One of the great racing environments in F1. While not always the greatest wheel to wheel racing, Monza often provides some memorable moments. Unfortunately the fans did not get the finish we all hoped for as F1 still manages to fail at safety cars. There should have been enough time to clear the track, but mistakes were made and nobody made any quick decisions necessary to ensure a green flag finish.

Red Bull were the favorites coming into the race considering their huge straight line speed advantage. Opting for a higher downforce package and being setup for the race paid off as Verstappen made quick work of anyone he had in front. The car was incredibly stable, and easy on the tires, but still had the speed to drive around the competition. Perez probably could have had a much better race if it wasn't for his early pit stop and overheating brake. In any case, it doesn't appear he has the pace anywhere close to Verstappen. Red Bull admit that he has a different floor to Max, but claim it's not worth much. At this point in the season, why not give him the better equipment since Max has all but clinched the championship and Perez is fighting hard for 2nd. A bit strange.

Ferrari shocked the crowed with a pole position and some impressive outright pace, but they didn't have enough in race pace. The aggressive pit strategy under VSC gained Leclerc about 10 seconds, and can't really be faulted. The big surprise was that Charles didn't have great pace on brand new soft tires with lower fuel. Coming out of the pits some 20 seconds behind, he barely got that down under 17 seconds. Where was the speed? Carlos Sainz chewed through the field and had very impressive pace. He was a monster under braking. Unfortunately once clear of traffic his tires were shot, but the team opted to stay out until it was more beneficial to jump to the soft tires. Realistically speaking, 4th was probably the best he could do.

Mercedes weren't as bad as some may have expected. George Russell another podium but that was almost a guarantee with all the penalties everyone took. Hamilton actually had the more impressive drive, having faster times in Quali and bringing his car up from 19th to 5th.

McLaren had the pace ahead of Alpine which was a big surprise. Lando was right about having too many mistakes. The slow pitstop was very costly, and the decision to pit at the end was only wrong because they didn't go back green. Possible double points went down to the drain with Ricciardo's DNF. I suppose it was one of his better races recently, even though he was the leader of a DRS train and many other cars were faster than him.

AlphaTauri had one of their better performances with Pierre Gasly. He had more pace than he could show, but was stuck behind Ricciardo for most of the race. A shame he couldn't make a pass or the team couldn't figure a way around him. Still good points. Not sure why Tsunoda was so far off his teammate, as this season he has been as good and often better than Gasly.

Williams typically performs better in low drag circuits, but I doubt they predicted points. What a drive by Nick de Vries scoring points in his debut race. Only getting the call to drive ahead of qualifying. Truly impressive. Another kick in the niblets to Latifi, getting out qualified and out raced by a guy that didn't even get practice laps.

Alfa Romeo coming out of nowhere to get a point. Where did Zhou come from? Good job to him, but come on Bottas, I thought he was supposed to be good. We saw it when he was at Mercedes, when he gets behind in field, he just can't find any pace and makes lots of mistakes.

Alpine have to scratching their heads. Typically very fast in the low downforce, high speed circuits, but not today. Alonso feeling the car was lacking power all race, eventually DNF'ing due to a cooling issue. He likely would have finished in the points, thanks mostly to his grid position. Ocon had some fresh PU parts, but still couldn't make a charge at the points. Tough day.

Haas might be officially a bottom feeder? Schumacher having the ugliest pass of the day on Latifi, which made for an entertaining few corners. Magnussen had another struggling day. He has not been as sharp since the summer break. Will they score any more points this season?

Aston Martin brought a very cool looking super slim rear wing for Monza and it didn't seem to make a difference. Still slow on the straights, and slow in the corners as expected. Shame that both drivers DNF'd from the race, but neither driver looked competitive at all and were probably happy to call it a day early.

Driver of the Day: Nick de Vries. What he was able to do with such short notice and no practice and somehow score points in a Williams is nothing short of brilliant. Honorable mention, Carlos Sainz. He was an animal charging hard through the field. He got himself into the best possible position as quickly as he could.