The fastest lap in Formula 1 history and then the fastest win were part of a sensational weekend for Max Verstappen as Red Bull returned to top form at Monza; watch the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from 19-21 September.
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'made everyone look stupid' at Monza, says Toto Wolff after Red Bull's impressive return to form />
Red Bull's Max Verstappen talks about his Italian Grand Prix victory in Monza.
Max Verstappen's stunning return to winning ways at the Italian Grand Prix not only saw the Red Bull driver break a number of notable Formula 1 speed records, but also marked one of the most unexpected triumphs of the 2025 season.
The reigning world champion and Red Bull have contested eight grands prix and have not stood on the top step of the podium for almost four months. Mercedes' George Russell, at the Canadian Grand Prix in June, was the only driver since Formula One's previous visit to Italy for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May to fail to get past dominant title leaders McLaren on Sunday.
However, this winless streak ended quite spectacularly and unexpectedly in Monza.
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First, Verstappen made a superb run past McLaren title challengers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to take pole position in a thrilling end to qualifying on Saturday, setting the fastest average lap time in Formula 1 history (164.466mph).
Then, having eventually passed Norris in a thrilling start to the 53-lap race, the Dutchman stormed to the lead and won by 19 seconds.
What's impressive is that this was the biggest gap in the races of the season.
The gap prompted Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, whose team finished 32 seconds behind the fifth-placed race winner, to admit: “You can clearly see that there is only one guy who makes everyone look a bit stupid.”
Verstappen's record Monza
Fastest lap by average speed – 164.466 mph
Fastest average speed race – 155.791 mph
The best time in the race is 1h13m24.325s
Most pole positions for Red Bull – 45
Verstappen helps Red Bull to victory at Monza
Monza is not traditionally one of Red Bull's strongest tracks.
While Verstappen has recently won twice at the Temple of Speed in 2022 and 2023, those victories came during his two most dominant, title-winning seasons.
Red Bull's only successes at the Italian Grand Prix in their previous 17 years of participation in the sport came in 2011 and 2013 with Sebastian Vettel.
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Think back to the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, where the race ended in a dramatic crash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen after they collided at the chicane.
Moreover, the 2024 race easily proved that Red Bull performed worse last season.
Verstappen qualified seventh, 0.7 seconds behind pole position Norris, and finished sixth, more than half a minute behind Ferrari race winner Charles Leclerc.
After this, the Dutchman called his car a “monster”.
So expectations, at least externally, were not particularly high for Red Bull's return to Formula 1's fastest track, especially with McLaren looking increasingly unbeatable and home favourites Ferrari often saving something special for the Monza straights.
But after their weekend started promisingly compared to their rivals in practice, with Verstappen noticeably upbeat about how his RB21 was performing from the start, the four-time world champion was able to step up the pace when it mattered most.
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The highlights of Saturday's qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 on the grid ahead of Sunday's race after his driver had taken pole position, team principal Laurent Mekies credited Verstappen for his influence on the car's set-up.
“He really did a miracle [in qualifying] and we recognise that,” Mekies said.
“He's not only in the car, but outside the car, he's really pushed us to take a pretty unusual approach to the set-up, and it's worked. So he's done a really, really good job both in the car and outside the car.”
The comments were directed at Verstappen by Sky Sports just hours after his convincing victory.
Asked what contribution he made, Verstappen replied: “Just experimenting and trying to find solutions at the same time.”
Of course, we've been a bit hesitant this season, but I think we've finally found a direction that suits the car now. Hopefully, from now on, things will be a bit more consistent – and they will be.
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The highlights of the Italian Grand Prix from Monza.
Speaking about the improved balance of the RB21, Verstappen told the press conference: “The car behaved a little bit better than I wanted. It seemed like another step forward in the car's handling this weekend and I think that was also reflected in the race.”
So that was a big plus for us. Then, of course, we went a little bit more normal, you know, medium-hard. Of course, McLaren stayed on track to try to get the safety car, and I think that's why the gap is a little bit bigger than it should have been.
“But it was still an incredible weekend for us.”
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Take a 360-degree ride on Lando Norris's camera as he battles with Max Verstappen on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix.
The Mekies effect?
Sunday's victory was Red Bull's 125th in history, but the first without Christian Horner at the helm.
Mekies, who replaced Horner as team principal and CEO, was in charge of his fourth race weekend as helmer.
With the exception of Verstappen's short sprint win in Belgium on his debut weekend as coach in July, Red Bull had not looked much of a threat to McLaren's supremacy, although a podium finish a week earlier at Zandvoort at least indicated progress since the summer break following a particularly tough weekend a month earlier in Hungary.
In his grid interview with Sky, Mekies was quick to downplay his own contribution to the team's success at Monza – “Absolutely not, there is no individual work, it is a fantastic team effort” – but Verstappen later reserved praise for the 48-year-old Frenchman, a former Formula One race engineer.
Pictured: Mekies celebrates Red Bull's win in the pit lane after a glass of champagne
Speaking about his long-term efforts to achieve more consistency in the car's performance, Verstappen said: “We've had a lot of races so far where we've just got the car set up a little bit wrong.
“Quite abrupt changes that show we were not in control of the situation. We did not fully understand what to do.
“Because Laurent has an engineering background, he asks engineers the right questions – common sense questions – so I think it works very well.
“Also, you try to understand from what you've tried that at some point certain things give you some idea of direction, and that's what we kept working on.
“I definitely felt like we had already taken a step in Zandvoort that I thought worked quite well, and then we took another step here that I thought worked a little bit better.”
So Verstappen and Red Bull are 'back'?
Although Verstappen moved 10 points clear of championship leader Piastri, who finished third behind Norris, on Sunday, the reigning Formula 1 champion still has no realistic chance of winning the title with eight races remaining.
The Dutchman's gap to the Australian remains a whopping 94 points, the equivalent of almost four race wins.
Pictured: Max Verstappen celebrates his victory at the 2025 Italian Grand Prix.
But what are the chances of Verstappen and Red Bull adding at least a few more wins to their three 2025 triumphs at Suzuka, Imola and now Monza in the remaining races?
“I think it still depends a bit on the track,” Verstappen warned.
“Here you are driving with low downforce. It always seems like our car is a bit more competitive when it is low or medium downforce. So now we are not suddenly back. I don't think we can fight every weekend.”
But the positive thing is that we seem to have a bit more understanding of what we need to do with the car to be more competitive. Hopefully that will continue in the next rounds and some tracks will be a bit better than others.”
Formula 1 heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from 19-21 September. Live on Sky Sports F1. Watch Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.
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