Charles on fire! Monza goes Ferrari red once again

Scuderia Ferrari HP won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with a masterful job from the team and an exceptional performance from Charles Leclerc who managed to make his Hard tyres last longer than anyone else, fending off the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris all the way to the chequered flag. The team picked up 37 points today, thanks also to a fourth place for Carlos Sainz, more than any other team, which puts it 39 points behind the leader. It is Ferrari’s 246^th win, the third this season, the seventh for Leclerc, his second in Monza after his memorable 2019 victory. He is now third in the Drivers’ classification, while Carlos is fifth. As was the case last week in Zandvoort, the team executed its strategy very well and proved to be flexible when it came to taking a gamble to go with a one-stop when two seemed the most likely course. The decision to run with less aero downforce also proved correct, allowing the drivers to make the most of one of the SF-24’s strong points, namely its ability to be kind on its tyres. The rest was down to Leclerc, who once again proved his class, always improving and now a real master of tyre management. 

The race. After the start, the Ferrari duo made the most of a mistake from George Russell at the first chicane to move up to third with Charles and fourth with Carlos. The Monegasque also immediately got the better of Lando Norris to go second, after Oscar Piastri had attacked his team-mate aggressively at the Roggia chicane. The Medium tyres showed signs of degradation very early on, on all the cars and Charles’ pace dropped a bit and he was undercut by Norris to be back in third place. Charles switched to the Hard on lap 15 and from then on, his race took an altogether different turn. He did a brilliant job of managing his tyres so that he could go all the way to the flag, unlike the two McLarens that made a second stop. Back in the lead, the Monegasque held a consistent pace which put him out of reach of Piastri and Norris allowing him to take a well deserved win, following on from that unforgettable Monaco victory back in May. Sainz, who turned 30 today, also had a very strong race, switching to Hards on lap 19 before he too went all the way to the flag with no further stops. However, he was passed in the closing stages by both McLarens, having helped Charles by fending off Piastri for a long two laps, when the McLaren couldn’t run at its true pace.

A sea of red. As always with a Ferrari win, the crowd, a veritable sea of red - wasted no time in invading the track on the main straight to start the party under the podium cheering for the team, the drivers and the team principal, singing at the top of their voices. Tonight we will enjoy a well-deserved celebration. The Championship resumes in a fortnight’s time on 13 September with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit, another of Charles’ favourite tracks.

Charles Leclerc #16

What an incredible feeling. The first time I won in Monza in 2019 was so emotional to both me and to our whole team, I didn’t think that winning here could ever feel like that again, but today, it did. Seeing our tifosi celebrating with us is just amazing and I am so glad that we could share this victory for a second time. Monaco and Monza were the two races I have always wanted to win, because they are so special to me. A huge thank you to every single person in our team who made this happen today. You have done an incredible job to make this dream a reality and we can all be proud to have achieved this together. We had a perfectly executed strategy today and beat our competitors to it, and we will give everything to keep this momentum for the rest of the season, taking any opportunity we have.

Carlos Sainz #55

First of all, congratulations to Charles and the entire team, including the people working in Maranello! I'm really happy for all of them and the tifosi, it’s definitely a well deserved win!
It was a shame I couldn't keep a podium position today. I think staying out and extending the first stint made me lose some race time and the train of tows at the front. From there it was difficult to make up time but the call to commit to a one-stop strategy was the right one and overall we should be happy that the car seems to work better. Let’s see in the upcoming races if we can keep up the good results.

Fred Vasseur - Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari HP

What a mega result for the team! This is a real confidence booster for all of us and our tifosi who really made the difference this weekend. It was a very good race in which Charles drove incredibly well and I think we fully deserved this win. After qualifying, we were a bit disappointed, because we knew we had the potential to do very well. From the beginning of the season, I think we are probably in better shape on race pace than in qualifying and it was the case also today. Once again the execution was very good and we were able to turn things around. Last year tyre management was our biggest weakness whereas now, I think it’s one of the advantages we have with this car. It was already the case last week in Zandvoort and now we are quite consistent in terms of race pace to the point that we did think it might be a two stop but then we saw very low degradation in the second stint and we changed our strategy accordingly and Charles had the race under control all the time. It was a risk but sometimes you have to take risks and today it worked. We worked well as a team and we knew that Carlos could help if we did a one-stop with the two cars. He was also helping us with feedback on the tyres because it’s important to have two opinions, two different sources of information and we were quite relaxed on this front.

John Elkann - Ferrari Chairman

Winning on home turf in Monza is a unique feeling. This win is for all our fans who always support us and who today gave Charles that extra push over the final few laps. Congratulations to the whole team who were united in their efforts to get everything right, making this Ferrari win possible.