd chat it over but called the swap fair since Norris was ahead all day. Norris felt he'd earned his spot and joked about the slow stop, while team boss Andrea Stella praised both drivers for keeping things classy. Even Verstappen couldn't resist a cheeky radio jab: "Ha! Just because he had a slow stop?"

As the circus packs up for Baku on September 19-21, the championship is heating up. McLaren's still in the driver's seat, but Verstappen's reminder that he's a force to be reckoned with could shake things up.