Max Verstappen emphatically ended his four-month victory drought by winning the Italian Grand Prix at a canter as Lando Norris eventually trimmed Oscar Piastri's world title lead after a late swap between the McLaren drivers.
Winning for the first time since May's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on F1's last visit to Italy for just his third victory of 2025, Verstappen prevailed after coming out on top in a thrilling duel with Norris over the race's first four laps.
The start saw the polesitter cut the first chicane as the two went wheel to wheel off the line, with Verstappen ceding the lead to Norris at the end of the opening lap on the advice of his Red Bull team.
- F1 2025 Schedule | Latest F1 video and highlights
- Italian Grand Prix result | F1 championship standings
- Download the Sky Sports app for expert analysis, best video & more?
- Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW?
But after repassing his British rival at the start of lap four, Verstappen checked out at the front to surprising effect ahead of McLaren cars that had won all but three of the season's races up to Sunday.
Norris still looked firmly on course for second to claw three points back on Piastri thereafter, a week after his costly retirement when running second in Zandvoort, but briefly dropped to third behind the Australian after a slow pit stop with seven laps to go.
But, after McLaren, on the advice of Norris, had given third-placed Piastri - who had enjoyed a swift trouble-free stop the lap before - the earlier service in order for him to ward off any threat from Charles Leclerc behind him, they asked the Australian to give second back to his team-mate on the grounds of fairness.
Piastri questioned their reasoning over the team radio but still duly complied to restore the pre-stops order, meaning he took third and Norris second.
It means Piastri's points advantage over Norris is trimmed by three points to 31 points with eight grands prix and three sprints still to go this season.
Piastri had earlier had to fight his way back to third after twice losing his starting position during an early ding-dong battle with Leclerc.
But the Ferrari challenge quickly faded on home ground thereafter with Leclerc going on to finish a distant fourth ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, as they qualified.
Lewis Hamilton made early ground from his penalised 10th place on the grid in the other Ferrari but, once behind Russell, he could not make further headway and so finished sixth.
Alex Albon capped a fine recovery from a disappointing qualifying to finish seventh for Williams ahead of Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, who was promoted to eighth in the final classification ahead of Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who gained a five-second penalty for his driving erratically when in earlier battle with Albon.
With Antonelli dropping to ninth, Isack Hadjar impressively raced from the pit lane after a Q1 exit and power-unit change to the final point in 10th a week on from his maiden podium in Zandvoort.
'A bit like Hungary last year' - what happened in Norris-Piastri swap team order drama?
After the wheel-to-wheel drama of the early laps in the top four, the race settled down into a steady pattern at the front, with neither title-chasing McLaren driver having the speed to stay with the flying Verstappen.
And so with few strategic cards to play in a 53-lap race that, as expected, required just one pit stop, the world championship leaders pondered their final throw of the dice - the tyre compound their drivers took when they did pit.
Norris was heard being asked twice by his race engineer, Will Joseph, what he thought about using the faster, but more fragile, soft tyres for his final stint.
Norris replied that it made sense if Verstappen went another way.
Verstappen duly did when Red Bull pitted the race leader first on lap 38, with 15 laps to go, with the more durable hard tyres fitted to the Dutchman's car.
Trying to leave their response as late as possible in case of a fortuitously-timed Safety Car, it was a further eight laps before McLaren initiated their own stops.
It is convention in F1 that a team's leading car is serviced first, but Norris suggested over team radio they actually pitted Piastri ahead of him "only if he doesn't undercut".
Joseph confirmed: "There will be no undercut."
A swift McLaren service saw Piastri in the McLaren pit box for just 1.9s, the Australian duly rejoining on the soft tyres.
Norris came in a lap later but a problem with the left-front wheel gun at his service meant he was stationary for significantly longer, 5.9s, and as the Briton trundled down the pit lane, Piastri was steaming down the main straight and moved ahead to take second.
McLaren, whose drivers are in an exclusive duel for this year's world title, suddenly faced a potentially controversial quandary.
It did not take long for their decision on what to do.
On lap 48, Piastri's engineer, Tom Stallard, told his driver over team radio: "This is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando past, then you're free to race."
Piastri replied: "I mean, we said a slow pit stop was part of racing. I don't really get what has changed still but if you want me to do it, I'll do it."
Stallard was referencing the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix when McLaren undercut the second-placed Norris in front of leader Piastri to cover off a car behind. Once in the lead, Norris argued over team radio for several laps that he should not give the place back, before eventually doing so for Piastri to claim his first GP win.
Once back behind Norris, Piastri briefly stayed in the Briton's DRS but could find no way back past, eventually finishing two seconds behind the sister car.
Up front, and back in the lead, an amused Verstappen gave his own cutting take on the swap on Red Bull team radio: "Ha! Just because he had a slow stop?"
Verstappen was told by his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, to stay focused on his own race and the reigning world champion ticked off the remaining laps to win by 19 seconds, capping off a thoroughly-impressive drive and Monza weekend.
After ending a rare eight-race victory drought in the first Red Bull triumph in a Grand Prix of the post-Christian Horner era, a particularly delighted Verstappen said: "I could see the pace was good, I just needed to settle in. I could see the pace was there and quite quickly we were back in the lead.
"This was an unbelievable weekend."
What did McLaren's drivers and team boss say about late switch?
Oscar Piastri: "It's something we'll discuss for sure. When you're in the same team it's the same pit crew, same mechanics, there's a lot at stake not just for us but the whole team. I think today the decision to swap back was fair.
"Lando was ahead of me the whole race so I don't have any issues with that. But we'll definitely discuss it."
Lando Norris: "Is that not the correct way to do it? Why should things get defined like that? We were still free to race after. In fact, he gained on the whole situation, he had DRS, he gained on me, I still lost out the whole way through it. The same thing would have happened if it was vice-versa.
"I earned my right to be ahead, to have that fairness. None of us wanted it to happen like this...I don't choose for these things, but we have to do what we think is correct as a team. Do things the fair way."
Andrea Stella, team principal: "We felt the right thing to do was to go back to the original position and let them race.
"I want to thank Oscar because he didn't make it difficult at all. Once again, Oscar and Lando showed the principles and values we have going racing."
Formula 1 heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 19-21, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime
(c) Sky Sports 2025: Italian GP: Max Verstappen ends F1 win drought as Lando Norris trims Oscar Piastri's title lead amid late Monza controversy
