Here’s Charles Leclerc’s report from Monza.
The constructors’ championship is getting tight.
1. Red Bull - 446pts
2. McLaren - 438
3. Ferrari - 407
4. Mercedes - 292
5. Aston Martin - 74
6. RB - 34
7. Haas - 28
8. Alpine - 13
9. Williams - 6
10. Sauber - 0
Drivers' championship standings
1. Max Verstappen - 303pts
2. Lando Norris - 241
3. Charles Leclerc - 217
4. Oscar Piastri - 197
5. Carlos Sainz - 184
6. Lewis Hamilton - 164
7. Sergio Perez - 143
8. George Russell - 128
9. Fernando Alonso - 50
10. Lance Stroll - 24
That’s eight points Norris has gained on Verstappen, the gap is 62 now.
Oscar Piastri is disappointed: “It hurts. I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot. I did a lot of things right today. There was 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, and in the end it was right. Very, very happy with the pace, with the race that I managed to achieve. Just when you finish second it hurts.”
So is Lando Norris
“Oscar caught me by surprise as he got past. I don’t know what I could have done differently. If I brake a metre later, I probably would have crashed. It’s something we will look at but Ferrari drove a better race, particularly Charles.”
Charles Leclerc speaks: ““It is an incredible feeling. I thought the second time, if there was a second time, would not feel as special as the first, but the emotions over the last few laps were the same as 2019. I want to win Monza and Monaco every year and I have managed to do so. It is so, so special.”
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The size of and noise from the crowd is bewildering. “I was surprised you survived,” Piastri tells Leclerc. Lando Norris says nothing at all. Difficult day for him.
Italian GP full result
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. Lando Norris (McLaren)
4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7. George Russell (Mercedes)
8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
9. Alex Albon (Williams)
10. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
11. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
12. Franco Colapinto (Williams)
13. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
14. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
15. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
16. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
17. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
18. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)
19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
DNF. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
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The track is now filled with Ferrari tifosi, the red colours filling the screen. The tyres that Sainz pulled up with with more pockmarks than the Moon’s surface.
“Grazie, grazie, grazie,” says Charles Leclerc. He doubted that strategy and the pitting strategy and yet he won. “This season is a heart attack,” he says. A Ferrari win at Monza is as good as it gets.
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Charles Leclerc wins the Italian Grand Prix.
53/53 Leclerc and Ferrari’s plan has come off. Piastri has been outfoxed, and Leclerc takes the flag. Piastri is in second, Norris sets a fastest lap in third, and Sainz is fourth, with Hamilton holding Verstappen into sixth. “Monza mia, monza mia.”
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52/53 Piastri is not quick enough. Leclerc is cool under pressure and leads into the final lap. The noise is deafeaning.
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51/53 Piastri is seven seconds down on Leclerc and looking unlikely to catch the boy from Monte Carlo.
50/53 Russell is told Verstappen is within reach. Huge noise from the Ferrari fans.
49/53 Verstappen is worried about Russell taking points off him. Huge cheers from the Ferrari tifosi as Leclerc makes another lap with those tyres.
48/53 Norris goes ahead of Sainz, into third. Now both McLarens are chasing Leclerc.
47/53 Now Norris must chase past Sainz, but takes longer than Piastri did.
46/53 Verstappen has set a fastest lap as he chases Hamilton.
45/53 “My front right is nearly gone,” says Sainz. “But I will try.” But Piastri soon overtakes the Ferrari. He’s now 11.6 seconds behind Leclerc, who has older tyres than Sainz.
44/53 Ferrari’s is a high-risk strategy. Verstappen meanwhile desperately clambers for points in chasing Hamilton.
43/53 So it comes down to the speed of Piastri and Norris and the state of the tyres of Leclerc and Sainz.
42/53 Piastri and Norris are being asked to chase down the Ferraris, who want to stay clear. Verstappen pits, and come in behind Hamilton in sixth, with Russell behind him.
Norris gets past Verstappen
41/53 He eases past, and that takes him to fourth, Piastri ahead setting the fastest lap.
40/53 Verstappen and Norris go at it, and Verstappen puts up a worthy defence.
39/53 Piastri pits. Did someone’s foot get run over? Leclerc and Sainz are the leaders. They have only pitted once. Are the Ferraris going on a one-stop strategy,
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38/53 Piastri is asked whether he can survive till the end. He says his front tyre is dead. Russell then overtakes Perez, and the two don’t offer too much in the way of leeway to each other.
37/53 “Impossible to defend,” says Verstappen of Norris, who is all over him, flying at him at serious pace. Norris has the fastest lap now, which appear to be the confine of the McLaren.
36/53 This has been one of the fastest races of all-time, and might be done in less than 75 minutes. Perez pits, so where will he comes out against George Russell? But only just, and that’s a battle for the rest of the race. What now for Verstappen?
35/53 Piastri is still the fastest lap, and he has 5.7 seconds on Leclerc.
34/53 Russell pits, cooling down the chase on Perez by being two seconds slow. He can cause real problems for the Red Bulls.
33/53 Norris pits, and takes his time. He comes in behind Verstappen. Piastri has the race to himself. Verstappen will have to come in. Norris has been unlucky, and his mechanic made a mess of his front right.
32/53 Russell and Perez had to swap places when Russell went off the track and came back in ahead. He handed it back. Perez is not happy but the Mercedes are after the Red Bulls.
31/53 Leclerc is getting closer to the McLarens, and now Russell and Perez go at it. Norris makes a mistake at turn four and Piastri is well clear. Ferrari’s main man is after Norris.
30/53 Franco Colapinto, the new kid, in 16th, speeds past Pierre Gasly. He’d never done more than eight laps before.
29/53 The second stops are fast approaching. Or are they? The calculations are being run.
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28/53 Norris gets the fastest lap now.
27/53 Piastri is flying with a fastest lap, the Red Bull over a pitstop behind the McLarens. The constructors championship is very tight. It could be level as things stand.
26/53 The first three are now a distance ahead of Carlos Sainz, and we await the next run of pits. Not much racing has been done since that opening turn. It’s all strategy.
25/53 With Verstappen floundering a little do McLaren put Norris to the front? Papaya rules means they are allowed to race each other.
24/53 After Perez pits, he comes in just behind Verstappen, who wasn’t happy with his slow pit. Piastri is back at the front, with Norris second and that’s a race between two McLarens. Time to go for it?
23/53 Verstappen comes in, and goes on to hard tyres. That means he will be coming in again. He’s in eighth. “Papaya rules” are what McLaren are discussing. Coding, you see. Broadsword, calling Danny Boy.
22/53 Discussions over the radio between McLaren. Will Norris have to follow team orders? They had this problem earlier in the season.
21/53 Red Bull tell Verstappen to pick up the pace. He currently leads the field. May as well hammer the tyres until it’s time to come in.
20/53 Sainz pits, and comes out sixth. In reality, he’s fourth, with Verstappen and Perez yet to pit.
19/53 Leclerc is turning it on for the Italians, flying along on a track that is cooling on his hard tyres.
18/53 Sainz and Verstappen are leading but with no pitting yet. Hamilton is in eighth, chasing Ocon. Perez, in third, hasn’t pitted yet, either.
17/53 Piastri pits, putting Sainz in the lead. And Piastri comes out two places in front of Norris. Leclerc is not happy with Ferrari’s strategy. “What was that?”
16/53 In go Leclerc and Hamilton, and Norris comes out ahead of Leclerc, the undercut working as Norris goes to sixth and gives chase to Perez and Verstappen.
15/53 McLaren went for an undercut, and Norris comes out in ninth after his front wing is fixed up, too. He’s been complaining away about his balance.
14/53 Norris’ car is quick, and he’s right on Leclerc’s tail and he then almost comes the side of the road such is the speed of his machine. Norris comes into the pits. And hits a bollard.
13/53 A long race ahead and there seems to be a debate over what is the best tyre strategy. Russell is back in 16th, and will hope to cut through the field.
12/53 Norris seems OK to sit back and watch his teammate lead, with Leclerc in second.
11/53 Piastri is planning to do a one-stop strategy. Russell will come in, and take running repairs and a set of hard tyres. This is a lengthy job.
10/53 Pierre Gasly, forever in the wars, is dropping back, and George Russell has Sergio Perez on his tail, and the DRS does the job. So that’s Perez behind Verstappen. Russell has been told to come in.
9/53 Leclerc sets a fastest lap in pursuit of Piastri. It’s dry and dusty at the moment. But when will the rain come.
8/53 Piastri sets the fastest lap. Verstappen is told to stop worrying about his tyres. Yuki Tsunoda is first out of the race, having clashed with Hulkenberg. The Hulk gets a 10-second penalty.
7/53 Piastri is .8 of a second ahead of Leclerc. Hamilton is following the famous four, Verstappen behind him in sixth. Russell is in seventh.
6/53 Nico Hulkenberg is first in the pits, having been in the wars at the start.
5/53 Russell is told to push on by the Merc team. The stewards are ok with this, according to the garage.
4/53 That move by Piastri ended up doing both Russell and Norris. Team orders? Not a bit of it. Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Sainz – McLaren and Ferrari up top – like Gerhard Berger’s heyday.
3/53 Russell is back to seventh but will surely have to pit. What a start this has been. Perez wants Russell to go in, saying there is debris. Norris sets the fastest lap, chasing down his lost leadership.
2/53 Piastri sets off at breakneck pace, but Ferrari in Leclerc and Sainz look full of pace on the straight. Does Russell have wing damage?
Norris loses two places on the first lap!
1/53 Lando Norris leads into the first corner, Russell locks up and goes down the run-off area. Piastri made sure Russell didn’t get through, and then – amazing – Norris is overtaken by Piastri, then Leclerc came through into second. Norris drops from first to third. Verstappen is up in sixth, and is complaining about Lewis Hamilton
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And away we go at Monza
Vroom vroom vroom, out go the lights after a deliberate start…..
Race control say the risk of rain is 40%. The drivers get ready for the parade lap, the engines humming, the noise doubtless ear-bleeding.
Oscar Piastri, under an umbrella, says that he and his teammates are expecting rainstorms. It looks baking, but the clouds are visible.
Alpine's Italian GP preview track map reveals that Lesmo 1 and 2 at Monza have been replaced by what I assume we call 'Parabolica A' pic.twitter.com/ZIODPWkPpN
— Glenn Freeman (@glennfreeman39) August 28, 2024
Max Verstappen says today will be “damage limitation”. On “pure pace every car in front of us is quicker.” He seems up for the fight, at least. But worried, too.
Regret to inform that Martin Brundle is doing Oasis puns in his pit walk. He clearly didn’t spend all day on Ticketmaster. Lando Norris is staying cool in the heat of Monza. Brundo catches up with Jean Alesi, and Gerhard Berger, who is joking that divorces have cost him all his money.
“McLaren looks bloody strong,” says Gerhard. We could do with more Gerhard. No characters in the game, these days. A Melburnian chap tells “Marty” that “we love you in Australia”. Jean Todt’s looking well after his meal last night with Brundo. Can Ferrari win? “Time will tell,” says Jean.
Louis Tomlinson is there; he didn’t get Oasis tickets, and is there with a famous Italian beer company. Bernie Ecclestone is there. “I think I’m alright,” says the former overload. “This place is still a classic….I’m still busy busy but I don’t know what I am doing.” George Russell has a vest on. It’s Carlos Sainz’s birthday and he is making his way to his Ferrari. And so to the Italian national anthem, with its stop-start intro followed by operatic triumphalism.
Another newcomer, and one who won’t have to wait his turn: “Franco Colapinto, the Argentine driver currently competing in F2 and drafted in only this week to replace Logan Sargeant at Williams, acquitted himself very well in his F1 debut to take 18th place. On Sunday, he will be the first Argentine since Gastón Mazzacane in 2001 to compete in F1 and the second, after Carlos Reutemann, to race for Williams.”
You have to feel sorry for Logan Sargeant.
And this would be a seismic move, a huge blow to Fizzy Drink team.
It’s been a week of big news on the F1 scene.
The young driver crashed out of his first competitive run in an F1 car, in practice at Monza after just five laps but the team principal Toto Wolff said he would rather have the problem of slowing down a fast driver than vice versa.
Preamble
We really have a world title chase on our hands. Exciting, right? Lando Norris on pole, Max Verstappen seventh on the grid. There’s just 70 points in the title chase which seems a lot though Max is getting a bit antsy about his machine’s speed next to the McClaren. And nine races, and 254 points to be won. This is old-school stuff, rather than the procession of recent years. Exciting, risk-taking drivers, not completely foolproof motors, and it will probably look good on Netflix, too. It’s been a better, more exciting season than most expected, and it could get better yet. This vintage old lady of a track could see some real fireworks.
Top ten grid positions:
1. Lando Norris
2. Oscar Piastri
3. George Russell
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Carlos Sainz
6. Lewis Hamilton
7. Max Verstappen
8. Sergio Perez
9. Alex Albon
10. Nico Hulkenberg
11. Fernando Alonso
12. Daniel Ricciardo
13. Kevin Magnussen
14. Pierre Gasly
15. Esteban Ocon
16. Yuki Tsunoda
17. Lance Stroll
18. Franco Colapinto
19. Valtteri Botta
20. Zhou Guanyu
