This week, Flashback Friday takes us back two years to a sunny weekend at the beautiful Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. In a weekend which the Tifosi will never forget, we saw a young Monegasque pick up his second win in a scarlet red Ferrari, in front of an adoring and passionate crowd. I’m referring of course to Charles Leclerc, at Monza.
Qualifying
I’m sure we all remember the chaos of this qualifying session. Monza is widely known as the ‘Temple of Speed’ but interestingly, it didn’t show it during this session. Due to the fact that the slipstream and ‘tow’ is so important on this track, drivers were finding strange new ways to, for once, not be at the front of the track. Whichever car gets stuck at the front of the line will be punching a hole in the air, meaning the drivers behind will benefit from this gap and be able to set faster lap times.
This was shown especially clearly at the end of Q3. With only a few minutes remaining of the session following a red flag caused by Kimi Räikkönen, the ten cars fighting for pole position were poised in their garages, waiting to see who would blink first. When the time finally came, it was Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg leading the pack – although he quickly ‘locked-up’ (at a very convenient moment) and took to the escape road, leaving McLaren’s Carlos Sainz in front instead. The two drivers (as well as the eight others) continued extremely slowly around the track, hoping that someone would take the fall and lead the others – although this ultimately failed. Eight of the ten drivers didn’t make it to the end of the out lap and thus couldn’t complete their final flying lap. Carlos Sainz was able to complete his last final lap, and Charles Leclerc made it in time too, although he abandoned his final lap (still securing pole position). The shambolic final run was investigated by the stewards, and eventually Hulkenberg, Sainz, and Racing Point driver Lance Stroll were given reprimands for causing the procession.
It is also worth noting that due to engine issues, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was unable to exit Q1, and McLaren driver Lando Norris took an engine penalty which sent him to the back of the grid – although he competed in Q2, giving teammate Sainz a valuable tow to get him into Q3.
Race
The Italian Grand Prix started as it meant to go on – with Charles Leclerc in the lead. The Monegasque darted in to the lead as the lights went out, with Lewis Hamilton hot on his heels. Hamilton was able to stick closely to Leclerc throughout the race – sometimes too close – the two came close to contact on lap 23 when Leclerc squeezed Hamilton just a little too much, resulting in the black and white flag being waved his way. The Mercedes driver attempted to undercut his rival when the time for pitstops came, but a brilliant stop by Ferrari meant that when Leclerc had changed his tires he came back onto the track still slightly ahead of Hamilton. The two continue their nail-biting fight on track – Hamilton never lets the Ferrari driver out of his sights. Even though I’ve watched this race countless times I still felt anxious every time the distance between them dropped below a second!
By lap 42, it became clear that Hamilton’s yellow-striped medium tires were no match for the hard compound tires on Leclerc’s car. Mercedes we’re quick to respond to this, unleashing Valtteri Bottas from behind his teammate in order to overtake Leclerc, on tires which were seven laps younger. Bottas made a remarkable effort, but with two laps remaining went slightly wide on turn 1 – allowing Leclerc the bit of breathing space he so desperately needed. The Monegasque brought home the win to an adoring home crowd, with the celebrations beginning before he had even crossed the finishing line.
While Leclerc went down in history for his victory, teammate Sebastian Vettel had a day of bad luck and misery. A spin on lap 3 dropped him down from fourth place to almost the back of the grid – and he was quick to send Racing Point’s Lance Stroll tumbling down the order with him. As Vettel came back on track the Canadian driver had to take extreme measures to avoid contact – which resulted in him being pushed off the track too. It was bizarre to see what looked like almost a domino effect – Stroll attempting to rejoin the track pushed off the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly, who was passing at the time. As a result, both Vettel and Stroll picked up penalties for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner. Vettel was given a ten second stop-and-go penalty – meaning he would have to drive through the pitlane at the designated pitlane speed, before remaining stationary for ten seconds – with the Ferrari mechanics never being able to lay a finger on the car. After the ten seconds was up, he would have to immediately leave the pitlane – resulting in a penalty of approximately half a minute overall (one of the harshest the FIA can give). Lance Stroll, however, was seen with slightly more leniency since his move was a recovery after being hit by the Ferrari driver. Stroll was given a drive-through penalty, which meant that he would have to drive through the pitlane without stopping.
Race results were mixed up and down the grid. Mclaren driver Carlos Sainz had to retire his car after his pit stop as a wheel was not properly attached to the car (and would have resulted in disqualification had he continued). Unfortunately this was the second occasion in two races that the Spaniard had been unable to finish the race.
Max Verstappen was able to drive an excellent recovery race which somewhat flew under the radar. Starting at the very back of the grid and sustaining damage on the first lap would have left a lot of drivers at the back of the pack all day – but the Dutchman was able to finish in 8th place and in the points.
The Renault drivers of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg had an excellent race themselves, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. The two drivers would switch position occasionally throughout the race, each wanting to be ahead of the other. Every move was clinically clean and the two drivers would always give each other the right amount of space.
When all is said and done, this race is an excellent one to watch for a number of reasons, and if you haven’t before I cannot recommend it enough (particularly if you’re a Ferrari fan).
“Mercedes threw everything at him today – Charles Leclerc has coped brilliantly. He won in Spa, he wins in Monza!” – David Croft
The Fastest Sector 