Max Verstappen emphatically ended his nine-race wait for another victory by winning the Italian Grand Prix at a canter as Lando Norris eventually trimmed Oscar Piastri’s world title lead after late McLaren pit-stop drama.

Winning for the first time since May’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for just his third victory of 2025, Verstappen won out in a thrilling early duel with Norris in the race’s early laps front the front row.

The start saw the polesitter cut the first chicane as the two went wheel-to-wheel, with Verstappen ceding the lead to Norris at the end of the opening lap having gained a lasting advantage.

But after repassing his British rival at the start of lap four, Verstappen checked out at the front to surprising effect ahead of McLaren cars that had won all but three of the season’s races up to Sunday.

Norris still looked firmly on course for second to claw three points back on Piastri thereafter but briefly dropped to third behind the Australian amid late McLaren drama late on after a slow single pit stop had seen his team-mate move ahead.

But, after McLaren had given Piastri – who had enjoyed a swift trouble-free stop the lap before – the earlier stop in order for him to ward off any threat from Charles Leclerc behind him, with Norris agreeing to that plan, they asked the Australian to cede second back to his team-mate.

Piastri questioned their reasoning over team radio but duly complied to restore the pre-stops order, meaning his points advantage over Norris is trimmed by three points to 31 points with eight grands prix and three Sprints still left this season.

Piastri had earlier had to fight his way back to third after twice losing his starting position during an early ding-dong battle with Leclerc.

But the Ferrari challenged faded thereafter with Leclerc finishing a distant fourth ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton made early ground from his penalised 10th place on the grid but once behind Russell, he could not make further headway and so finished sixth.

Alex Albon capped a fine recovery from a disappointing qualifying to finish seventh for Williams ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who was promoted to eighth in the final classification ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who gained a five-second penalty.

With Antonelli dropping to ninth, Isack Hadjar impressively raced from the pit lane to the final point in 10th a week on from his maiden podium in Zandvoort.

More to follow…

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