Charles Leclerc brought home an incredible home win for Ferrari and the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
He finished ahead of McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, with Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton making up the top five.
Leclerc opted for a one-stop strategy in the race, and it paid dividends as he was able to nurse his tyres until the end with the two papaya cars chasing him down.
And in the end he finished 2.6 seconds ahead of the Australian Piastri, sending the grandstands full of Tifosi fans into raptures.
Speaking after the race, Leclerc said: “An incredible feeling,” Leclerc said.
“I thought the first time would feel like this and the second time, if there was one, wouldn’t feel as special.
“But my god, the emotions in the final laps – just like 2019. Incredible.
HE WINS IN MONZA!!! 🇮🇹
IT’S CHARLES LECLERC FOR FERRARI AT THEIR HOME RACE – AGAIN! 🏆👏
STUNNING, SIMPLY STUNNING!#F1 #ITALIANGP PIC.TWITTER.COM/IW74ERFUWP
— Formula 1 (@F1) SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
“Monaco and Monza are the two races I want to win every year.
“Obviously I want to win as many as possible, and the world championship as soon as possible, but these are the two most special and I have managed to win them this year. It is so, so special.”
Things did not go to plan for either Norris or championship leader Max Verstappen, who could only finish sixth.
The Brit was able to cut the Dutchman’s lead down to 62 points after picking up the fastest lap on the final circuit, but will be disappointed not to have converted his pole position into a third win of the season.
He said: “He did [catch me by surprise] because he [Piastri] got past. I don’t know what I should have done differently there, if I break one metre later we probably would have crashed so something we will look at.
“Ferrari drove a better race today especially Charles, he did a very good job so hats off to him.
“We considered it [the one-stop] the whole race but it was not possible with the amount of graining that I had.
Your top 10 after an absolute CLASSIC in Monza 🇮🇹📈#F1 #ITALIANGP PIC.TWITTER.COM/C9CLNRFTJW
— Formula 1 (@F1) SEPTEMBER 1, 2024
“It’s a tough one, we knew it would be tight but just with our car and the limitations we had it just wasn’t possible today.
“We knew that could be a possibility, I’m disappointed but Ferrari did a better job, they had a better car today.”
Despite failing to secure a spot on the top step, McLaren reduced Red Bull’s lead in the constructors’ championship to eight points.
There are still eight races to go in the calendar, starting with Azerbaijan in two weeks.
