It was Verstappen’s fifth straight win and his first at the Italian Grand Prix – much to the dismay of Ferrari fans who packed Monza hoping for a Leclerc win.
The Dutchman now leads the drivers’ standings with 116 points and could theoretically catch up with the title at the next race in Singapore.
Boos rang out in Monza as Sunday’s race ended behind a safety car after Daniel Ricciardo pulled out on track with five laps to go.
This meant that Leclerc, who was trailing Verstappen after an extra pit stop, was unable to challenge his rival in the closing stages.
In the course of the race, however, it became apparent that Verstappen had the superior speed from seventh on the grid.
“It was only to control the gap at the end when the safety car came out,” Verstappen said in his post-race interview. “Unfortunately we didn’t manage to restart, but overall we had a really good day again.”
The Red Bull driver was handed a five-place penalty on the grid following a new drivetrain component, but quickly made light work of the drivers between himself and polesitter Leclerc.
He had moved up to second ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell on lap five and then took the lead when Leclerc pitted when a virtual safety car was deployed on lap 12.
Verstappen swapped tires himself on lap 26 to hand the lead back to Leclerc, who pitted for the second time seven laps later. This gave Verstappen a lead of around 20 seconds and his victory was finally confirmed when the race ended behind the safety car.
“The start was very good, I had a clean chicane,” added Verstappen. “Then I quickly got back into my rhythm and finished second.
“It was really good on the tyres, it was really fun to drive today even though it was quite hot out there. A great day for us.”
In a solid race for Russell, he completed the podium behind Leclerc while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes Lewis Hamilton, who both started after penalties for drive units at the end of the grid, stormed through the field to finish fourth and fifth.
Despite his brave performances, Hamilton is now mathematically unable to win the F1 title as he sits an unassailable 167 points behind Verstappen in the standings.
Williams’ Nyck de Vries, a late replacement for Alexander Albon who is undergoing treatment for appendicitis, finished ninth in his F1 debut and picked up the Driver of the Day award.