Why Sainz was able to make F1's 2023 Italian GP as good as it was

By:

Alex Kalinauckas

Sep 4, 2023, 8:40 AM

Pole position on Ferrari's home turf set up a thrilling Italian Grand Prix for Carlos Sainz. Although he couldn't deny Max Verstappen his history-making 10th victory in succession, the Spaniard's thrilling duels with the eventual winner, Sergio Perez and his own team-mate Charles Leclerc will live long in the memory

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"Car-los! Car-los! Car-los!" Simple, but effective. The tifosi's cheers for Monza third-place finisher Carlos Sainz rather drowned out the Dutch and Austrian national anthems being played to celebrate the actual winner of Formula 1's 2023 Italian Grand Prix.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen might have achieved a unique piece of F1 history with his record-setting 10th consecutive win, but he is so remarkable it has almost become unremarkable. Sainz was this race's clear star.

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Alex Kalinauckas

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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.