Verstappen completes Italian double in record time

MONZA, Italy : Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the fastest Formula One race in history on Sunday to complete an Italian double while McLaren's Oscar Piastri had his overall lead trimmed to 31 points after obeying team orders.

Australian Piastri finished third after handing back second place to teammate Lando Norris after the Briton suffered a slow pitstop due to an apparent wheelgun problem.

Norris had pitted after Piastri for strategic reasons, despite being ahead on track, and had been assured by his race engineer that he would come out ahead.

Verstappen meanwhile cruised untroubled to the chequered flag to win the Italian Grand Prix by 19.2 seconds and take his first win since Imola, another race in Ferrari's backyard, last May to end a nine race drought.

The 53-lap race was officially timed at one hour 13 minutes and 24.325 seconds, and an average speed of 250.706kph around Monza's 'Temple of Speed'.

"The whole weekend, we were on it. It's super enjoyable to win here," said Verstappen of his third success of the season and career 66th that also ended McLaren's run of five wins in a row.

"I could see the pace was good, I just needed to settle in," the reigning world champion added after ceding the lead to Norris at a chaotic start and then taking it back without too much effort.

"I could see the pace was there and quite quickly we were back in the lead. This was an unbelievable weekend."

SLOW STOP

The title battle between Piastri and Norris, effectively a two-horse race, was always the centre of attention and controversy erupted after the team reversed positions.

Piastri initially suggested slow pitstops were just a part of racing but ultimately obliged.

Verstappen fuelled the flames over the car radio when told about the swap by