Forza Ferrari!
- pitwallstories
- Sep 2, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 1
Read about how Charles Leclerc's dream of winning in Monza repeated itself during the 2024 season.
And so we’re back on the most awaited circuit on the F1 calendar. Certainly it is the most awaited track for the people who gave birth to this sport: the Tifosi. Racing in Monza is probably considered as something sacred, I dare say, for the Italians.
It’s the home of Ferrari. The circuit that colors red after every race. The brightest shade of red.
It is a sacred place for the Tifosi and because of that, we witnessed a miracle on this September first, 2024 that we’re going to remember forever.
A papaya tinted Saturday
The weekend on Italian turf immediately started off strong for the Scuderia with two sessions of free practice that saw the red drivers always on top, among the top five surely.
After results like these, everything seemed clear for the day of qualifying. But then again, Formula 1 is a sport made of surprises, especially in a season that is not dominated anymore by the same team that has been on the top for the past three years. Anything can happen.
Saturday ended with a front row lockout, all McLaren, Lando Norris leading and Oscar Piastri following behind. For the remaining eight cars though, the numbers were extremely close to one another as everyone was off only a few tenths from the polesitter.
So with a grid this intertwined, all eyes were on Sunday.
Forza Ferrari!
Following the same weather of the days before, the circuit of the Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari greeted the drivers with a dry track but with some threats of the possibility of a light rain coming in. There were also doubts about the strategy because Pirelli seemed to advise a one-stop strategy but most of the teams were uncertain about this choice.
The temperatures were standard, tyres were warm and the grid was ready for ‘Lights out!’.
Unlike the last race in Zandvoort, Norris launched the car very well at the start but was quickly overtaken by none other than his teammate Piastri who saw an opening and didn’t think twice in taking it.
Mix ups followed the first turns as Charles Leclerc miraculously moved up to second position, followed by his Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz who, on the other hand, was trying to keep his position from Norris.
Russell in the meantime, locked up from third position in order to avoid crashing into Piastri’s car, therefore going wide and outside the track, losing many positions. Surely an accident that cost him the race.
A bit further back on the grid, the stewards noted an episode between Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg that caused the two to collide, luckily not dangerously. However, this resulted in a 5 second penalty for Ricciardo, to be served during the first pit stop for the Australian.
This incident with the Haas wasn’t the only bad thing that happened to the Visa Cash App RB Formula One team because in fact, after the contact with Ricciardo, Hulkenberg collided with Yuki Tsunoda as well, forcing the japanese driver to retire the car.
Hulkenberg received a 10 second penalty meanwhile Piastri became leader of the race and had set a gap of more than 3 seconds from Leclerc. Norris was trying to chase the monegasque and with an attempt to undercut him, he was called into the pits, driving into one of the signs as he entered.
All accidents aside, the undercut to the Ferrari car #16 succeeded and only after coming out of the pitlane on lap 17, Leclerc voiced his annoyance with the choice of pitting so late and therefore coming out behind Norris in seventh position.
On lap 20 the new leaders were the two Red Bulls but they were both to pit yet. In the meantime, as Verstappen expressed his complaints on team strategy, the so-called “papaya rules” were ordered to Norris via radio. Were these orders to accommodate the driver that was currently P1 (Piastri) or the Briton behind?
Questions were definitely going to be asked to the papaya team after the race.
The race in Monza seemed a handful for the stewards, especially with the Haas drivers, because later on it was Magnussen who caused a collision with the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, locking up and touching with the frenchman. Gasly, of course, didn’t waste any time reporting it to his team.
If we wondered what that message to Norris meant, we might have had an explanation on lap 29, when Piastri’s lead on Norris was 2.5 seconds and they were told to “race each other, papaya rules”. Could this mean that the two could’ve fought each other but without causing a collision and an orange bloodshed on the track? Many could argue a dip in the past with Senna and Prost.
But the race was only half way and there was more to come.
Not forgetting the new rookie, who entered this season in the middle of it, Franco Colapinto had made his way up to P15, fighting his Williams against Gasly.
Once again Norris’ race came against Verstappen, both fighting for the fifth position after Norris made another visit into the pits.
At the front of the race, on a possible podium, we were witnessing a 1-2 for the Scuderia Ferrari as both drivers then decided to go for a one-stop strategy. It was a risk but it’s all or nothing in Monza, especially for the Ferrari drivers.
Piastri was the one that saw the 1-2 finish dream fade for the Tifosi when he used DRS to drive past Sainz, who’s race was now a question of defense opposed to Norris.
With less than 10 laps remaining, Leclerc’s gap to Piastri was quickly being closed by the Australian and the possibility of a Monza-2019 repeat seemed to soon disappear. But Leclerc had fought so wonderfully for the entire race, he was never going to give the first position up.
And so he didn’t. He kept his promise to the Tifosi and crossed the finish line first, with Piastri at less than 4 seconds behind.
What a day for the Tifosi. What a day for Ferrari.
"It’s an incredible feeling," said Leclerc after jumping out of the car. "Actually I thought that the first time would just feel like this, and then the second time (if there was a second time) wouldn’t feel as special, but my god the emotions in the last few laps, exactly the same like in 2019 [...] Just watching the grandstands inside of the track which is tricky but incredible. I mean Monaco and Monza are the two races I want to win every year. Obviously I want to win as many races as possible, and the world championship as soon as possible, but these are the two most important races of the season and I managed to win them this year. It’s so, so special."
