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Charles Leclerc reigned victorious as the King of Monza in front of the Tifosi, but what else did the Italian Grand Prix reveal?
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza hosted an action-packed Italian Grand Prix. Many may have believed that McLaren had it in the bag, starting from a front-row lockout. However, Charles Leclerc raced to victory in front of his team’s home crowd.
But what else did we learn from the 2024 Italian Grand Prix?
‘Last Lap Lando’ is definitely not first lap Lando
Lando Norris lined up in pole position in Monza for the second consecutive race. However, he is unfortunately becoming known for being unable to maintain the lead in the first lap.
He earned the nickname ‘Last Lap Lando’ for setting the fastest lap of the race during his last lap of the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, snatching P3 from Lewis Hamilton and his first F1 podium.
Norris seems to excel when chasing down a driver ahead, as we saw this season during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix when he cut down the gap to Max Verstappen ahead, almost catching him.
However, Norris does not have the same reputation when it comes to race starts. Of his seven F1 career pole positions, Norris has not led at the end of the first lap during any of those race starts.
The 24-year-old started the Hungarian Grand Prix on pole position but was overtaken on the first lap by his teammate, Oscar Piastri who went on to win the race for his maiden F1 win.
Despite winning the Dutch Grand Prix, Norris lost the lead of the race from pole position. He managed to claw P1 back over the course of the race but failed to maintain his lead off the line.
Once again, at the Italian Grand Prix Norris lined up on pole position. His McLaren teammate, Piastri also lined up behind him for another McLaren front-row lockout.
Piastri demonstrated his skills off the line, overtaking Norris on the first lap after wheel-to-wheel action. Furthermore, Norris also lost a position to Leclerc, dropping him from P1 down to P3 before the end of lap one.
Excessive heat caused a flurry of slow pit stops
Monza was hit with an excessive heat warning over the Italian Grand Prix weekend. The high temperatures caused multiple teams to struggle with pit stops throughout the race.
A good pit stop time in F1 is typically between two and three seconds. The fastest pit stop in F1 history was recorded at 1.80 seconds by McLaren at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix for Norris.
In the Italian heat, various teams struggled with pit stops that were between four and five seconds. There is a direct correlation between temperature and pit stop times. As temperatures increase, mechanical components like wheel nuts and threads expand slightly, meaning that they are not working as flawlessly as usual.
Haas suffered a slow stop for Nico Hulkenberg on lap six, while Red Bull struggled to remove Verstappen’s right rear tyre during his 6.2-second lap 22 stop. Moreover, George Russell attempted an undercut, but the strategy failed due to a 4.2-second stop by Mercedes. Piastri also experienced a slow stop.
Another unlucky weekend for RB
RB have not had the best luck in 2024 and, unfortunately for them, Italy was no exception. Hulkenberg collided with Yuki Tsunoda’s sidepod at Turn 1. The crash damaged Tsunoda’s front wing and caused him to use the run-off area, losing positions. Consequently, on lap eight the team told Tsunoda to box and retire the car.
Nico and Yuki clash at turn one ? pic.twitter.com/Y1d1zv3cfi
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 1, 2024
On lap four, Tsunoda’s teammate, Daniel Ricciardo also clashed with Hulkenberg. Ricciardo was noted by Race Control for contact with Hulkenberg at Turn 8. He received a five-second time penalty for the incident. Ricciardo served his penalty at the end of lap eight, entering the pits and completing an 8.5-second stop.
However, Race Control later announced that Ricciardo was under investigation for failing to serve the time penalty correctly. The replay showed an RB mechanic automatically touching the Australian driver’s car when he came into box, rather than waiting for the penalty to be served first before touching the car.
Sadly for Ricciardo, this meant he was handed a further 10-second penalty. The 35-year-old ended up in P13 after crossing the line.
Not the best ending for Kevin Magnussen
Daniel Ricciardo was not the only driver to pick up penalties from the Italian Grand Prix. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen received a 10-second time penalty for colliding with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Magnussen crossed the line in P10 and scored one point for Haas. However, his penalty added two additional penalty points to his licence. Therefore, following the Italian Grand Prix, the Danish driver had accumulated the maximum 12 points allowed within a 12-month period.
Shortly after the race, the FIA announced that Magnussen would receive a one-race ban for exceeding the penalty point limit within a year. Thus, the 31-year-old will not race at the next grand prix in Azerbaijan. Instead, reserve driver and Haas driver for next season, Oliver Bearman will once again step in as a substitute for an F1 race this season.
Magnussen’s future in F1 is uncertain. Haas announced that they were parting ways with the Dane and have instead opted for Bearman and Esteban Ocon as their 2025 drivers. While his current Haas teammate, Hulkenberg has found himself a 2025 seat at Sauber, Magnussen is yet to secure a deal.
The only remaining 2025 seats yet to be confirmed are alongside Hulkenberg at Sauber and alongside Tsunoda at RB. However, current Sauber drivers – Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu – are yet to sign a deal. Furthermore, current RB driver – Ricciardo – and reserve driver – Liam Lawson – have not secured their F1 futures.
This is not the first time Magnussen has faced a break from F1. Haas initially dropped the Dane after the 2020 season. However, he was asked back in 2022 by Guenther Steiner, Team Principal of Haas at the time, due to the team terminating Nikita Mazepin’s contract amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Unfortunately for Magnussen, the penalty points he has racked up this season resulting in the first race ban seen under the new system may not have helped his campaign to remain in Formula 1.
As Ted Kravitz said, it was ‘tyre death or Grand Prix glory’ for Ferrari
Monza marks Leclerc’s second win of the 2024 season and his seventh F1 career win. His first win this year was his historic victory on home soil in Monaco. After years of bad luck at his home race, Leclerc finally won it for the first time this year.
He now follows that with another home race win, this time his team’s. This is not Leclerc’s first win at the Temple of Speed for the Italian outfit, he first took the top step of the podium at Ferrari’s home race in 2019.
However, this win in Monza may have come as a welcome surprise for the Tifosi. Many expected a McLaren win after a McLaren front-row lockout in Qualifying. In addition, Leclerc’s initial strategy seemed to have fallen apart when Norris undercut him for second place.
It became clear after this initial error that a drastic strategy was required from Ferrari. Therefore, they decided not to pit their drivers a second time. While most teams opted for a two-stop race, the Maranello-based outfit moved to a one-stop strategy.
The one-stop strategy was risky at this circuit, due to high track temperatures and long, high speed straights. Tyre degradation and wear were an issue for many drivers. Once the tyre performance disappeared, it fell dramatically off a cliff.
Carlos Sainz suffered from this drop in tyre performance, meaning that he fell from P2 to P4. However, Leclerc managed to maintain his lead of the race, becoming the tyre whisperer. The Monagasque had just enough laps left to hold off the McLaren drivers in P2 and P3.
Luckily for Leclerc, his tyres stayed in one piece to get him safely across the finish line in first place. Leclerc passed the chequered flag to take Ferrari’s 21st win at home amid roars from the Tifosi.
Featured Image Credit:Â?@Charles_Leclerc on X