Ferrari’s one-stop strategy gives Leclerc an unlikely victory in front of a happy Tifosi for the Italian Grand Prix.
Lando Norris had initially gotten off of the line well, managing to fend off challenges from Oscar Piastri and George Russell going into turn 1, with the latter going too deep and having to use the escape road, dropping him down a few positions. Norris however, would still be challenged going into turn 4, where Piastri would go on to take first place away from his teammate, with Leclerc behind also taking advantage of Norris’ lack of speed through the chicane to steal 2nd.
Elsewhere on lap 1, Ricciardo had forced Hulkenberg wide coming into the Ascari chicane, an action that would give him a penalty. A couple of laps later, Hulkenberg would tangle with the other RB of Yuki Tsunoda, which would also earn himself a penalty, as well as cause Tsunoda to retire from the race.
Russell had managed to pick up some minor front wing damage in the opening laps, which whilst not seeming to affect his performance too much early on, his pace would begin to slow down later in the stint, with Perez gaining and eventually passing the Mercedes driver.
Out front and despite getting pole position yesterday, Norris did not seem to have overwhelming pace to pass Leclerc in the same way he did just last week when passing Verstappen. Norris was just outside the DRS range of Leclerc for much of the first stint, and even as he started to gain on the Ferrari towards the end of the stint, it would be an undercut from McLaren on lap 15 that would ultimately get Norris back up into 2nd place.
Whilst Leclerc would pit one lap later, he was frustrated at doing so given that the position was already lost and could have potentially gone longer, as teammate Sainz alluded to the fact that drivers stopping now would struggle to make it to the end on a one-stop.
Norris was now hoping to chase down Piastri for the lead, with the team indicating that they could fight, but that he would have to cover the other car in Leclerc. Whilst signs looked promising at first for Norris, he would begin to slip away once again. Piastri’s chances to win looked like they were getting stronger lap after lap.
Further behind, Verstappen would pit for his first stop of the race on lap 23, going onto a second set of hard tyres, forcing a two-stop race for Red Bull. It wasn’t a quick stop for the championship leader either, as the 6.2 seconds it took to change his tyres put him much further away from Hamilton, who he had just been chasing down in the laps prior. He was at least able to stay ahead of his teammate when Perez pitted just one lap later.
Norris’ front left was really beginning to struggle, and a mistake at the Roja chicane meant that he fell back into the clutches of Leclerc. McLaren pulled the trigger on a two-stop on lap 33 as Norris came in for a new set of tyres, and Piastri came in a few laps later. However, it wasn’t the quickest of stops for either driver.
McLaren’s woes did not end after pitting though. It quickly became clear that Ferrari weren’t going to pit again, and whilst it would be likely that both he and Piastri would get back past Sainz, Leclerc’s position was looking solid. Furthermore, Verstappen did all he could to fight Norris and slow him down further, only making his 2nd stop when Norris overtook him on track.
Piastri overtook Sainz on lap 45, giving him 8 laps to overcome a 12 second deficit. Things looked good at first, as the delta between the two cars began to dwindle. However, it appeared that the performance of Piastri’s much younger tyres began to flatten out in comparison to Leclerc. Whilst Piastri was still catching, it wasn’t by as much.
The laps were counting down, and whilst Norris was able to also pass Sainz to put both McLaren’s onto the top step, neither would occupy the top step. Leclerc’s tyres were able to hang on and he was able to win in front of the Tifosi for the 2nd time in his career. Whilst there had been speculation about whether Piastri would give Norris 2nd for the championship fight, that would not occur, and Piastri would lead Norris in 2nd and 3rd, with the latter also taking the fastest lap on the final lap.
Norris now trails Verstappen by 62 points in the standings, though today will have felt like a missed opportunity to not have gained more, given that Verstappen finished in 6th. McLaren are also just 9 points behind Red Bull in the constructor’s standings, and with the form displayed by both teams, it looks as though it will only be a matter of time before McLaren take top spot.
The next grand prix will take place in two weeks time as F1 heads to the streets of Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
