The Italian Grand Prix held at Monza, is often an annual testament to power and speed every Formula 1 season.
On this Sunday however, it came down to a masterful demonstration of tire management.
While McLaren began the day with a front-row lockout, with Lando Norris in pole position and Oscar Piastri in second, Charles Leclerc found himself down in fourth. An early fight at the front saw Piastri bolt into the lead, and Leclerc overtake both George Russell and Norris to climb into second.
McLaren made the strategy call early to bring Norris in for a new set of tires on Lap 15, in an attempt to undercut Leclerc in front of him. Ferrari brought Leclerc in on the following lap to try and cover Norris off, a move that the driver questioned as he returned to the track behind Norris. “What was that? Why did we pit if we are undercut?”
While Leclerc questioned it in the moment, that was the decision that opened to door to a stunning win for the Ferrari driver in Monza, in front of the jubilant tifosi who were cheering the scarlet Ferrari around each of the 11 corners at the Temple of Speed. Somehow, some way, Leclerc managed to pull off a one-stop race, finishing the closing laps on a well-worn set of hard tires while his closest rivals were all driving on fresher rubber, having settled for a two-stop race.
“This did not see possible,” exclaimed Alex Jacques in the F1TV booth, as Leclerc took the checkered flag just a handful of seconds ahead of a charging Piastri. A day that many expected to be a McLaren triumph, as they entered Sunday within striking distance of Red Bull at the top of the F1 Constructors’ Championship standings, ended up as perhaps the finest drive of Leclerc’s entire career, including his long-awaited win earlier this season in the Monaco Grand Prix, his hometown race.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Leclerc trackside to Nico Rosberg. “My god the emotions.”
In the coming hours and days, many questions will be put to McLaren again. Having begun the day with their two drivers upfront, they were in an incredible position to gain ground on Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, and perhaps to inch Norris closer to Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship.
Instead, their strategy decisions opened the door for Leclerc to pull off the improbable, putting 38 laps on the hard compound to pull into the lead, and still have enough to hold off the late charge from Piastri. That left the McLaren duo to settle for the other two steps on the podium, with Piastri taking second and Norris taking third, as well as a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race. With Verstappen finishing sixth, and Sergio Pérez finishing eighth, that means McLaren will leave Monza just eight points behind Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, well within striking distance.
But at one point during the race, with Piastri running up in first and Norris in second, McLaren was in position to pull even with Red Bull in that fight. Instead, they are left to wonder what could have been. Both drivers, speaking with Rosberg trackside after the finish, expressed levels of disappointment.
“Ferrari just drove a better race today, especially Charles,” said Norris. “Are we disappointed? Of course … but Ferrari did a better job today.”
“Yeah it hurts, I’m not gonna like it hurts a lot,” said Piastri. “Doing a one stop seemed like a very risky call, but in the end it was right.
“Today unfortunately we got it a little bit wrong.”
However, one team got it right. Sunday was a day that Ferrari fans had waited for, when a brilliant set of strategy decisions led to a victory at the Temple of Speed.
And perhaps Charles Leclerc’s finest hour in Formula 1.
