Max Verstappen etched his name into Formula One history by securing his 10th consecutive victory at the Italian Grand Prix held yesterday.

Verstappen initially trailed Carlos Sainz for 14 of the race’s 51 laps at the legendary Monza circuit, also known as the Temple of Speed. However, he executed a decisive move past the Ferrari pole-sitter at the second chicane and never looked back, surpassing the previous record he shared with Sebastian Vettel. Verstappen thus became the first Formula One driver to achieve ten straight wins.

In the Red Bull camp, Sergio Perez finished second, while Carlos Sainz managed to hold off his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in a thrilling late-race battle to secure the final spot on the podium.

George Russell claimed fifth place, and Lewis Hamilton, who served a five-second penalty for a collision with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, finished sixth.

Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, praised his star driver, saying, “That is history. Unbelievable.”

Verstappen’s victory, his 12th out of 14 races this season, extended his lead in the championship by 145 points. With six rounds remaining, Verstappen, who has not been defeated since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April, has an outside chance of securing his third world championship title as early as the Japanese Grand Prix in three weeks.

Verstappen shared his thoughts on the historic win, saying, “I never would have believed that it was possible. But we had to work for it today, and that definitely made it a lot more fun. We had a good pace but they had a lot of top speed. It was so hard to get close. He [Sainz] made a mistake, locked up, and I had better traction out of Turn 2, and from there, we could do our race. I tried to stay patient. I could see he was struggling on his rear tires, so I had to pick my moment.”