For the first time since Olivier Panis in 1996 at Monaco, a Frenchman has won a Formula One Grand Prix.

AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly took out an incident-packed Italian Grand Prix at Monza, with Spaniard Carlos Sainz second in his McLaren and Racing Point's Lance Stroll third.

The result was a change of pace from the usual dominance of the big teams, with the struggling Ferraris both out early, the Red Bulls underperforming and drama befalling Mercedes, especially championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who finished seventh.

Australia's Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth after he initially got off to a flying start and passed both former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen and Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas to move to fifth.

But the race ultimately belonged to Gasly, who claimed his first race win just over a year after he was dumped from the main Red Bull team in favour of Alex Albon.

To do so he held off the fast-finishing Sainz, who closed the gap to just four-tenths of a second by the finish line, as the Spaniard chased what would have been his first Formula One race win.

"Oh my God we did it again, oh my God yes," the 24-year-old Gasly said over team radio.

Gasly said on the podium the win meant so much because of the tumultuous nature of his time in F1, where he went from Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) to Red Bull before being dumped from the top team.

"I have been through so much in the space of 18 months, now my first win with AlphaTauri in Monza," he said.

"I have no words, this team have given me so much, my first opportunity, my first podium and now my first win."

'Crazy race' sees penalties and big crash

If the win was remarkable, so was the situation that put Gasly in position to do so, in what the Frenchman described as a "crazy race".

It all began on the eighth lap when Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel's miserable season continued to spiral.

After starting from 17th on the grid, his lowest-ever starting position at the circuit, Vettel experienced brake failure as he drove his car through bollards on a track exit point.

It was just the start of the drama.

The safety car came out when Kevin Magnussen parked his Haas near the pit entry on lap 17.

Race and championship leader Hamilton then pitted in his Mercedes along with Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi, but they both did so when the pit lane was closed, leading to them both receiving 10 second stop-go penalties.

It was a penalty that would ultimately end Hamilton's hopes of winning the race.

The race was red-flagged a few laps later when Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari into the wall in a high-speed crash at the Parabolica bend.

Leclerc amazingly walked away unscathed but could be heard on the team radio saying: "Yeah, it was a big crash".

The crash was so large that the race was temporarily halted on lap 23 for the barriers to be repaired.

Hamilton took his stop-go penalty from the lead of the race on lap 29 and then came back on the track in last, 30 seconds behind the new leader, Gasly.

Gasly had made the most of the standing race restart and jumped past Stroll's Racing Point to sit behind Hamilton.

And when he took the race lead, for the first time ever in his Formula One career, he did not give it up.

His drive to the finish was calm in the face of mounting pressure from Sainz, who closed within DRS range in the final lap to make it tight at the finish.

"So close but yet so far, I needed one more lap," Sainz said on the team radio.

Hamilton admits fault, Ricciardo laments luck

Other drivers were full of praise for Gasly, and it was Hamilton who led the charge, while also taking full responsibility for the mistake that cost him dearly.

"Huge congratulation to Pierre, fantastic result for him," Hamilton said.

"I have seen what he has been through from being dropped from the top team and now he has beat the top team.

"I am genuinely really happy for him.

"My race it wasn't meant to be today … I didn't see those boards so that is something I will learn from, that was my mistake, I take responsibility for that."

Ricciardo was also complimentary but lamented his lack of luck, especially when it came to the unfortunate timing of the restart for him, as he had already pitted.

"Congrats to Pierre, for him to have his first win around a track which is an overtaking style circuit is great for him," Ricciardo said before discussing his own race.

"The start was sick I took some grass, then I got Valtteri (Bottas) on lap one," he said.

"Then we got that safety car ... I didn't want to complain too much, that is racing.

"I did the best race I could and that was sixth today."

The result in a race that Verstappen did not finish due to a failing engine saw Hamilton (164 points) maintain a steady lead in the driver standings, with Bottas (117), who finished fifth, jumping Verstappen (110) into second on the standings.