Red Bull's Max Verstappen dashed Ferrari's home hopes and won the Italian Grand Prix behind the safety car to move potentially a race away from his second Formula One world championship.
Max Verstappen Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Dutch 24-year-old's victory at the "Temple of Speed", in a race that ended disappointingly and to jeers from the crowd, was Verstappen's fifth in a row and 11th from 16 races this season.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Verstappen's closest rival and now 116 points adrift with six races remaining, took second after starting on pole position.
George Russell finished third for Mercedes.
If Verstappen scores 22 points more than Leclerc in the next race under floodlights in Singapore on Oct. 2, the title battle will be over. Otherwise, it goes on to Japan a week later.
"You deserve that victory. It's a shame it didn't get going at the end there but you were the fastest car all weekend," Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Verstappen over the radio after the chequered flag.
"Great job guys, we had a great race car," he replied.
The win was the 31st of Verstappen's career, lifting him level with Britain's 1992 champion Nigel Mansell in the all-time lists.
Verstappen started seventh on the grid but was third by the end of the opening lap and 19.5 seconds clear of Leclerc with 20 laps remaining, after the Monegasque had pitted for a second time to switch from medium tyres to softs.
The safety car, deployed six laps from the end when last year's winner Daniel Ricciardo stopped his McLaren on track with an engine failure, raised the home fans' hopes but time ran out.
The race, at a super-fast circuit celebrating its 100th anniversary, finished with the safety car peeling off into the pits at the finish and no opportunity for the order to change in the short run to the flag.
"The end was frustrating, I wish we could have had a bit of a race," said Leclerc.
"It's a shame, but I gave it all today. I wish I could have won in front of the amazing Tifosi (fans) but I just couldn't today."
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was fourth, after starting 18th and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton went from the back row of the grid to fifth for Mercedes.
Red Bull's Sergio Perez was sixth, and took a bonus point for fastest lap, ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris and AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.
Dutch debutant Nyck de Vries took ninth place for Williams, a stellar achievement that earned him the Driver of the Day accolade, and China's Guanyu Zhou was 10th for Alfa Romeo in their home race.
"My shoulders are dead," said De Vries, who was standing in for regular driver Alex Albon after the Thai suffered an appendicitis on Saturday morning.
A minute's silence was observed before the start for Queen Elizabeth, Britain's longest reigning monarch who died aged 96 on Friday.
Team by team analysis of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, round 16 of the 22-race Formula One world championship (listed in championship order):
RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 6)
Verstappen's fifth win in a row, 11th of the season and 31st of his career came from seventh on the grid after engine penalties. He was third after lap one and took the lead when Leclerc pitted on lap 12. Verstappen pitted on lap 25 and was back ahead when Leclerc came in again 20 laps from the end. Perez set fastest lap after recovering from an overheated front-right brake disc early on. He might have passed Hamilton had the safety car not been deployed. Verstappen now leads Leclerc by 116 points and could clinch his second title in Singapore.
FERRARI (Charles Leclerc 2, Carlos Sainz 4)
Leclerc started on pole position for the eighth time this season but was on a two-stop strategy compared to Verstappen's one. The pitstops were smooth and there were no driver errors but in the end the Red Bull was just the quicker package. Sainz started 18th after grid penalties.
MERCEDES (George Russell 3, Lewis Hamilton 5)
Russell started on the front row on soft tyres, switched to hards and back to softs and chalked up his seventh podium in 16 races. He was the only podium finisher to use hard tyres. Hamilton got bogged down in traffic initially but made his way through the field after engine penalties left him starting on the back row.
ALPINE (Esteban Ocon 11, Fernando Alonso retired)
Alonso retired on lap 31 with a suspected water pressure issue while in a scoring position. The blank allowed McLaren to cut the gap to 18 points.
MCLAREN (Lando Norris 7, Daniel Ricciardo retired)
Norris made a slow start from third, with Ricciardo slotting in there from fourth. The Australian brought out the safety car at the end when he lost power out of turn six and parked up with the car stuck in gear.
ALFA ROMEO (Guanyu Zhou 10, Valtteri Bottas 13)
Zhou returned to the top 10 for the first time since Canada in June. Bottas suffered damage in a first corner shunt with Magnussen and fought back from last.
HAAS (Mick Schumacher 12, Kevin Magnussen 16)
Magnussen, starting 16th, was handed a five second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Schumacher started 17th on medium tyres, did a long stint and switched to softs 20 laps from the end.
ALPHATAURI (Pierre Gasly 8, Yuki Tsunoda 14)
Gasly scored for the fifth time this year but was stuck behind Ricciardo's McLaren for most of the race. Tsunoda started last on the grid after penalties. AlphaTauri narrowed the gap to Haas to one point.
ASTON MARTIN (Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel retired)
Stroll was retired to look after the engine with 14 laps to go. Vettel pulled over on lap 11 after losing power with an energy recovery issue, triggering a virtual safety car.
WILLIAMS (Nyck de Vries 9, Nicholas Latifi 15)
De Vries scored on his debut after replacing the unwell Alex Albon, struck down with appendicitis. He started eighth, thanks to penalties for others. Latifi started 10th, but lost out on the first lap when he was sandwiched by other cars, and also had a slow pitstop.
-Reuters
