Everyone was put in the shade by Antonelli’s superlative drive, but Verstappen was impressive in moving up from fifth on the grid to third in the Red Bull and fighting for so long with the Mercedes.
In the end, he could not hold on to the silver cars and his stop dropped him behind Piastri, Hamilton and Norris.
His fresher tyres helped him move back into third place but he could go no further.
Behind him, Norris began to move up as the race went on, and he passed Hamilton before moving on to the back of a three-car train behind Verstappen and Piastri.
Norris looked to make a move on Piastri in the closing laps but the Australian eased him over to the grass on the outside of the exit of Curve Grande as Norris went for the inside approaching the second chicane.
Norris complained he had been pushed off, and the team warned Piastri to race clean, but Norris finally did make it past on the final lap.
Gasly was never going to hold on to the lead, and the Alpine’s lack of pace after his stunning qualifying performance, aided by compromises elsewhere, soon began to tell.
But seventh is a good result as Alpine went into the race aiming mainly to ensure they finished ahead of the Racing Bulls, their rivals for fifth in the constructors’ championship.
Gasly succeeded, but Arvid Lindblad beat the second Alpine of Franco Colapinto to eighth place as the second Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.
However, Audi have launched an appeal after stewards took no action against Tsunoda, who caused an extra formation lap following the red flag when he lined up in the wrong position on the grid.
Audi, whose driver Gabriel Bortoleto finished 11th, said: “Following the Italian Grand Prix, we raised a concern regarding the application of Article B5.9.4, which requires a driver who causes an extra formation lap to enter the pit lane and resume the race from there.”
