Max Verstappen won the Italian GP. As we know, it wasn’t as straightforward a win as we’re used to this year, where Max Verstappen takes the pole, leads into turn 1, and then runs away with the race finishing a country mile ahead. But it wasn’t all about overtaking Sainz. The Dutchman did face some problems towards the end, as well. What was the last lap chaos all about? Did the record-breaker get lucky to win the race?

Verstappen had to contend with Carlos Sainz for the majority of the first stint. The Dutchman was behind the Spaniard and wasn’t able to overtake him. It was only when Sainz’s tires fell off that Verstappen overtook him. However, towards the end of the race, Max Verstappen started reporting some issues to his team. Over the radio, it could only be heard that there was some issue with the front tires.

Max Verstappen complained about not being able to feel the front tires. According to the radio call heard during the race, Max Verstappen said, “My front tires are falling asleep.” Now there might be many reasons for it but the one that seems obvious is just the tires falling off since they were about 30 laps old tires. Regardless, his engineer asked him to slow down the car as there was an 11-second gap behind him and to nurse the car back home.

During the post-race interview, when Max Verstappen was asked about the issue, he said, “I haven’t spoken to the team yet about that issue. Or what the issue was really. So yeah, they just told me what I had to do and I did that to the end. Luckily, of course, we had the gap behind, so I could just take it quite easy to the end.”

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Whatever it may be, Max Verstappen brought the car home and broke the record for most consecutive F1 wins. However, the question now arises; Did he get lucky?

Was Max Verstappen lucky to finish the race at the Italian GP?

Before the race even started, Yuki Tsunoda had a problem with his gearbox. Christian Horner revealed how they got worried as AlphaTauri used the same engine and gearbox as Red Bull. It very well could’ve been the case that Max Verstappen was nursing a gearbox problem as the details about the problem aren’t revealed. However, the front falling asleep may also point to an issue with the front suspension or even a slow puncture. 

With the speeds at which an F1 car moves and with the load put through all the components, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the issue turned into a bigger one or even a failure. Max Verstappen surely nurtured that car home, but it could’ve gone very badly for the Dutchman as well. So yes, Max Verstappen did get lucky in some sense but also managed the problem. 

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What do you think? Did Max Verstappen get lucky?