Round 16 of the 2025 Formula One season heads to Monza after a chaotic showing at the Dutch Grand Prix where championship leader Oscar Piastri stretched his lead over his championship rival and teammate, Lando Norris. The Australian now leads the drivers standings by 34 points, a margin that probably gives him a bit of breathing space. Norris, however, has an even tougher task ahead if he aims to claw himself back into contention. He will be looking to bounce back with a win in Monza, where he took pole last year.
Ferrari will hope to change their fortunes after last week’s double DNF. Last year’s trip to Monza was a surprising success when Charles Leclerc’s stellar one-stop strategy clinched his second victory at Ferrari’s home race ahead of the McLaren duo, giving the Tifosi a warmly welcomed gift. Lewis Hamilton’s last two races for Ferrari have not gone the way he would have liked, and he goes into this weekend with a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags at Zandvoort, making his weekend just that much harder. On the more positive side for the Italian fit, Ferrari unveiled a special retro livery for the Italian Grand Prix.
The midfield battle is ramping up, the teams ever so close on track and in the standings. Impressive drives from the Haas and Aston Martin duos, who collected double points for their teams at Zandvoort, Alex Albon and, of course, rookie Isack Hadjar, with his maiden podium are all making headway for their teams in the constructors’ championship.
McLaren announced that F2 driver Alex Dunne will take part in FP1 this weekend (in Piastri’s car) as Alpine confirmed the same for Paul Aron, who will be hopping into Franco Colapinto’s car.
The forecast for this weekend looks bright and sunny. The temperature will likely make it a very warm weekend for the drivers. The same tyre compounds as last year are set for this weekend; with C3 as hards, C4 as mediums and C5 as softs. The low downforce set-ups run by teams would lead us to expect a one-stop race from most as Pirelli foresee lower graining; however Pirelli have also noted that the warmer conditions could speed up the tyre degradation, allowing a two stop strategy come into play.
This weekend the podium finishers will sport a special blue cap reflecting the blue sky above the beautiful circuit of Autodromo Nationale Monza and the logo of the 500th grand prix. Special trophies, also newly designed for this weekend called “The Chimera”, inspired by mythology and speed, have been designed by Italian artist Nico Vascellari.
Written by Leslie.
Edited by Alexandra.
Featured image credit: marca.com
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