Yahoo Autos Charles Leclerc gives Ferrari Home win at F1 Italian Grand Prix
McLaren had the faster car at the F1 Italian Grand Prix, but Charles Leclerc and Ferrari pulled off a one-stop strategy to claim victory on the team’s home turf, sending spectators at Monza into a frenzy after a five-year wait for a win at the venue.
King of Monza
This was a Formula 1 victory which Ferrari—and its fans—had desired, but one which was not necessarily expected.
Since Charles Leclerc’s win on his home streets in Monaco on May 26, Ferrari has drifted away from contention, but an upgrade package combined with an outstanding performance from Leclerc catapulted the Scuderia back to the top step of the podium.
Leclerc started from fourth position at Monza but overhauled George Russell after the Mercedes driver erred into the first chicane, and then profited from the McLaren drivers dueling into the second chicane. As erstwhile leader Lando Norris got out of shape on the exit, Leclerc picked the inside line to grab second.
But crucial to Leclerc’s victory was Ferrari’s decision to risk a one-stop strategy, while the faster McLaren drivers adopted a two-stop approach, as hotter conditions and new tarmac contributed to graining on the front-left tires.
Leclerc cycled through to the lead once Oscar Piastri made his second stop on lap 38, and had an 18-second lead, which the McLaren driver carved into across the closing stages.n Leclerc preserved a buffer and crossed the line 2.6 seconds clear of Piastri.
“This is just as sweet as the 2019 one,” Leclerc said of his win. “I thought the first one was always going to be more special if there was a second one ever happening but actually it’s not the case: the second one feels just as special!
“Today I did not expect it going to the race, I thought we’d struggle a bit more compared to the McLaren, but also the Mercedes who had good pace Friday, but after a few laps I felt the car was in a good place, Oscar was maybe a little bit quicker, it was difficult to see Lando’s pace as he was behind.
“We did a really, really good job with the front left, which has been tricky for everyone, we had front graining but managed to take that front grip again and that helped us to win today.
“To stand up on that podium, in front of all the Tifosi, after such a week – because it’s a very tiring one, it’s incredible to race for Ferrari in Monza but also very tiring – but to win here is extremely special.”
McLaren Makes Gains But Misses Win
“It hurts, I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot,” said Oscar Piastri, in the wake of victory slipping through his and McLaren’s fingers.
McLaren locked out the front row of the grid, having had the fastest package at Monza, but while a 2-3 result was still positive in the big picture, it missed out on the big prize.
Piastri grabbed the lead with a combative move on team-mate Norris at the second chicane on the opening lap and looked well-set to front a 1-2 for the team, until Leclerc and Ferrari pulled off an unlikely one-stop strategy.
“The graining of the tires has been a big topic all weekend,” Piastri said. “In practice, once you got graining, it was basically game over. Even in the first stint on the mediums it was pretty difficult. When we made the second stop for myself, my front left tire was pretty heavily grained. I was going slower and slower. So it seemed like a sensible decision to pit again.
"In hindsight, clearly stopping once was the right thing to do. But from lap one in the race, with all the information that we’d gathered through the weekend, it seemed incredibly risky. That’s kind of the blessing and the curse of leading the race, or being at the front full stop. The guys behind you can react to what you do, and for Charles, if he did a two stop, he would have locked in third, and if he did a one-stop and he fell off the cliff, he still would have finished third. Of course he pulled the one-stop off, and the Ferrari looked like the hero today. Obviously it hurts at the moment, but in the moment, it was the right thing to do.”
Seven days ago, Norris converted pole into a dominant win but this time he had to make do with the bottom step of the podium.
“It’s disappointing, starting from pole and only [being] third when I think the pace was very strong,” he said. “A shame but that’s what it is.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella backed the strategy.
“I think our car, traditionally, tends to be very good on the rear tyres, but when we deal with front graining we tend to be on the aggressive side,” he said. “So this made us a bit nervous.”
Stella said that McLaren will soon have to consider prioritizing Norris for the sake of the Drivers’ championship.
“I think, both drivers are mathematically in condition to do so [contend for the title],” said Stella. But Lando is obviously in the best position from a numbers point of view. We are fighting Max Verstappen so I think if we want to give support to one driver we certainly have to pick the one who is in the best position, and also I think Lando has been doing very well.”
Verstappen: Red Bull Car Now a Monster
At Monza last year Max Verstappen won a record tenth successive grand prix and looked to be playing Formula 1 on easy mode.
The picture in 2024 is markedly different.
Verstappen still leads the Drivers’ Championship by 62 points but bluntly asserted that “at the moment both championships are not realistic” owing to Red Bull’s performance levels. Verstappen has now gone six events without a victory, and the team was off the pace throughout the weekend at Monza, with the reigning champion qualifying in seventh place and finishing in sixth in the race.
“It’s up to the team to come with lot of changes with the car because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undrivable car in the space of, what, six to eight months,” Verstappen said. “So that is very weird, for me, and yeah, we need to really turn the car upside down.”
Verstappen added that the RB20 currently has “a massive balance problem” in all types of condition, hampering its prospects, and bemoaned that “last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner echoed Verstappen’s comments, and believes underlying issues that were present even in the all-conquering RB19 are now being exposed due to the competition closing up.
“Both championships absolutely will be under pressure, for sure, we have to turn the situation around very quickly,” Horner said. “I think this circuit has exposed the deficiencies we have in the car versus last year, and I think that we have a very clear issue which has been highlighted this weekend.
"I think it’s been there for some time, I think actually really going through the data there were issues there at the beginning of the year in the characteristics [of the car], and the others have obviously made a step and as we’ve pushed the package harder it’s exposed the issue. Even if you go back in the data there were a few races last year where we started to see this, in Austin, and so on. It’s a characteristic we know we have to address, and it’s full focus at the factory to do that.:
Red Bull is now only eight points clear of McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship, while Ferrari is just a further 31 behind.
Verstappen’s 62-point advantage for the Drivers' Championship is still healthy, particularly with only one-third of the campaign remaining, but Red Bull’s concerning lack of pace means he is right to be increasingly downbeat over his prospects.
Colapinto Solid in Debut
Franco Colapinto made his Formula 1 debut for Williams at Monza in place of the axed Logan Sargeant, and had a encouraging weekend.
Colapinto was firmly in the lower-midfield fight throughout the race and finished 12th, just three spots and 14 seconds behind Williams teammate Alex Albon.
“I’m really happy to have completed my first Formula 1 race, it’s a moment I will never forget,” Colapinto said. “The race was physically tough as I’m a bit tired and sore now but there are plenty of positives to take.
"Before today, I had never driven more than eight laps in a row in the FW46 and today there were 53 to do with very high track temps. I think I did a good job of managing the tires to make the one-stop work and the race pace was strong. I’m very happy for the team. It was great to give them a positive result from my first race after all the hard work they’ve put in to get me up to speed this weekend. Of course, there are still things to work on but I’m very excited to jump back in the car in two weeks to go racing again.”
Results
F1 Italian Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 53 laps
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +2.664 seconds
Lando Norris, McLaren, +6.153
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +15.621
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +22.820
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +37.932
George Russell, Mercedes, +39.715
Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +54.148
Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1:07.456
Alex Albon, Williams, +1:08.302
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +1:08.495
Franco Colapinto, Williams, +1:21.308
Daniel Ricciardo, RB, +1:33.452
Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1 lap
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1 lap
Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +1 lap
Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber, +1 lap
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, +1 lap
Zhou Guanyu, Kick Sauber, +1 lap
Yuki Tsunoda, RB, DNF
Drivers' Standings
Max Verstappen 303
Lando Norris 241
Charles Leclerc 217
Oscar Piastri 197
Carlos Sainz 184
Lewis Hamilton 164
Sergio Perez 143
George Russell 128
Fernando Alonso 50
Lance Stroll 24
Nico Hulkenberg 22
Yuki Tsunoda 22
Daniel Ricciardo 12
Pierre Gasly 8
Oliver Bearman 6
Kevin Magnussen 6
Alexander Albon 6
Esteban Ocon 5
Zhou Guanyu 0
Logan Sargeant 0
Franco Colapinto 0
Valtteri Bottas 0
Constructors' Championship
Red Bull 446
McLaren 438
Ferrari 407
Mercedes 292
Aston Martin 74
RB 34
Haas 28
Alpine 13
Williams 6
Kick Sauber 0
