MONZA, Italy — Charles Leclerc insured Ferrari a rare victory in Formula 1 Italian Grand Prixmuch to the delight of the home fans, as the team’s bold strategy to secure just one spot paid off on Sunday.
Ferrari, which brought nine upgrades to its home race, was one of the teams that opted to pit just once.
And that proved to be the right decision for Leclerc, who managed to keep Oscar Piastri and his team behind him despite the badly deteriorated tyres. McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
As it became clear what was about to happen, the passionate, red-clad tifosi jumped to their feet, stamping and roaring at Leclerc every lap, going absolutely wild as he crossed the finish line 2.664 seconds ahead of Piastri.
Polesitter Norris finished 6.153 behind Leclerc to close the gap to 62 points over the championship leader Max Verstappenwho finished sixth in his Red Bull.
Leclerc also won in 2019, making it Ferrari’s second victory at its home circuit in the past 14 races.
Before Sunday’s victory, the Italian Scuderia had managed only second place to Leclerc in 2022 and third to Sainz last year since winning in 2019.
It was Leclerc’s second win of the season, his first as special as the one at his home circuit in Monaco.
Leclerc started fourth at Monza, while the McLaren duo took the lead of the grid.
With Norris pursuing the title, questions were raised about whether team orders would play a role.
That was quickly answered. Both McLarens had a good start – unusually for them – but Piastri managed to get a slipstream and overtake his team-mate at the second chicane, while Norris slipped into third position as Leclerc also managed to get past.
Norris managed to undermine Leclerc when he pitted first and when the others stopped, he set out to chase down his team-mate.
After the first pit stops, Piastri was ahead of Norris and the duo were told over the team radio that they could race.
But the expected battle for victory between the two failed to materialise due to Ferrari’s bold move.
As more and more drivers came in for their second pit stop and the laps continued to tick by, it became clear that the Ferrari duo would continue to use their hard tyres until the end.
And that proved to be the case: Leclerc managed to keep Piastri behind him, despite his tyres being almost 40 laps old.
Birthday boy Carlos Sainz Jr. finished fourth, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton who will replace him at Ferrari next year.
Hamiltons Mercedes Team-mate George Russell finished seventh after a dreadful start, sandwiched between Red Bull duo Verstappen and Sergio Perez, with Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen completing the top 10.
Williams debutant Franco Colapinto completed his first ever Formula 1 race in 12th place. That was better than Logan Sargeant — whom he replaced — has managed in all but one of his races this year.