Max Verstappen’s pursuit of F1 history is the storyline at the Italian Grand Prix

The Red Bull driver can make F1 history this week, but there are other storylines to follow as the grid heads to Monza

Just one more win.

With just one more win, Max Verstappen will not only add another line to his already-impressive racing resume, but the Red Bull driver will etch his name in the hallowed halls of Formula 1 history. With a victory in next Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza — the Temple of Speed — Verstappen will secure his tenth-straight win, setting a new mark in F1 history.

Verstappen tied Sebastian Vettel’s mark of nine-straight victories, set back in 2013, with his win at the Dutch Grand Prix.

His pursuit of history is the storyline this weekend.

But it is not the only one.

Is Monza where Alex Albon secures his podium for Williams?

It is time for a bold prediction.

Alex Albon scores a podium finish at Monza.

Perhaps, given what we have seen from Albon and the FW45 in recent weeks, this is not exactly a bold prediction. Albon has finished in the points in three of the last six races, and is coming off a Dutch Grand Prix where he qualified fourth and finished eighth, while running a masterful 45-lap stint on soft tyres in varied conditions at the start of the race.

Then there is Monza itself, which might be an ideal circuit for the FW45. That car has been lightning-fast on straights in recent races — dating back to the Canadian Grand Prix where Albon finished a season-best seventh — and at Monza, you are going to see a lot of straights.

Consider this telemetry data from F1-Tempo analyzing the Belgian Grand Prix, where Albon finished outside the points. When you compare his fastest lap to the fastest lap posted by Charles Leclerc — who finished on the podium — you see just how fast Albon was on the long Kemmel Straight:

Again, Leclerc finished on the podium, but you can see how fast Albon was on the long straight, reaching a top speed of 328 km/h on that stretch, faster than Leclerc’s top speed of 316 km/h.

To drive the point home, here is Albon’s fastest lap from Sunday at the Dutch Grand Prix compared to Verstappen’s fastest lap:

Again, you see the strength of Albon and the FW45 on the main straight at Zandvoort, where he reached a top speed of 322 km/h, faster than Verstappen’s 304 km/h. While Verstappen was faster on various points throughout the track, and posted a faster lap time overall, Albon’s strength in the straights bodes very well for Monza.

Can Ferrari, well, “unbreak” themselves?

I thought about a different subheadline but, well, this is a family website.

I’ve mentioned before the various texts and social media DMs that pour in during qualifying and races from forlorn Ferrari fans. This past weekend was no exception. With Leclerc crashing out of Q3 on Saturday, and retiring early on Sunday after a cavalcade of errors, it was another difficult week for the Scuderia fan in your life.

“Why do I watch this?” was one message received following Leclerc’s Q3 crash.

“I ******* hate Ferrari. I ******* hate them.” was a message received on Sunday.

This past weekend was in many ways vintage Ferrari. First you have Carlos Sainz Jr. bemoaning the lack of consistency from the SF-23 during Thursday’s press conferences. Then Leclerc crashes out of Q3, forcing him to start the Grand Prix in P9. Then during the early rain in the race itself, Leclerc comes into the pits, and has to wait for the crew to carry the intermediates over from the garage.

That led to an incredible moment in the F1TV commentary box when the announcers wondered just what, exactly, the team members were thinking Leclerc was boxing for. A fresh set of slicks in the middle of a downpour?

Then Leclerc sustains some damage on Lap 12, losing the right endplate on his front wing. That required another pit stop, a new front wing, and by then the damage was truly done.

He would retire after “41 laps of pain” according to F1TV.

So the question facing them this week is, as it is many other weeks:

Can they “unbreak” themselves, this time in front of their home crowd?

Game on for second in the Constructors’ Championship?

A combination of recent success from Mercedes, and some struggles from Aston Martin, had seen the Silver Arrows pull 51 points clear of Aston Martin in the battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship.

But with Fernando Alonso’s second-place finish at Zandvoort — coupled with a sixth-place finish from Lewis Hamilton and a P17 from George Russell after starting third — Aston Martin clawed a few points back in that fight.

Beyond the results, however, was how well Alonso looked in the AMR23 this week. While the team started strong — and Alonso scored podiums in five of the first six races of the season — Aston Martin slid back to Earth in recent weeks. That opened the door for Mercedes’ rise to second.

But now, perhaps the Silver Arrows have opened that door again.

What will we see from Liam Lawson this week?

Liam Lawson was thrust into an almost-untenable position this weekend.

He found out after FP2 that he would be taking Daniel Ricciardo’s place in the Grand Prix after the AlphaTauri driver suffered a broken bone in his left hand during that second practice session. That gave Lawson just one practice session before qualifying, and that came in rather wet conditions.

As one might expect given just an hour of practice in tricky conditions, Lawson qualified P20. He started the Grand Prix in P19 after Kevin Magnussen was forced to start on pit lane after taking some new components, and he scraped together a 13th-place finish which, all things considered, is a reasonable debut.

Now he gets to go to Monza and enjoy not only the benefit of a full slate of practice sessions, but he gets to race on a track where he has some experience. Lawson scored points in a few different races at the Temple of Speed over his career.

Lawson scored a P2 at Monza in the Euroformula Open during the 2019, and a pair of points finishes in F3 at Monza during the 2020 season, one in the Sprint Race and the other in the Feature Race.

During the 2021 F2 season, Lawson finished in the points in two different Sprint Races at Monza, as well as finishing in the points at Monza in the 2022 F2 Sprint Race.

Could he secure his first points in F1 this weekend?

The main storyline, however, is Verstappen

While there are other storylines, such as the ones we have noted, the major storyline is Verstappen, and his pursuit of history.

The Red Bull driver brushed aside questions about the record following his win at Zandvoort declaring that he would think about that later in the week. “I’ll think about it next week. I’m first going to enjoy this weekend,” said Verstappen. “You know it’s always tough. The pressure is on to perform and very happy of course to win here.”

Well, that week is here, and the pressure may mount on Verstappen set the record on Sunday. It also comes at a track where other teams would love nothing more than to deny Verstappen his taste of history.

But we have seen Verstappen overcome challenges before, and this past Sunday is just the latest example. The RB19 was still the dominant car in the field, but it looked at various times this weekend that the gap might be closing to Red Bull. Verstappen also had to overcome a few different weather situations throughout the week, and during the Grand Prix itself.

He overcame all those challenges, and there is no reason to doubt that he will overcome the next hurdles he faces, including perhaps the “Monza Curse.” Recent winners at Monza have seen misfortune come their way the following season. In 2020 Charles Leclerc, who had won the year before, crashed after an early-race restart and did not finish.

Then in 2021 Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton crashed in spectacular fashion, a year after Hamilton won at Monza. That saw Verstappen’s Red Bull land on top of Hamilton’s Mercedes, and Hamilton credited the halo system for “saving” his neck. Verstappen was given a three-place grid penalty for the following race, but once again, the previous year’s winner did not finish.

The winner in 2021? Daniel Ricciardo, who only completed 45 of the 53 laps in the 2022 race at Monza, with his McLaren suffering an oil leak that forced his retirement. Three-straight winners who retired early the following year.

Who won at Monza last year?

Verstappen.

Will the Red Bull driver overcome the Monza Curse as well? If it does, it will make history.