Charles Leclerc achieved a fantastic and emotional victory for Scuderia Ferrari at Monza. The team beat rival McLaren thanks to a single pitstop strategy to take the top spot at the Italian Grand Prix in front of the passionate tifosi crowd.
Leclerc delighted Ferrari’s home crowd in a strategic triumph to beat Oscar Piastri, after hanging on to the tyres in a one-stop strategy.
Leclerc managed to hold on from a rapidly closing Piastri, who had much fresher tyres thanks to a two-stop strategy, and crossed the finishing line with a 2.884-second lead – the home fans becoming more audibly ecstatic in the closing laps as the tactical gambit became clear.
The Monaco Grand Prix winner looked set to follow the pack on a two-stopper, a decision he had initially questioned as Ferrari responded to an undercut attempt from polesitter Lando Norris.
Norris initially looked like he had got over his first-lap drama with a clean start to cover off teammate Piastri from pole, but appeared surprised by Piastri’s overtake attempt around the outside at the Variante della Roggia. This put Norris off-line, allowing Leclerc to also trickle through.
Although the Ferrari driver could not stay in touch with Piastri, it became clear that the overall level of tyre wear was moving the race into two-stop territory, a strategy that McLaren opted to move towards with relatively early opening stops. Leclerc lost track position through his earlier-than-expected reaction to Norris, but crucially managed to maintain tyre performance.
And, although McLaren asked Piastri if he was able to one-stop, Oscar responded in the negative – giving Leclerc the lead from teammate Carlos Sainz.
With neither Ferrari stopping again, Sainz managed to do his part in keeping Piastri at bay for a handful of laps, stalling the McLaren driver out enough to ensure Leclerc had more buffer to play with.
This became a thrilling final few laps with Piastri reducing away at Leclerc’s lead with a considerable tyre advantage – but, ultimately, it proved not to be enough; Leclerc wins and cause waves of euphoria around the Monza circuit.
Piastri admitted that it “hurt” to finish second, noting that the graining issue that affected the McLarens might have cleared up with more laps, but nonetheless had cut a gap that stood at 11.9 seconds after he had passed Sainz to 2.7 seconds in just nine laps.
Norris recovered to third, having not expected Piastri’s first-corner move; the two were granted permission to race, but Norris was unable to sufficiently close in on his teammate throughout the race – having particularly been affected by contra-strategy runner Max Verstappen as the championship leader sought to help his cause.
Sainz hit the limit of his tyres despite a four-lap advantage over Leclerc, losing his grasp on a podium place to both McLarens at the close of the race, but nonetheless had enough margin to stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fifth.
Hamilton managed to hold off an early assault from Verstappen which set him up for fifth, as the Red Bull driver suffered a slow stop and a disappointing final stint to make no inroads towards the Mercedes driver. George Russell recovered from a first-lap off, having been pushed by Piastri at the start, and front wing damage to finish seventh.
The Mercedes driver battled gamely with Sergio Perez and shrugged off the Checo’s robust defence to steal past. Alex Albon was classified ninth, despite finishing behind Kevin Magnussen on track; the Haas driver was handed a 10-second penalty for a minor clash with Pierre Gasly during his ascent up the order – the two concluding one-stop strategies in the points.
Fernando Alonso just missed out on the top ten by just 0.143 seconds when Magnussen’s penalty was applied, as Franco Colapinto finished his first Formula 1 race in P12 for Williams.
So a fantastic result for Ferrari at home with Charles Leclerc winning the Italian Grand Prix for the second time. McLaren should’ve won this race thanks to a faster car but Ferrari pulled off a superior strategy – one compared to two – to take victory. Kudos Scuderia and Leclerc.
Italian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrai 1:14:40.727
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 Serio Perez Red Bull +54.148s
9 Alex Albon Williams +67.456s
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas +68.302s
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +68.495s
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +81.308s
13 Daniel Ricciardo RB +93.452s
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
16 Valterri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
17 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
18 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 lap
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
20 Yuki Tsunoda RB DNF
Charles Leclerc has taken a stunning victory at the Italian Grand Prix after utilising a bold one-stop strategy to hold onto the lead, the Monegasque thrilling the Tifosi as he clinched P1 ahead of the McLarens.
After making a decent start off the line from pole position, Lando Norris initially stayed in P1 before Oscar Piastri swept past into the second chicane later in the lap. From there, the Australian stayed out in front for much of the race.
However, with much of the field opting for a two-stop strategy, Ferrari made the risky decision to try a one-stop for Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, resulting in the pair running at the front of the field in the latter stages of the race.
Birthday boy Sainz was unable to hold on given his ageing tyres, with both Piastri and Norris overtaking him to move into second and third. But Leclerc held out to grab an emotional win on Ferrari’s home soil, crossing the line 2.6s ahead of Piastri.
Norris claimed an extra point for setting the fastest lap as he took third, adding somewhat to a day where the Briton may have hoped for more to aid his championship bid. Sainz had to settle for fourth, while Lewis Hamilton – driving his last Monza race before switching to Ferrari next year – was fifth for Mercedes.
Max Verstappen placed in sixth, the Dutchman gaining one position from his original grid slot. The Red Bull managed to stay ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell in seventh, while Sergio Perez added three points to Red Bull’s tally in eighth.
It was a positive day for Williams as Alex Albon clinched two valuable points in P9, and Kevin Magnussen was 10th in the Haas on what was an eventful day for the team, with both of their drivers having received time penalties for separate incidents.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/leclerc-thrills-the-tifosi-to-triumph-at-monza-ahead-of-piastri-and-norris.1aiYZF3rWZp2Q9yQtcuvqV
Kevin Magnussen has been handed a Formula 1 ban for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after reaching 12 penalty points on his superlicence following his Monza clash with Pierre Gasly.
The Dane was hit with a 10-second penalty for contact with Pierre Gasly at the Variante della Roggia chicane, as the stewards had deemed him wholly to blame for the incident.
This also came with the application of two penalty points, which brings him up to the maximum of 12 in a year-long period. Magnussen should thus miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix depending on any appeals process.
The stewards’ report read: “The stewards reviewed video and in-car video evidence. On the approach to Turn 4, Car 20 attempted to overtake Car 10 on the inside.
“Whilst Car 20 had its front axle past the mirror of Car 10, the Driving Standards Guidelines specify that an overtaking car has to “be driven in a safe and controlled manner throughout the manoeuvre”.
“The stewards determined that this was not the case for Car 20 and hence the driver was wholly to blame for the collision and hence the standard penalty and penalty points are allocated.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/magnussen-gets-azerbaijan-gp-ban-after-italy-f1-clash-with-gasly/10650254/
Pierre Gasly called upon the Italian Grand Prix stewards to reverse Kevin Magnussen’s one-race Formula 1 ban after their incident led to the Dane reaching the maximum penalty points on his superlicence.
The two made a small degree of contact after going into the Variante della Roggia side by side, which led to neither driver making the corner. Magnussen later passed Gasly on his run to ninth at the flag, which became 10th after a 10-second penalty was applied for his involvement in the incident.
Magnussen subsequently had two penalty points applied to his superlicence, which took him up to the 12 required to trigger a race ban – he had already collected 10 points earlier this season.
Gasly felt that the ultimate contact was “nothing” and “a bit of wheel to wheel”. He added that he would be happy to visit the stewards and encourage them to roll back the decision on Magnussen’s behalf.
“Honestly, this was nothing. The whole afternoon we were dead slow. We really need to get on top of it because I really believed we would have more potential in the race and it was a lot harder,” Gasly said.
“Someone told me he got a 10 seconds penalty. I’m a bit surprised for that because he tried, but it was a bit of wheel to wheel and in the end I really didn’t lose any time. I’m a bit surprised.
“I hope somehow they can revert on that because that will would be definitely unfair. I’ll be happy to do it [vouch for Magnussen with the stewards] – I’ll see what I can do. That will feel very unfair for the incident that it was.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/gasly-wants-unfair-magnussen-race-ban-reversed-after-nothing-italy-f1-clash/10650345/
Max Verstappen warned “both championships are not realistic” now after Red Bull turned its once dominant Formula 1 car “into a monster”.
Verstappen struggled to qualify higher than seventh on Saturday and failed to make much progress on Sunday, moving up just one position to finish ahead of Mercedes man George Russell in sixth.
The Dutchman’s margin to victory was especially damning, conceding almost 38 seconds to Ferrari’s triumphant Charles Leclerc and over 30 seconds to title rival Lando Norris in third.
With Oscar Piastri finishing second ahead of team-mate Norris, McLaren has taken another bite out of Red Bull’s constructors’ lead, coming to within eight points.
But as far as Verstappen is concerned, his 62-point lead on Norris in the drivers’ standings won’t be enough either as Red Bull has yet to find answers to its crippling car balance problems that have plagued it since May and are now coming back to bite it against much improved competition.
“At the moment, both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen bluntly stated.
“I’ve said a lot and now it’s up to the team to come with a lot of changes with the car, because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undrivable car in the space of six to eight months. So, that is very weird for me and we need to really turn the car upside down.
“With how we are at the moment we are bad everywhere, so we need a lot of changes.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-both-f1-titles-not-realistic-now-with-red-bulls-monster/10650312/
Oscar Piastri has conceded missing out on victory at Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix “hurts a lot” after Ferrari’s cunning strategy led Charles Leclerc to the top.
The McLaren driver squeezed past team-mate Lando Norris at turn four on the opening lap and set about building a lead to seal his second win in F1.
Having established an advantage in the middle stint of the 53-lap event, Piastri was asked by the team if he felt he could eke his hard tyres out until the end of the race, having pitted on lap 16, one lap after Leclerc.
The Australian claimed he could not and instead boxed for fresh mediums, whereas Ferrari took the risk to leave both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz out on aging hards.
Piastri and Norris both passed the Spaniard, and despite rapidly eating into Leclerc’s lead, the Monegasque had enough of a buffer to clinch his second win of the season,
“It hurts. I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot,” said Piastri.
“We did a lot of things right. There were a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race. From the position we were in with the tyres looking like they did, doing a one-stop seemed like a very risky call.
“In the end, [stopping once] was right. Very, very happy with the pace, with the race that I managed to achieve… just, when you finished second it hurts.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/piastri-hurts-a-lot-after-ferrari-gamble-snatches-monza-victory-away/10650284/
Charles Leclerc’s second Monza win felt just as good as the first five years earlier, according to the Monegasque driver, as Leclerc headed off the threat from McLaren to claim an unexpected victory for Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix.
Starting P4 on the grid in Ferrari’s home race, Leclerc made a one-stop strategy work to gain track position over the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris – who both opting to two-stop – before eking out the tyre life of his Pirelli rubber to bring home the victory and send the Tifosi wild.
And having first won for Ferrari at Monza back in 2019, one race after his maiden victory at Spa, Leclerc said the feeling was just as sweet in 2024.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” he said. “Actually I thought that the first time would just feel like this, and then the second time – if there was a second time – wouldn’t feel as special, but my god, the emotions in the last few laps, exactly the same like in 2019.
“Just watching the grandstands inside of the track – which is tricky! – but incredible,” added Leclerc, who earlier this year won his home race in Monte Carlo for the first time.
“I mean Monaco and Monza are the two races I want to win every year. Obviously I want to win as many races as possible, and the World Championship as soon as possible, but these are the two most important races of the season and I managed to win them this year. It’s so, so special.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/the-emotions-were-exactly-like-2019-says-leclerc-after-leading-ferrari-to.7lF5zsUyMTWBATRErpXia1