Written by Sofia Costantino, Edited by Meghana Sree
What a weekend we lived in Monza, filled with jubilant emotions. The recently held Italian Grand Prix ended with a surprising, emotional, and well-deserved victory for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari at the temple of speed, with the Monegasque achieving his second home victory of the season.
With this victory, the passionate Tifosi celebrated the conquest of the famous Cavallino Rampante brand of the triple European crown of motorsports this year: The Monaco GP, the 24 hours of Le Mans, and the Italian GP.
The saying “the first to start does not necessarily arrive first” certainly held in Monza, with the McLarens starting from the first row, being the favourites for a victory, finishing in second and third place, due to a successful strategy by Ferrari with a single pit stop.
Ferrari’s quick thinking during the race’s development and Leclerc’s masterful tyre wear management sealed the Scuderia’s victory.
Monza is a track historically known for single-stop strategies, however, on this occasion, the common strategy for the teams was most likely two, due to the recent resurfacing and much higher temperatures on the track, as well as the extension of 103 meters of DRS (Drag Reduction System) on the long main straight to facilitate overtaking.
As a result, much greater tyre degradation was generated on both the medium and hard compounds.
The key to the race and the Ferrari’s strategic win were handed to the Italian team on Lap 1. Lando Norris from pole made a good start, as did his teammate Oscar Piastri, but George Russell starting from third place in his Mercedes was unable to take the first corner, allowing Leclerc to place third behind both McLarens throughout the race.
The most noteworthy turning point though was when Piastri boldly overtook Norris on the outside of Turn 4, Variante La Roggia. Convinced of a two stopper, Piastri increased his pace, forcing the same from Leclerc and his teammate Norris. McLaren, unable to overtake Leclerc's Ferrari, devised an early stop to attempt an undercut on the Monegasque.
Already third and with the Papaya cars maintaining a breakneck pace, Leclerc began to save tires, encouraged by his team who informed him that at Carlos Sainz's stop (in response to a possible undercut by Lewis Hamilton), there was not much degradation.
Thus, he decided not to stop again, keeping his tyres alive without excessive degradation, which had to last 38 laps.
In his second stop on Lap 38, Piastri, 5.5s ahead of Leclerc, had to overcome a deficit of 18.9s, that is, 1.3s per lap better than the 15s remaining, to make it work.
Although he managed to overtake Sainz for second place, he couldn’t make it past Leclerc, and ultimately finished 2.6s behind an ecstatic Leclerc.
Norris also managed to overtake Sainz's Ferrari with six laps remaining, to finish third. But, instead of reducing the deficit for first place in the Drivers' Championship with Max Verstappen (who finished in a distant sixth place, 37.9s from first place) by 18 points if he remained in first place, he did so by only eight.
With this win in Monza, we’re left with many questions as we are heading to Azerbaijan: will we see another Ferrari win? A Red Bull comeback? Or will we see McLaren finally inch past Red Bull to claim first place in the Constructors’ Championship this weekend?
Sunday will reveal all as we gear up for another dramatic weekend of racing in Formula One.
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