Round 15/24: Review of the Italian Grand Prix Race

Charles Leclerc pulled a magnificent win out of his hat in front of the Ferrari’s home crowd on 38-lap old hard tires keeping the charging McLarens at bay while Oscar Piastri finished P2 ahead of Lando Norris. Carlos Sainz pulled a one-stopper too finishing in P4 ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Norris also managed to get the fastest lap thereby cutting Verstappen’s lead by 8 points, Kevin Magnussen finished P10 but also amassed 12 penalty points which means he would miss the grand prix at Baku.

The strategy for the race was tricky as teams were still determining if a one-stopper would suffice or if a two-stopper would be faster. Most drivers started on mediums while the Red Bulls started on hards likely to get a tire offset later during the race along with Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda, and Valtteri Bottas. The risk of rain was at 40% but it never arrived.

At the start of the race Norris for once got away well into turn one but was beaten by his teammate in a surprise move going into turn four which resulted in Norris losing another position to Leclerc. Piastri then went on to control the pace for the majority of the race. George Russell carried too much speed going into turn one and possibly hit the bollard when he went into the runway before joining back on track. This resulted in him losing four positions while further back Nico Hulkenberg had contact and fell to P16.

Leclerc held onto DRS for about 11 laps and once he fell out of the DRS he could no longer keep up with Piastri. Norris started attacking Leclerc and just before he could overtake Leclerc, McLaren asked him to box. It was so sudden that Lando lost control at the pit entry but luckily managed to brake in time. Ferrari responded immediately pitting Leclerc on the next lap but Norris managed to undercut him and take a net effective P2. Piastri kept controlling the pace while Norris fell back slowly and on lap 31 Norris made a mistake which brought Leclerc back into the fight. This triggered the second stop for Norris as his front left no longer had any grip.

Elsewhere the Red Bulls didn’t have their superior race pace that we have become so accustomed to in recent times. Verstappen had a slow stop of 6.2 seconds and he even called out his team to focus. Both Red Bulls went onto hards again and committed to the early two-stopper. Russel meanwhile changed his front wing and his battle was predominantly with Perez for the rest of the race. Hamilton had a lonely race with the McLarens ahead of him by about 10 seconds while Verstappen was behind him by about 15 seconds.

Piastri who seemingly had everything in control went into the pits for fresh hards on lap 39. This allowed the Ferraris to take the lead and from here it was obvious that the Ferraris would have to go for the one-stopper to have any chance. Piastri nearly needed 1.5 seconds per lap for the remaining 15 laps to beat Leclerc but in the end, he could only reach within 3 seconds of the lead Ferrari. Both the McLarens managed to beat Sainz who was on 5 laps younger tires compared to his teammate but neither managed to overtake Leclerc.

References

1. Image Credits: www.motorsport.com
2. Thumbnail Image Credits: www.motorsport.com
3. Timing Sheet Credits: www.formula1.com

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