Italian GP takeaways: Leclerc at his best, Red Bull in big trouble

We offer our takeaways following each race weekend this year and continue the 2024 schedule with the Hungarian GP.

Moments that decided the race 👀

Leclerc’s superb win in front of the Tifosi

There is no better visual than a Ferrari win at Monza, and, for the first time in five years, Formula 1 was treated to the sight of Charles Leclerc celebrating victory in front of the Scuderia’s home crowd.

Leclerc’s win in Monza is arguably the most impressive of his career. In a race filled with concerns over tire graining and degradation, the Monegasque driver stretched out a dicey one-stop strategy to finish ahead of two faster McLarens, who opted to stop twice.

Driver	Race Pace	Stops
Oscar Piastri	1:23.542	2
Lando Norris	1:23.608	2
Lewis Hamilton	1:23.897	2
Charles Leclerc	1:23.949	1
George Russell	1:23.984	2
Max Verstappen	1:24.124	2
Carlos Sainz	1:24.236	1

Despite starting behind both McLarens, Leclerc put himself in contention immediately on Lap 1, capitalizing on Oscar Piastri’s overtake on race leader Lando Norris and jumping Norris as well.

Though Leclerc was undercut by Norris on the latter’s first stop, it was the Ferrari driver’s pace on his second stint that swung the race back in his favor. Leclerc reeled Norris in, forcing him to make an earlier second stop that would effectively take him out of the picture. Piastri, also complaining of front-tire wear, pitted from the lead on Lap 38, leaving Leclerc as the race leader – a result that would go unchanged.

Few thought going into the race that a one-stopper would work due to the intense heat and new tarmac laid down at the circuit. Winning on a one-stopper seemed ludicrous. However, Leclerc – perhaps powered by the Tifosi – nursed his hard tires 38 laps to the finish with incredible consistency, while Piastri was unable to retake the lead despite being over a second a lap faster at times.

It was a calculated gamble by Ferrari. Two-stopping would leave Leclerc third but with little chance of a home win. One-stopping would probably leave him third with a chance at triumph. Turns out, all Leclerc needed was a chance to demonstrate his ability, and he sent the Italian crowd into pandemonium, just like he did five years ago when he finished ahead of two Mercedes at Monza.

Another missed opportunity for McLaren

Team principal Andrea Stella said after Zandvoort that he pulled inspiration from Sebastian Vettel, who won every race after the 2013 summer break and asked, why not us? Just seven days later, McLaren’s win streak ends at one.

It’s beginning to sound a bit repetitive, but Monza was another race where McLaren had to settle for hitching a spot on the podium instead of standing at the top.

Just like in the past, some errors were self-inflicted. For the seventh time in seven opportunities, Lando Norris was unable to convert a first-place start to a race lead after Lap 1. This time, though, it was because of his own teammate, who caught Norris by surprise with a bold overtake.

Whether Piastri’s move violated “papaya rules” and was too risky to attempt on McLaren’s top driver in the championship is worth a debate, but Norris didn’t help himself from there. He was back in position to fight for a win after his first pitstop. However, a clumsy mistake left him vulnerable to Leclerc and with some tire degradation, and McLaren called him in earlier than any of the front-runners for his second stop.

Piastri’s race unravelled when he later complained of tire wear, forcing him on a two-stopper. He emerged from the pits on Lap 39 over 18 seconds behind Leclerc with 14 laps remaining. With McLaren’s pace, it seemed like he had a shot. But in the end, he was 2.6 seconds short and settled for second.

The Australian admitted after the race that the one-stopper was the “right” call. McLaren couldn’t make it work and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton offered that he believed the papaya duo were pushing too hard. “I was hearing the lap times, and that was focused on a two-stop race. If they slowed down, then they would have made a one-stop,” Hamilton said.

In Monza, McLaren had the pace, but Leclerc executed his one-stopper better. Sometimes that happens in racing, so it can be forgiven. Perhaps the bigger question is if Piastri should have been swapped with Norris on the last lap once the chance at victory had evaporated. This would have given Norris another three points in the championship, which could be useful later on. After all, Norris was told in Hungary to hand Piastri back the lead because he was going to need the team on his side. Swapping third place for second place to benefit Norris seemed like an easy and harmless favor to provide.

Red Bull out of the mix completely

There are collapses in sports, and even untouchable empires eventually cease to exist. But Red Bull’s downfall is unlike anything seen in quite some time, and if its form at Monza was a precursor of what’s to come, it’ll only be a matter of time before both championships slip through its grasp.

The top six drivers in qualifying finished within two tenths of each other. Not one was a Red Bull driver, as Max Verstappen (0.695s off pole) and Sergio Perez (0.735s off pole) locked out the fourth row. It was a new rock bottom, though that only lasted until Sunday, when another rock bottom was discovered.

The circuit known as “The Temple of Speed” was dominated by Red Bull in years prior, but the previous dominators became the dominated in this race. Verstappen, who was plagued by a slow pitstop and engine issue, finished sixth and 37.9 seconds off the lead, while Perez ended over 54 seconds adrift. Only one year ago, Verstappen and Perez celebrated a one-two finish at the same circuit.

Red Bull have no immediate solutions by the sounds of it, and that spells trouble for its title hopes. The constructors already seems lost, with McLaren only eight points behind and Ferrari now just 39 points away. However, Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ standings is also in trouble after he surrendered 16 points to Norris over the last two races. At that pace, Norris will be the champion by one point in Abu Dhabi.

“At the moment, both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen admitted after the race.

Driver of the Day 🙌

Charles Leclerc:Leclerc demonstrated the qualities that make Ferrari believe it has a world champion in the making. For years, Leclerc was cursed with a poor pole-to-win ratio, often caused by shortcomings in Ferrari’s race pace and inviting unfair assessments of his Sunday pace. But Monza wasn’t about his exceptional one-lap pace, as he brilliantly nursed a set of tires to victory against a faster McLaren. Points are earned on Sunday, not Saturday, and on this Sunday in Monza, Leclerc earned all 25 points.

They said what? 🗣️

Leclerc on how it felt to win in Monza again: “It’s an incredible feeling. 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.”

Piastri on if he should have opted for a one-stop strategy: “In hindsight, yes. But, you know, everyone’s a legend on Monday after the race or at the chequered flag. And today, unfortunately, we got it a bit wrong. And, you know, myself being a big part of that, we had everything to lose from being in the lead of the race. Charles could try something a bit different. He was going to finish third either way. And, yeah, he picked the right gamble today. You know, the mediums were getting destroyed. And even the hards and the Red Bull at the start looked pretty dead. And my front left was pretty heavily grained. Just we didn’t expect it to clear back up again, which it did. So, yeah, painful.”

Norris on what he would do differently on Lap 1 battle with Piastri: “Just brake a bit later. Simple as that. But sometimes it’s easier said than done. You know, Oscar obviously braked on the limit and gave me space. It was just about enough. I did my best to avoid anything else happening at the time. But at the same time, if I brake two metres later, you don’t know and you can’t predict. But two metres later and it could easily have been a crash. So it’s a tough one. Easiest thing is just to brake way later and force him off, and I kind of treat it like no one else. I don’t know. I obviously took it easy. I saw we had a massive gap behind, so maybe I was just a bit too much on the cautious side and paid the price.”

Norris on if he’s getting help from his teammate: “Yeah, he helps me. But I’m not here just to beg for someone to let me pass. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to race. He drove a better race than me, so I finished third, and that’s where I deserved to finish.”

Verstappen on Red Bull’s current form: “If we don’t change anything on the car, it is all going to be bad from now onwards to the end of the season. We have a lot of work to do.”

McLaren’s Zak Brown on Red Bull’s drop in performance: “Ultimately don’t know what’s going on in there. But, you know, I think Adrian Newey, bet it’d be nice to have him around the conference room table right now looking at how to improve the car. And obviously Jonathan Wheatley’s still there, but he’s moving on and Rob Marshall, who has joined us. So, you’ve got three of the most senior people that were at Red Bull, huge contributors, that can’t not be a loss. We all have bad pitstops, but it does seem to be that things are a bit more destabilized than they’ve certainly been recently.”

Red Bull’s Christian Horner on if Newey’s departure is linked to problems with the RB20: “The issues were already there, and one man’s input could never be so dramatic, so quickly. This started in Miami, and Adrian was plugged in up until the Friday of Miami. He would have been working with all the same people, and Formula 1 is a team sport. This is a team issue. The team will come up with a solution.”

What’s next?

The F1 calendar moves to Baku for the Azerbaijan GP on Sept. 15 at 7 a.m. ET.

Red Bull has dominated the circuit in recent years. Sergio Perez won in 2023 and 2021, while Max Verstappen won in 2022.

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