Monza Erupts With Joy As Leclerc Wins For Ferrari

Just a handful of days after the ontrack Formula 1 action had ended at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, the F1 world quickly reassembled at Italy’s Monza circuit, long renowned as ‘the temple of speed’ due to its very fast nature, and at the end of this afternoon’s Italian Grand Prix, it was a one-stopping Charles Leclerc who held on to win Ferrari’s home race and send the Tifosi fans wild with excitement.

2024 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix

1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1hr14m40.727s
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +2.664s
3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +6.153s
4 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +15.621s
5 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +22.820s
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +37.932s
7 George Russell (Mercedes) +39.715s
8 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) +54.148s
9 Alex Albon (Williams) +1m7.456s
10 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1m8.302s
11 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1m8.495s
12 Franco Colapinto (Williams) +1m21.308s
13 Daniel Ricciardo (RB) +1m33.452s
14 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) Lapped
15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) Lapped
16 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) Lapped
17 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) Lapped
18 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) Lapped
19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) Lapped
20 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) Retired
On the news front, Mercedes F1 team principal, CEO, and part owner, Toto Wolff, had confirmed following last Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix that the team’s 18-year-old protégé, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, would take over George Russell’s car for Friday’s opening free practice session here at Monza, with Sir Lewis Hamilton set to hand his car over for an FP1 hour later this year. There was also an unofficial expectation that the teenager, who is currently competing in Formula 2, would be named in front of his Italian home crowd as next year’s successor to Ferrari-bound Hamilton alongside Russell, and this announcement duly happened early yesterday morning. This was despite Antonelli's embarrassing gaffe during a free practice the previous day, which I will discuss later. It was interesting that Wolff said yesterday that he felt the young Italian would race for the team next season within five minutes of Hamilton shocking him earlier this year with the surprise news that he had decided to leave for Ferrari.

Elsewhere down the pitlane, the Williams team principal, James Vowles, had left Zandvoort facing a clear dilemma as he sought to decide whether to replace his underperforming American driver, Logan Sargeant, before the end of the season and possibly as early as this weekend, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz already contracted to take over his seat next year. Sargeant had made a serious error during wet final practice at Zandvoort, which resulted in further costly damage to his car, with some of the new, upgraded parts brought to the Netherlands written off. This has tended to be the story of Sargeant’s year, and Vowles was quickly in contact with Wolff at Mercedes and Red Bull’s Christian Horner about the potential availability of replacement drivers.

A packed Monza on race day is always a sight to behold as Ferrari’s red-clad Tifosi truly make their presence felt, and today was certainly no exception.

Wolff had hoped that his Mercedes’ reserve driver, Mick Schumacher, who formerly raced for Haas, might be given a further opportunity to show what he can do, despite currently racing in the World Endurance Championship for Alpine, and Horner had indicated that he would be willing to loan Red Bull’s highly rated reserve driver, the New Zealander Liam Lawson, to Williams if a deal could be agreed, which allowed for his immediate return to Red Bull if needed.

However, last Tuesday afternoon a Williams press release dropped into my inbox, announcing that 21-year-old Franco Colapinto would replace Sargeant with immediate effect for the remainder of the season. Colapinto, who is a member of the Williams Racing Driver Academy and has been competing in Formula 2 this season, would therefore become the first Argentinian to race in F1 for 23 years. It was an interesting decision by Vowles to opt for Colapinto rather than the more experienced Schumacher or Lawson, and time will tell how this works out. At least the young Argentinian was thrilled to get his first chance to race in F1, whilst knowing that, however well he fares, he will be handing his seat to Sainz at the end of the season. On the plus side, though, if he impresses, he will be in demand elsewhere in the future.

Monza, located in beautiful parkland just outside Milan, has recently undergone extensive infrastructure improvements, including the renewal of the circuit's surface. It now provides more grip, but its much darker colour means that it retains more heat on sunny days, impacting on related tyre issues for the drivers. As a result, the teams were heading into something unknown as they arrived in the F1 paddock ahead of the first free practice session on Friday, and many of the drivers weren’t happy about some of the kerb changes made since F1’s last visit.

There was also an unusual occurrence last Thursday when the vastly experienced F1 Safety Car driver, Bernd Mayländer, lost control at the Parabolica final corner and careered into barriers. This happened during the usual high-speed checking of the circuit, the car, and its onboard equipment. Mayländer and his Safety Car assistant were unhurt, but the Aston Martin car was clearly damaged. Fortunately, two identical Safety Cars (as well as a pair of matching Medical Cars) are transported to every F1 round, just in case a problem occurs with one of them, and everyone remained coy about whether the Safety Car mishap was down to driver error or a mechanical failure.

With a real feeling of excitement and anticipation all around the circuit, those famous red lights went out following the 3pm local time formation lap, and, amidst an air temperature of 33 °C ...

Opening practice during an F1 weekend always creates some interest, if not as much as with all that follows, but on Friday all eyes were on young Antonelli and, to a lesser extent, Colapinto, to see how they fared. Sadly, Antonelli’s debut lasted less than ten minutes and just five laps. He’d started brightly with an early fastest lap but then crashed heavily with a 45-g impact at the final corner, damaging Russell’s borrowed car and forcing a red flag stoppage. This left him bottom of the timesheets come the end of the session, with Wolff putting Antonelli’s disappointing debut down to the high expectations and pressure put on him in front of his home fans, adding that it’s always a preferable problem having to rein in a quick driver than having to try to make a slower one faster. Despite the unfortunate accident from which Antonelli will learn, Mercedes officially confirmed early yesterday morning that the young Italian will partner Russell next year.

Meanwhile, Colapinto was only 17th quickest, but of course would be taking part in the full weekend rather than just the first practice period. Away from the focus on Antonelli and Colapinto, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the opening timing screens as the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz sandwiched third-placed Lando Norris for McLaren. Friday’s second practice period was also interrupted by red flags after Haas’ Kevin Magnussen had put his VF-24 into the barriers at the second Lesmo section of the track, but, come the session’s conclusion, it was Hamilton who led the way ahead of Norris and Sainz.

The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell went fastest in yesterday’s final practice hour ahead of Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, but this was followed by the all-important qualifying session for this afternoon’s Grand Prix, after which Norris and Piastri helped themselves to a McLaren front row on the grid ahead of Russell and Leclerc, with Verstappen only seventh. The McLaren crew had released Piastri into the path of Verstappen in the pitlane during the first part of qualifying, forcing the triple champion to take immediate avoiding action, and subsequently, the stewards fined the team 10,000 euros but allowed Piastri to retain his crucial grid position.

The tension in the Ferrari pit garage was clearly palpable, evidenced by the anxious face of Leclerc’s brother, Arthur...

A packed Monza on race day is always a sight to behold as Ferrari’s red-clad Tifosi truly make their presence felt, and today was certainly no exception. They would no doubt have preferred two red cars to line up at the front of the grid, but it wasn't to be, and everyone was wondering whether polesitter Norris would make another poor start and how aggressive the two McLaren drivers might be towards each other during the blast down to the first chicane. With a real feeling of excitement and anticipation all around the circuit, those famous red lights went out following the 3pm local time formation lap, and, amidst an air temperature of 33 °C, Piastri was equally hot as he quickly passed his teammate for the lead, and Leclerc also swept by into second place. Meanwhile, a feisty Russell suffered damage at the first chicane after challenging Piastri, dropping to seventh.

So, Piastri was out front ahead of Leclerc, Norris, and Sainz, and it remained until the leading drivers started pitting from lap 15 onwards. A perfect undercut for Norris enabled him to get the better of Leclerc. The top six on the grid had started on medium specification tyres, unlike the pair of Red Bulls who were on the hard alternatives, and, when the latter pitted, more hards were bolted on, clearly meaning a two-stop strategy was their plan. Soon the leading Piastri was comfortably ahead of his teammate, with the pair of Ferraris to their rear, but on lap 33, Norris made a second stop, swapping hards for more hards, and rejoined down in sixth position behind Verstappen. At this stage, Piastri’s lead was 5.5 seconds over Leclerc, and the latter became the new frontman when Piastri made a second stop after the Australian had suggested to his team that he thought a one-drop strategy wasn’t possible.

This left Leclerc and Sainz out front ahead of Piastri and Norris as Ferrari rolled the dice and gambled on winning their home race with a one-stop strategy. Piastri swept past Sainz into second place with eight laps remaining, but the gap to Leclerc was still over 11 seconds before Norris usurped Sainz to move up into third place.

Today’s race at Monza also marked the conclusion of this year’s European rounds, with the action set to resume in Baku, Azerbaijan ...

The tension in the Ferrari pit garage was clearly palpable, evidenced by the anxious face of Leclerc’s brother, Arthur, as Piastri continued to close the gap to the leading Leclerc. The Tifosi were confident of victory though and were celebrating with ever more volume long before the chequered flag! Ultimately, Piastri ran out of laps and had to settle for the second step on the post-race podium ahead of Norris, with Sainz, Hamilton, and Verstappen completing the leading six finishers. Norris also claimed the extra point for the fastest lap of the Grand Prix.

The results of this afternoon reduced Verstappen's lead over Norris in the Drivers' Championship to 62 points, and McLaren now trails Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship by just eight points. Today’s race at Monza also marked the conclusion of this year’s European rounds, with the action set to resume in Baku, Azerbaijan, in a fortnight’s time, where it will again be fascinating to see how both title races continue to develop.


2024 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship

1 Max Verstappen 303
2 Lando Norris 241
3 Charles Leclerc 217

2024 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship

1 Red Bull 446
2 McLaren 438
3 Ferrari 407