Max Verstappen earned himself ‘international applause’ in the F1 media centre for one move at Monza

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Max Verstappen made it two wins out of two Grands Prix in Italy during 2025 after a dominant performance at the Italian Grand Prix saw him finish nearly 20 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Lando Norris.

After a back-and-forth with Norris in the opening laps of the race, the four-time world champion was uncatchable in the RB21 on the Monza tarmac to take his third win in a largely disappointing campaign for Red Bull.

Verstappen ‘gambled’ on his Italian GP set-up, which was a key factor in him regaining the lead from his McLaren rival and holding on to it for the rest of the Grand Prix.

Martin Brundle noted Verstappen’s celebrations in parc ferme after the race, highlighting how much the victory meant to him due to the lack of victories that the 27-year-old has tasted during the current campaign.

The feat at Monza was his 66th Grand Prix victory, but only his third of 2025. A massive change to the seven Grand Prix wins he had at the same point in the season last year.

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The F1 media centre was in awe of Max Verstappen for his move on Lando Norris at the Italian Grand Prix

The performance from the reigning world champion was mightily impressive. After being told to concede the lead to Norris following an opening lap incident, Verstappen was forced to go on the attack in the ensuing laps.

On lap four, with his rear wing wide open thanks to a dose of DRS, Verstappen got the better of the McLaren driver around the outside of turn one and never looked back.

Speaking in a paddock update for Motorsport.com NL, journalist Ronald Vording revealed the applause in the media centre for Verstappen’s move to regain the lead.

“Well, that definitely didn’t happen, because Max took him back on the outside in the first chicane,” Vording started, referring to Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies’ comments about Verstappen losing the race after the first lap incident with Norris.

“And that’s worth mentioning, because that move actually earned international applause from reporters from all countries behind me in the media centre.

“You don’t see that every race, but Max got all the journalists to applaud him for that move. Well, after that, there was no match for his race pace. Dominant, which Max himself had absolutely not expected.”

Norris enjoyed the early battle with Verstappen at the legendary circuit, congratulating his rival’s feat despite his own woes at McLaren during the race.

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Sauber also gave Max Verstappen a standing ovation for his ‘masterclass’ at Monza

It wasn’t just the journalists in the F1 paddock that were in awe of the four-time world champion’s performance in Italy; teams on the grid were also wowed by Verstappen’s ability to dispatch the dominant McLarens behind him and completely check out ahead of the pack.

Speaking as part of a post-race update from RacingNews365 NL, journalist Aaron Deckers revealed that Sauber also gave Verstappen a standing ovation for his ‘masterclass’ of a performance.

“He basically dominated the entire race,” Deckers told his co-host. “It really was an incredible race by Max Verstappen. That was also the mood here in the paddock.

“We happened to be sitting with Sauber, for example, at the end of the race, and you won’t believe it, but there too was an ovation for Max Verstappen.

“Simply because everyone felt something like, yeah, what a masterclass, what this was. You can’t describe it any other way or call it anything else. There were a lot of people who were full of praise for Max Verstappen.”

It was a record-breaking weekend for the Dutchman. On Saturday, Verstappen smashed the lap record at Monza before going on to break the record for the quickest Grand Prix ever on Sunday.

The race duration of one hour and 13 minutes made it the fastest Grand Prix in F1 history.