Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell looked on in amazement as they watched Sir Lewis Hamilton’s impressive double pass on Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly at the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton started the race in 19th after taking a back of the grid penalty by switching to a new power unit, and his recovery was initially a little slow.
The seven-time champion eventually found his groove though, and he made his way up into the top 10, progressing as far as seventh before his opening stop of the afternoon.
He pitted earlier than Norris to get the undercut on him, but the 22-year-old re-joined just ahead after his stop.
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However, Norris had some defending to do on the exit as Gasly worked his way past on the exit of Turn Two, and both drivers had lost momentum.
This was Hamilton’s opportunity, and he seized it with aplomb, getting a superb exit out of the first chicane, before passing both drivers in one move.
The 37-year-old later climbed up ahead of the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, and finished fifth behind Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen beat Leclerc to the race win after the Monegasque pitted under a Virtual safety Car caused by Sebastian Vettel’s retirement.
The VSC ended too soon though, and the 24-year-old lost time as a result, so Verstappen had caught him not long after Red Bull had serviced him for the first time.
The Scuderia therefore pitted Leclerc again, but he was not making much progress towards the reigning champion, who was in another league on pace.
The Monegasque was given hope when Ricciardo’s retirement caused a full Safety Car, but race control did not have enough time to get the race restarted, so it finished under yellow flags, and Verstappen won.
Russell, meanwhile, started second after Verstappen had been put down to seventh as a result of a grid penalty of his own, while further penalties for Sainz and Sergio Perez saw them start outside the top 10.
Verstappen cleared Russell relatively quickly in the race, and the Briton stayed where he was for the majority of the afternoon.
The drivers headed to the cool-down room after the race and watched some of the highlights, when they saw Hamilton’s move on Norris and Gasly.
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“Oh wow,” said Russell.
“Double overtake!” laughed an impressed Verstappen.
The Dutchman’s win, meanwhile, takes him 116 points clear of Leclerc in the Drivers’ Standings, and he has one hand on his second title heading into the Singapore Grand Prix in a fortnight.