The 2025 Italian Grand Prix at Monza delivered a weekend full of drama, strategy twists, and emotional highs and lows for drivers and teams alike. As the dust settled on September 7, the iconic Autodromo Nazionale di Monza witnessed Max Verstappen clinch his third victory of the season, while Williams’ Alex Albon celebrated a standout performance, and several drivers, including Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda, faced fresh frustration in their campaigns.
Let’s start with the star of Williams: Alex Albon. After a tricky qualifying session that saw both Williams cars exit in Q2, the team made a bold call to split strategies for Sunday’s race. Albon started on the hard tyre, aiming for a long opening stint, while his teammate Carlos Sainz opted for mediums, following the majority of the grid. The decision paid off handsomely for Albon. He surged into the top ten, even running as high as fifth at one point, and managed to hold onto seventh place at the checkered flag, securing critical points for both his own tally and Williams’ battle in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Fantastic strategy and great car pace, I think those two together, you are going to have a good time of it,” Albon reflected after the race. “Honestly… It was meant to be a tough race on paper but actually we were the first hard car once everyone pitted. I don’t want to call it an easy race, but the car was really nice to drive. One of the best Sundays balance-wise I’ve had all year.”
Albon’s result was more than just a personal triumph; it kept Williams firmly ahead of Aston Martin in the fight for fifth in the Teams’ Championship, and moved the Thai driver up to seventh in the Drivers’ standings, overtaking Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. As Albon put it, “It proves we have a consistent car, it has been one of the biggest focus points for us last year and this year. That is proving to be working and even at the same time, even when Saturdays are miserable we end up back in the points, I don’t even know how! I’ll keep it going, I’m enjoying it and I’ll try and battle Kimi until Abu Dhabi.”
But while Albon was all smiles, Carlos Sainz’s Monza experience was anything but joyful. Sainz’s afternoon unraveled after an early clash with Ollie Bearman’s Haas and a battery issue that stymied his progress. He ultimately finished 11th, outside the points yet again—a streak that stretches back to the Canadian Grand Prix in June. “We were the last of the medium starters I think and it was always going to be difficult to make a comeback on the same strategy as everyone in front of me but we actually extended the medium quite a long way and we were doing a good comeback on the hard,” Sainz explained. “Quicker than Bearman in front, quicker than Bortoleto, we were going to start passing at that stage but when I went for a move with Ollie, unfortunately we touched. That pretty much ruined my race, I got damage and yeah, not the easiest race. We also ran into some battery issues so a difficult day in the office.”
Sainz’s season has been riddled with misfortune—penalties, mechanical gremlins, and now a string of races without points. The Spaniard didn’t hide his frustration: “Keep pushing, like my Qualifying pace is there, my race pace is there so at some point it will finish. But, not going to lie, it is starting to get frustrating and rather depressing.”
Elsewhere on the grid, Yuki Tsunoda’s weekend encapsulated the agony and the hope that often defines the midfield fight. Tsunoda started from 10th after a strong qualifying session but finished 13th, his race compromised by contact with both Liam Lawson and Lewis Hamilton. The Japanese driver was candid about his disappointment: “I got distracted by Lawson, who made contact with me and that was quite big. I picked up damage and that was big enough to slow me down quite a lot, so very frustrating and very unnecessary for me.” Regarding the incident with Hamilton, Tsunoda added, “Yeah, that was clear he squeezed. Probably even he didn’t even make a corner at Turn 1, right? So I’m happy with what I did. I’m happy that I was able to avoid the collision. That was a good point actually! I’ll raise myself. He didn’t even make the corner so he dived right into me so I’ll actually raise the point.”
Despite the setbacks, Tsunoda’s qualifying performance drew praise from Ferrari’s sporting director Laurent Mekies, who pointed out, “He was two tenths from Max in Q1. Max was not exactly slow this weekend and with a small deficit from the car, he was two tenths from Max in Q2. There is no doubt everybody is pushing 100% in Q2, and yes, the gap was bigger in Q3, but first he put the car in Q3, which is a very good performance, and second, he was first on the road in Q3. It didn’t help as well, so I think short run pace was a very good sample for Yuki, long run pace, it’s frustrating not to have a clean race day.”
Mekies acknowledged Tsunoda’s struggles with race pace and the challenge of extracting clean data from chaotic midfield battles: “Today’s race for Yuki is difficult to read, because of the traffic in the first stint, damage in the second stint. But I look at yesterday’s qualifying, I still qualify it as a good weekend. Clean samples, because today was a poor sample. You know how it is, the races at the front are very clean, you get at least a good stint to read your performance. Here, it’s very difficult to get anything out of today.”
Tsunoda, who has scored just 9 points in 14 outings this season (including two Sprints), faces mounting speculation about his future in Formula 1. Still, he’s determined to focus on the positives: “It’s not easy, but at the same time, you just have to do it. It’s a tough situation. I think my qualifying is getting better and better. There’s some positives.”
While the race weekend has wrapped, Monza’s racing action isn’t over yet. Pirelli, Formula One’s official tyre supplier, had scheduled crucial tyre testing sessions with Red Bull Racing, Aston Martin, and Racing Bulls in the days following the Grand Prix. Inclement weather on September 9 forced Pirelli to shuffle its schedule, with all three teams taking part in the test on the same day to further develop compounds for the 2026 regulations. The test is a key step as teams and suppliers gear up for the major rule changes on the horizon.
Back at the sharp end, Max Verstappen’s victory at Monza—his third win of the 2025 season and third in four years at the historic circuit—underscored Red Bull’s resilience and strategic acumen. After trailing McLaren in practice, a bold setup change before qualifying propelled Verstappen to pole by a razor-thin 0.077s margin over Lando Norris. The Dutchman’s dominant pace in the race left rivals chasing shadows and cemented his status as a Monza specialist.
As the F1 circus packs up and looks ahead to the next round, the Italian Grand Prix has once again delivered a rich tapestry of storylines: a breakthrough for Albon and Williams, heartbreak for Sainz, fresh questions about Tsunoda’s future, and a continued show of strength from Verstappen and Red Bull. With tyre testing underway and the 2026 regulations looming, the Monza paddock remains a hive of anticipation and intrigue.
