Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix from seventh on the starting grid last year with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on pole but finishing second. Red Bull have won every race so far this season, 14 in a row including the 2022 finale in Abu Dhabi, and are again favourites at Monza's fast layout. Since Lewis Hamilton's fifth Italian GP win with Mercedes in 2018 no driver has managed a repeat victory in the former royal park outside Milan. Talk of a 'Monza jinx' may be premature but this is a season where straws are being clutched more desperately. For Gasly, who lives in Milan, it is effectively a home race and one with a special place in his heart.

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Persons: Max Verstappen, Stephanie Lecocq, Max, Sergio Perez, Sebastian Vettel's, Red Bull, Verstappen, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Austrian Gerhard Berger, Michele Alboreto, Enzo Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton's, Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo, Ricciardo, Fred Vasseur, Ferrari, Carlos Sainz, Aston Martin, McLaren, McLaren's Lando Norris, Frenchman, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, Alan Baldwin, Pritha Sarkar Organizations: Prix, Dutch Grand Prix REUTERS, Monza, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Zandvoort, Imola, Aston Martin's, Thomson Locations: Zandvoort, Netherlands, Abu Dhabi, Milan, Hamilton, Italian, Asia, Americas, Middle East, Monza, Italy, London