Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc returned as the king of Monza by winning the Italian Formula One race. The Monaco driver celebrated a victory there in 2019 as well.
McLaren, who had a strong weekend Oscar Piastri was second and still fighting for the drivers’ world championship Lando Norris third. Ferrari co-driver Carlos Sainz Jr. was fourth.
Red Bull’s struggles continued and the reigning champion Max Verstappen was sixth, stablemate by Sergio Perez driving eighth.
Urheilu’s F1 expert Jukka Mildh review the hottest topics of the race weekend.
What solved it?
According to Mildh, tire choices and pit stops decided Ferrari’s victory in Monza.
– The fact that the tires were changed only once during the race is really rare. All in all, admirable risk management from Ferrari.
The renewed surface of the track meant that maintaining the grip of the tires became very important for the teams.
In the race, Ferrari relied on its tough choice of tires, and its drivers only went to the pits once during the race. All the other cars from the top garages went to the pit twice to change tires. Ferrari had also made a recent update to their cars, which seemed to work in Monza.
– Ferrari put everything on the line in this race because of their home race, and winning it was extremely important in terms of their support, Mildh believes.
What speaks?
According to Mildh, the situation within the McLaren team speaks the most at the moment.
– The most talked about situation in this race was that Piastri overtook Norris right at the start and in this way ensured himself a better performance.
– As a driver duo, Norris and Piastri are probably the best duo in formula one at the moment. It is interesting how the team management handles the situation. Now that McLaren is in a very strong tailwind, it may be that this becomes a little bigger problem for them in the future. The question is; should McLaren have given their drivers a pit order.
Lando Norris, who started from the pole position and finished third, grabbed an extra point in Monza by driving the fastest lap time of the race.
The drivers’ world championship race tightened even more when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is leading it, finished sixth in the race. The difference between Norris and Verstappen is 62 points. If Norris had won the race, the gap would have been 52 points. There are still eight races left in the season.
What about Bottas?
Sauber’s Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas was 16th in Monza.
Mildh would describe it as Bottas’ “standard race”.
– 16th place is the best Sauber can achieve under these conditions.
The team’s cars are not able to match the speed of other teams as expected and during the season Sauber has suffered from several problems. At his best, Bottas has been 13th on two occasions during the season. Sauber co-driver Zhou Guanyu was in Italy in the 18th
– Neither the stable nor the car’s development curve shows any signs of improvement at the moment. As is known, the problems are not on the driver’s side, but on the team’s management and way of working. The team’s attention is currently focused on planning the future, and that is unfortunate for Bottas.
Sauber is due to officially change to Audi for the 2026 season.
In Mildh’s opinion, the most important thing for Bottas at the moment is that the Finn would secure a job in the team next season as well.
According to sources, Bottas is about to sign a contract with his team for next season.
Who flopped?
Red Bull is the clear answer to the flop of the Italian competition.
– This is a flop compared to where we are used to seeing them, and now others clearly did a better job than them, says Mildh.
Red Bull’s pit visits have recently produced difficulties and the team members have fallen into rare mistakes for them.
– Very poor performance. They simply couldn’t get the car set up properly over the weekend. At the same time, Verstappen’s car also had engine problems. This was, in my opinion, their “rock bottom race” this season.
– The pressure is growing all the time in the team and it shows. It’s certainly due to the fact that at the moment other teams are trying to erode Red Bull’s supremacy. The team also has all its own scandals. In addition, it can also be seen that many are leaving the stable.
In their current state, Mexican Sergio Perez, the team’s second driver, is threatened with dismissal, and reigning world champion Max Verstappen has been rumored for Mercedes, because the team’s second place next season is vacant when Lewis Hamilton moves to Ferrari next season.
Red Bull was in the middle of a scandal in the spring, when a female employee of the team accused the team manager Christian Horner for inappropriate behavior. Red Bull decided to shelve the woman who accused Horner.
However, Mildh believes that Red Bull will go up again this season. Verstappen took no fewer than seven consecutive race wins from the start of the season and the Dutchman’s fourth consecutive world championship seemed almost certain. Now, eight of the last nine races have gone to Red Bull in the battle for victory.
Who surprised?
– Franco Colapinto I think Williams’ debut race was really surprising, says Mildh.
In the F1 series, the driver market has been hot in recent days, because Mercedes appointed Kimi Antonelli as his future driver and the Argentinian Colapinto became by Logan Sargeant replaced after he was fired.
– He finished twelfth in his first race and immediately showed that he is capable of a good result. The first F1 race is never easy. It tells you that this is a mature guy.
In Mildh’s opinion, Williams dragged out Sargeant’s firing far too long.
– Williams certainly had to drag out this decision for a long time for many reasons. The fact that Colapinto was only two places behind in the points and drove in such conditions in the middle of the season with such a car, which is not the best in the series, such a great performance.
Haas stood out as a specialty in the competition by Kevin Magnussen the penalty received, which means that the Danish driver will most likely not be seen in the next race in Azerbaijan.
The Formula 1 series continues next in Azerbaijan on the 13th-15th. September There are eight races left in the season.
Score
Drivers’ point standings
Points standings of the teams