Tag: Italian GP

How Monza strength boosted Ferrari confidence in its development plan

The strong performance from Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix provides a boost of confidence for the entire team that it understands how to develop its car for the future, according to the team’s senior performance engineer, Jock Clear. Carlos Sainz …

The strong performance from Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix provides a boost of confidence for the entire team that it understands how to develop its car for the future, according to the team’s senior performance engineer, Jock Clear.

Carlos Sainz took pole position with Charles Leclerc third in qualifying, and the pair finished third and fourth respectively in the race after making the Red Bulls work hard to overtake them. Clear says the fact Ferrari targeted Monza as a circuit it could be strong at, and then upgraded its car in a way that proved productive at that venue, bodes well for its plans moving forward.

“I think the most important thing about a weekend like (Monza) is to understand why you are better off,” Clear said. “Coming into this race we were confident that we understood enough about the car to know that we would be competitive here, and that’s the most encouraging thing for next year, for any year, when you understand what you are doing.

“When you get anomalies, and we’ve had a couple earlier on in the season where we didn’t understand — not specifically overall circuits, but there are some places where in some corners we just couldn’t work out why we were so slow in some corners — so you really have to scratch your head and say there’s something we are missing here.

“To come to Monza and have the car perform exactly how we expected it to, is a real fillip for all the design team and the aero department, because that is an affirmation that we know what we are doing — we understand what the car is doing and therefore what we are projecting for next year, we have every confidence is realistic.”

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With a focus on being more competitive in 2024, Clear says Ferrari is unlikely to bring any major updates to its car across the final eight races, although he wouldn’t rule out developments that could be brought forward.

“I think there will be little bits here and there. I don’t think there is going to be anything big,” Clear said. “We will have to see — that decision I don’t think is absolutely made because we are keen to make sure we go into next year with confidence and that means you want to finish the year strongly. If there are things that we think will carry over and be relevant, it would be sensible to get them on the car and get the confidence and some track time on those pieces before February next year.”

Williams won’t stand a chance until Vegas – Albon

Alex Albon views his points in the Italian Grand Prix as particularly crucial because he feels Williams won’t be in with a chance of scoring again until the penultimate Formula 1 round in Las Vegas. Williams has been quick on low-downforce circuits …

Alex Albon views his points in the Italian Grand Prix as particularly crucial because he feels Williams won’t be in with a chance of scoring again until the penultimate Formula 1 round in Las Vegas.

Williams has been quick on low-downforce circuits this season but also delivered an impressive weekend in Zandvoort, where Albon finished eighth. He backed that up with seventh in Monza at a track where the team had targeted a good result, and Albon believes it’s an important result for the team’s hopes of securing seventh in the constructors’ championship given the likely competitive order at the upcoming races.

“I think it’s a good step,” Albon said. “I worry about tracks like Brazil, these kind of races. But I hope we’re in a better place now. We needed that, because in the next few races we’re not really going to stand a chance, until Vegas. So, not to say that we’re gonna take our foot off the pedal but… a good points finish here was what we needed.”

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Williams is now 10 points clear of Haas in seventh place in the constructors’ championship, having been level prior to Zandvoort. Despite the good result, Albon says it was a particularly tough afternoon in Monza under pressure from Oscar Piastri and then Lando Norris because of the relative strengths and weaknesses of his car compared to the McLaren.

“It was tricky because we were really weak in the last corner. We’re actually good through Ascari, but slow in Turn 11, and they would always catch me up through there. The degradation was huge and Logan (Sargeant) and myself, we thought it was going to be a really tough race.

“We didn’t have the pace, but we had the straight-line speed, and that was what kept Lando behind. I think obviously he must be very frustrated. I would be. And we were just about good enough in Turn 1 on the brakes, that even though they have more downforce than us, it’s not a clean overtake for them — you could see every time they tried to outbrake me, they tended to go wide.”

Albon points to high temperatures as one of the reasons why Williams was struggling more than he’d hoped, expecting similar outcomes if faced with hot events as Formula 1 embarks on flyaway races until the end of the season.

“I think we still see our weaknesses. We are low-downforce — we are better than we were last year, but especially when the track gets hot and the deg is high we really struggle. And (Monza) was a race where we struggled, on a track that should suit us.

“I think if the track was 20 degrees cooler we would have been really fast, maybe near that kind of where we qualified (in sixth). But… some work to do. We go to Asia now, it gets hot, go to America, it’s kind of hot as well there.”

No team orders was the right call at Monza, says Ferrari’s Vasseur

Fred Vasseur said he was proud of Ferrari’s approach in allowing Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to fight throughout the Italian Grand Prix, and of how the drivers responded. Sainz had started from pole position with Leclerc third, and the pair …

Fred Vasseur said he was proud of Ferrari’s approach in allowing Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to fight throughout the Italian Grand Prix, and of how the drivers responded.

Sainz had started from pole position with Leclerc third, and the pair raced closely with Max Verstappen before he took the lead on lap 15. After another battle with Sergio Perez, the pair were then left to contest the final podium position at Ferrari’s home race without the intervention of team orders.

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“If I froze the positions, you would have exactly the same question – why did you freeze the situation?” Vasseur said. “For sure, it’s much easier to comment when you have a happy ending, but it was also the best way to thank everybody for the support of the Tifosi.

“On this I want to have the last call, and I told them no risks. You can race, but no risks. Of course, that is all relative, but I was much more comfortable with this situation than to freeze something.”

Sainz was the driver coming under pressure regularly but says Ferrari had already discussed how the outright pace of each car could be clouded by the impact of DRS and the slipstream at Monza, while still understanding the importance of a top three finish to each driver in front of so many Ferrari fans.

“We knew the car in DRS is always going to feel like it’s the quicker car, but we know that around this track, once you get into DRS you feel quicker and we knew that,” Sainz said. “At the same time, we know that we were both going to be fighting for a podium at Monza, so there was always going to be a bit of a fight and a bit of a battle.

“In the end we kept it clean, there were a couple of nice moves here and there, tight battles, but I enjoyed, honestly, battling Max, battling Checo, battling Charles, I think it was a good day for F1, a good show. I just did everything I could to stay in front and it worked.”

McLaren drivers ‘respect each other’ despite Monza clash

Lando Norris says there is a good level of respect between himself and Oscar Piastri after the pair made contact in the Italian Grand Prix. Piastri was emerging from the pits with Norris at full speed on the outside on the run to Turn 1, and tried …

Lando Norris says there is a good level of respect between himself and Oscar Piastri after the pair made contact in the Italian Grand Prix.

Piastri was emerging from the pits with Norris at full speed on the outside on the run to Turn 1, and tried to hold his position having been ahead of his teammate before the pit stops. But Norris was just ahead at the first chicane and Piastri made contact with the right rear of the lead McLaren, although both were able to continue unscathed as the stewards opted to take no further action.

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“I guess he was just on cold tires, had a little bit of understeer,” Norris said. “I tried to leave enough of a gap… It’s very difficult to see in the mirror. I left a good gap, but just hard and cold tires, it’s not a nice combination, and I guess he just ran into my rear tire.

“No (not ideal), but I think we respect each other, we give each other space, and fortunately nothing happened, so it’s all OK.”

Norris ended up eighth after a race spent behind Alex Albon throughout, and he says the end result doesn’t necessarily reflect the car’s performance, which he says is a clear improvement from McLaren’s struggles at Spa-Francorchamps.

“I think the pace was strong. It was just very difficult to overtake, as usual, but when we didn’t have to overtake, the pace was good. We could pressure Alex the whole race, but he did a very good job, so hats off to him and Williams, they were quick this weekend and managed to stay ahead.

“I think it was the best we could have done, so happy with that. Big thanks go to the team, both at track and at the factory, for reacting after Spa and giving us a more competitive package.”

Hamilton accepts responsibility for Piastri clash

Lewis Hamilton says he apologized to Oscar Piastri after the Italian Grand Prix for causing a collision that stopped the rookie from scoring points. The Mercedes driver was overtaking Piastri for eighth place on the run to the second chicane when he …

Lewis Hamilton says he apologized to Oscar Piastri after the Italian Grand Prix for causing a collision that stopped the rookie from scoring points.

The Mercedes driver was overtaking Piastri for eighth place on the run to the second chicane when he moved back towards the racing line under braking and clipped the front left wheel of the McLaren, damaging its front wing. Piastri had to make an extra pit stop and dropped out of the points, with Hamilton handed a five-second time penalty and taking full responsibility.

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“I apologized because it was obviously my fault,” Hamilton said. “And it naturally wasn’t intentional. I got up alongside and just misjudged the gap that I had to the right, clipped him and it could happen anytime. But I knew shortly afterwards, it must have been my fault. So, I wanted to make sure he knew that it wasn’t intentional. And that’s what gentlemen do, right?”

Piastri accepted the apology, saying he was satisfied with Hamilton’s reaction to the incident.

“Obviously not the afternoon we were looking for,” Piastri said. “I don’t think a whole lot went right, to be honest with you. The contact with Lewis was the biggest point. He apologized and the stewards gave out a penalty. I can’t ask for anything other than that. It’s cool.”

Hamilton still managed to negate the time penalty he received as he overtook Lando Norris and Alex Albon to run sixth, pulling over seven seconds clear of the Williams, even though he’d felt it would be a tall order to make his medium tires last to the end of the race after his pit stop.

“I definitely wasn’t upset. I was just supposed to go to lap 35 and the pace didn’t feel that great at that point,” he explained. “But they stopped me. The lap I pitted they said that I was going to target and then all of a sudden they boxed me. So, I was a little bit confused with that, that’s all.

“And then I was definitely concerned that I might not make it to the end. The gap was large between myself and the McLarens, I dropped back behind an Aston. So, I didn’t ,at that point, realize what my trajectory might be. But I took care of the tires, closed the gap and had that good battle.

“Races are pretty straightforward for me, so I’ve just got to do better in qualifying, so it’s not such a difficult day. And just living with the car that we have at the moment. (In Monza) it’s the third fastest car and it’s obviously painful for all of us. We wish we were quicker. But we’re just counting down the days to February.”

Sainz recovers watch after attempted robbery in Milan

Carlos Sainz was subjected to an attempted robbery just hours after finishing on the podium in the Italian Grand Prix. The Spaniard was in Milan on Sunday evening after his third-place finish at Ferrari’s home race, when his Richard Mille watch – …

Carlos Sainz was subjected to an attempted robbery just hours after finishing on the podium in the Italian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard was in Milan on Sunday evening after his third-place finish at Ferrari’s home race, when his Richard Mille watch — worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — was taken by thieves who attempted to flee on foot. Sainz and his team managed to chase down the attackers and prevent them from escaping, recovering his timepiece as those who had attempted to steal it were arrested by police.

Videos circulating on social media show the aftermath of the chase, with a number of bystanders reported to also have helped stop the thieves. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

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Sainz had finished on the podium for the second time at Monza — but his first as a Ferrari driver — earlier on Sunday, starting from pole but slipping behind the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez before holding off team-mate Charles Leclerc in a thrilling battle to the flag.

It’s not the first occasion a driver has been targeted in public, with Lando Norris recently having his Richard Mille watch stolen at the final of the Euro 2020 soccer championships in London, when the McLaren driver mugged as he was returning to his car after the game.

Ferrari drivers enjoyed podium fight despite its anxious moments for the team

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc both backed the decision from Ferrari to allow them to fight each other for the podium until the end of the Italian Grand Prix, even if it made for nervous viewing for the team and its fans. Ferrari told the pair …

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc both backed the decision from Ferrari to allow them to fight each other for the podium until the end of the Italian Grand Prix, even if it made for nervous viewing for the team and its fans.

Ferrari told the pair they were free to race for the final spot on the podium at Monza, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez having made their way past polesitter Sainz by that stage. In the closing laps, the two Ferraris went wheel-to-wheel on multiple occasions, each locking up and coming close to contact but Sainz held on and says he didn’t mind the call despite the threat to his position.

“I would have understood it both ways,” Sainz said. “If they had used team orders I would have understood. If I was Charles trying to get a podium I wouldn’t have liked the team orders, so it completely depends on the position you are in.

“I am not going to lie — it very much depends on a very subjective position or feeling. I think it was on the limit, but it was a nice, fair teammate battle, which at the end of the day is also what you guys (media) want to see. I had fun doing it.

“I never felt too much of a risk. With a teammate you are always a bit more tense — (you leave) a bit more space, because it’s the last thing you want in Monza, in front of the Tifosi, the two Ferraris to touch. But I think we had a tough battle; we managed to keep it clean and it was good fun.

“I had fun with Charles, but I also had fun with Max and Checo. I would prefer to be the one attacking than the one defending, but today it was my turn to defend and I think I did that well.”

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Although he finished fourth and missed out on a home podium, Leclerc was similarly supportive of having been allowed to challenge right up to the final lap.

“To be honest, I feel good,” Leclerc said. “OK, I missed the podium, but Carlos is on it anyway, so a Ferrari is on there. I would have been disappointed if it was a boring race and we just finished fourth like we did now, but in the end, it was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot.

“I’m sure many people did not enjoy that — the guys on the pit wall perhaps had one heart attack or two, the Tifosi probably also — but for me, this is Formula 1, this is what it should be all the time.

“With Max, I’ve had these kinds of fights in the past, today was with Checo and Carlos. We, I think, were always at the limit of the regulations, whether it was defending or attacking and that’s exactly how I enjoy racing. So it was fun. Congrats to Carlos — he’s been really on it since the first lap in FP1, but I’m happy today.”

Verstappen ‘very proud’ after waiting for Sainz mistake for new wins record

Max Verstappen says he had to wait for “a tiny mistake” from Carlos Sainz to take the lead of the Italian Grand Prix and secure a record-breaking 10th win in a row. Sainz started from pole position and retained his lead off the line, with Verstappen …

Max Verstappen says he had to wait for “a tiny mistake” from Carlos Sainz to take the lead of the Italian Grand Prix and secure a record-breaking 10th win in a row.

Sainz started from pole position and retained his lead off the line, with Verstappen stuck between the two Ferrari drivers in the opening part of the race at Monza. Once he found his way into the lead on lap 15, Verstappen was able to pull away and broke the record for consecutive wins he had previously held with Sebastian Vettel.

“Of course it’s something you don’t expect to happen,” Verstappen said. “I never thought in the beginning of the season that something like this was possible. Yeah, very proud, but also just very happy, I think, with the race in general. We had good pace again — we could look after our tires. It was quite an interesting little battle in the beginning to try and get a move into Turn 1, but we just didn’t have the top speed to do so.

“I just had to wait for a tiny mistake or a tiny lock-up, whatever, and at one point, Carlos had a little lock-up which then made me have a good run out of Turn 2, and once I got in the lead, I could just focus on my own pace. The car felt really nice to drive.

“Honestly, I’m just very proud also of the whole team effort the whole year. What we’re doing at the moment, winning every race this year, is something that we definitely are enjoying, because I don’t think these kind of seasons come around very often, and that’s the same of course with winning 10 in a row.”

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Behind Verstappen there was further action with Sergio Perez climbing through to take second ahead of the squabbling Ferrari drivers, but the Dutchman — who had to slow his pace late on to deal with overheating — believes the grid order is what set up the battles in the race.

Verstappen had to fight his way past the Ferrari of Sainz in Monza. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

“I think in general, it’s still hard to pass around here. I think up at the front, it’s also because we were behind them, so we were faster and we had to pass. I don’t know, I don’t think it’s track specific. Also, here in qualifying sometimes, you can maybe jump one or two places but then in the race drop back. So it creates more overtaking, or at least the chance of possible fights. I don’t think it’s always the track.

“I haven’t spoken to the team yet about what the (overheating) issue was. They just told me what I had to do, and I did that to the end. Luckily we had the gap behind, so I could take it quite easy to the end.”

Verstappen breaks consecutive wins record with Monza triumph

Max Verstappen cruised to a record-breaking 10th consecutive victory after seizing the lead from pole-getter Carlos Sainz after 15 laps. Verstappen had been confident ahead of the race that his Red Bull Racing car had the better race pace, and by …

Max Verstappen cruised to a record-breaking 10th consecutive victory after seizing the lead from pole-getter Carlos Sainz after 15 laps.

Verstappen had been confident ahead of the race that his Red Bull Racing car had the better race pace, and by lap 4 of the grand prix he was already noting that the leading Ferrari car was struggling with its tires.

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On lap 6, Verstappen was testing Sainz’s defenses with an attempted move around the outside into the first turn, though the Spaniard rebuffed him easily by closing the door through the chicane. But what seemed like only a matter of time suddenly started to appear in doubt. Charles Leclerc, who had held third off the line, closed in on the battling duo and threatened to turn the race into a brawl.

“They have a lot of top speed, for f*** sake,” Verstappen said, his voice suddenly agitated.

Again and again Sainz returned the Dutchman’s volleys, perfectly placing his car to neutralize the threat. It wasn’t until the Spaniard made a small lock-up into he first turn on lap 15 that Verstappen finally got his chance.

The top speed of the Ferraris gave Verstappen a little more work to do, but once through the Red Bull driver was firmly in control once again. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images

Verstappen got the better line through the chicane to get a great exit and take Sainz side by side through Curva Grande. Sainz was later on the brakes into the Roggia chicane, but he’d been forced onto the outside line.

Now Verstappen was perfectly placing his car. His RB19 sat on the racing line and powered out of the chicane with a lead that grew rapidly to a full second by the end of the lap, and the race was as good as won, eclipsing Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive victories.

“I never would’ve believed that was possible,” he said. “We had to work for it today, so that made it more fun.

“We had good pace. I think we were good on the tires. But they had a lot of top speed. It was so hard to get close and get a move into Turn 1, so I had to keep the pressure and force a mistake.”

Sergio Perez made Ferrari’s defeat comprehensive by recovering from fifth on the grid to record a Red Bull one-two.

He slipstreamed his way easily enough past George Russell to take fourth, but he couldn’t lay a hand on Charles Leclerc until lap 32, when the Monegasque fell out of DRS range of his teammate ahead, leaving him vulnerable to a draft into Turn 1.

He pulled the same move on Sainz with five laps to spare to score just his sixth top-two finish of the season.

“I think second was basically the maximum we could’ve achieved today,” he said. “We were lacking some top speed today. To get though Charles and to get through Carlos was pretty insane, because I had to use a lot of my tires.”

The battle to complete the podium went down to the wire between the two Ferrari teammates, who were told they were free to race so long as they did so with “no risk.”

Sainz’s tires had taken the greater battering over the course of the race, but his defensive work was undimmed. Leclerc had only one good look a the rostrum on lap 47, when he slipstreamed his way past into the first turn, but the Monegasque locked up, reopening the door to his teammate in much the same way Sainz’s earlier lock-up had invited Verstappen into the lead.

Sainz didn’t need asking again, seizing back the place into Roggia and holding it to the flag.

“Very tough,” he said. “It cannot get any tougher than what it was today.

“The whole race I was pushing very, very hard to keep the Red Bulls behind. It was tough, hard racing … we had fun out there today.”

Russell led home Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in fifth and sixth, both after serving five-second penalties — the former for overtaking Esteban Ocon off the track and the latter for colliding with Oscar Piastri late in the race.

Hamilton was attempting to crowd the Australian to the edge of the track from the inside of the approach to Roggia when he made contact that forced Piastri back to pit lane for a new front wing, dropping the McLaren driver out of the points.

Alex Albon completed a typically fighting defensive drive to seventh, holding off an assault from Lando Norris behind him by just 0.3s, with Fernando Alonso just 0.8s further back. Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10 for the final point of the race.

Ferrari’s Monza package not just for sentiment – Clear

Ferrari’s decision to bring a bespoke package to the Italian Grand Prix despite the limitations of the cost cap is not just a sentimental choice but the right call performance-wise, according to Jock Clear. Carlos Sainz took his first pole position …

Ferrari’s decision to bring a bespoke package to the Italian Grand Prix despite the limitations of the cost cap is not just a sentimental choice but the right call performance-wise, according to Jock Clear.

Carlos Sainz took his first pole position of the season at Monza – with Charles Leclerc third and just 0.067s adrift of his teammate – as the Scuderia made the most of its low-downforce car at its home race. A number of other teams have adapted existing parts for the circuit characteristics, but senior performance engineer Clear says it became obvious in the opening races this year that Ferrari could be particularly competitive in Italy.

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“I was going to say, go figure!” Clear said. “Have you seen how much red there is out in the crowd?! Obviously there is a cost cap and everyone has to decide what they want to spend money on, and nowadays it is a unique race and the only place where we would run absolutely low downforce.

“But given that early in the season we recognized that lower downforce was suiting us better, it would have been silly for us, not just from a sentimental point of view and not just because the crowd is full of red, but it’s clearly a circuit that is going to benefit us, and we knew that a few months ago.

“Doing a bespoke package for here was the right thing to do from a performance point of view and of course it comes with a Ferrari being on pole at Monza, and that is worth a huge amount to all of us, as motivation to crowd, the Tifosi, the drivers, there is nothing better.”

And although Max Verstappen was competitive enough to be within 0.013s of pole position despite Red Bull not bringing a Monza-only rear wing, Clear says beating the championship leader should not be underestimated.

“I don’t think there’s any alarm. To be brutally honest with you – and not wishing to blow smoke up Red Bull’s arse – a car that strong and a driver that strong, we are over the moon to be ahead of them. That is a real achievement.

“They are on song, that car works everywhere and they may not have brought a specific wing package for here, but we very much appreciate the competition they represent at every race and to be ahead of them is fantastic.”