Many a pundit, including the one who
pens this column, has given Ferrari a lot of sh…strive for their poor
performance on strategy over several years. The decision making ranged from
dubious to laughable to infuriating too outright dumb. At Monza this past
weekend Ferrari made another call and this time it was stupendously brilliant.
The pitwall’s call to switch both
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to a one-stop strategy was a bold move, by
Ferrari. A move so bold that it earned them an improbable victory on their
hallowed home ground. It was McLaren who had, by far, the quickest car,
evidenced by the fact that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front
row of the grid. Add to this that the pair of Papaya cars also led most of the
race quite easily. Although Leclerc was running in a solid third there was no
real threat from Ferrari. So, they rolled the dice, and it fell absolutely
perfectly.
But let’s backtrack slightly. For at
least a handful of seconds it appeared that Lando Norris had buried the woes of
his poor getaways as he led into the first corner from pole. But it was
shortlived though as his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, pulled off a move
around the outside of the second chicane that earned him the lead of the race.
The move clearly surprised Norris who lost momentum and dropped behind Charles
Leclerc. Elsewhere, George Russell, starting third, had to take avoiding action
into turn one and damaged his front wing. The Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen
and Checo Perez started a bit further down in seventh and eighth on the hard
compound tyre, trying to play the alternate strategy.
As quick as the McLaren appeared to
be Leclerc was able to keep in touch with Piastri and simultaneously keep
Norris at bay. It wasn’t until the first round of pitstops that Norris was able
to jump Leclerc. At this point Leclerc questioned the decision to pit as
teammate Carlos Sainz stayed out. At the time it seemed a pointless call for
Ferrari to make – if they were going to drop behind Norris anyway, why pit at
the same time? But Ferrari were about to play a blinder. As the McLarens made a
second round of pitstops Leclerc and Sainz were left in first and second. With
ten laps remaining Leclerc held an eleven second lead over Sainz with Piastri,
on fresh tyres, was closing at a rapid pace. Despite trying to defend Sainz was
unable to hold off Piastri or Norris.
By the point Norris took third off
Sainz, Piastri was only seven seconds behind race leader Leclerc. It should’ve
been inevitable but as the laps ticked by it became clear that Leclerc was
doing enough to hold on for an outstanding win in front of Ferrari’s adoring
Tifosi. Piastri finished second by a little more than six seconds with Norris
in third. Sainz, on his 30th birthday was fourth ahead of Lewis
Hamilton in fifth. Sixth place was the best that Verstappen could do ahead of
Russell in seventh. In eighth was Perez with Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen
finishing ninth and tenth. Elsewhere, F1’s newest driver, Franco Colapinto
finished a solid twelfth overall. The Argentine rookie has been parachuted into
the Williams team in place of Logan Sargeant.
For a Ferrari driver to win at Monza
is a dream. For Ferrari to win at Monza in 2024 was, before today, a flighty of
fancy. But then, what is Formula 1 if not building castles in the sky and
dreaming of improbable grandeur. The way Ferrari and Leclerc won this race will
live long in the memory too. It’s not often in modern F1 that fairy tale
triumphs such as this transpire. So, Ferrari fan or not lets salute and
appreciate a truly wonderous performance from driver and team.
