Verstappen doubted Italian GP win after 'interesting' Sainz battle

Max Verstappen revealed that he was waiting for a mistake from Carlos Sainz to take the lead of the Italian Grand Prix and seal his 10th victory in a row.

Sainz held on to the lead for 14 laps, with Verstappen remarking that the straight-line pace in the SF-23 was quicker than they expected over team radio.

The Ferrari driver eventually made a mistake into Turn 1, which enabled Verstappen to get alongside on the run through Curva Grande and make an overtake for the lead into the Della Roggia chicane.

"It was quite an interesting little battle in the beginning, you know, to try and get a move into Turn 1, but we just didn't have the top speed," Verstappen explained to media, including RacingNews365.

"So I had to wait for a tiny mistake or tiny lock-up or whatever. At one point Carlos had a little lock-up, which then made me have a good run out of Turn 2.

"Once I got in the lead I could just focus on my own pace. The car felt really nice to drive."

Verstappen did not think win streak was possible

Red Bull has won all of the 14 races in the 2023 season, and stand a chance of continuing its undefeated run for the next eight races, while Verstappen will be looking to keep his win streak going having now reached 10 in a row as the flyaway season begins.

The last time a driver held such a win streak was Sebastian Vettel, who achieved nine successive wins at the end of the 2013 season.

This was before there was a heavy emphasis on reliability to save on costs, with teams now strictly limited in power unit components and gearboxes during a season.

"It's something you don't expect to happen," said Verstappen.

"I never thought at the beginning of the season that something like this was possible. So yeah, I am very proud.