RACE REPORT | F1 Italy 2024

Charles Leclerc wont the 2024 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, taking his second win of the year. The Ferrari driver was also helped by his one pit stop strategy. Favoured McLaren had to settle for second and third.

The Saturday's qualifying was dominated by McLaren as Lando Norris took the pole position, meanwhile Oscar Piastri set the second fastest time.

On Sunday, Lando Norris had a quick start, while his teammate Oscar Piastri moved across the track, not to defend but to challenge for the lead. This forced George Russell to go wide, putting his wheels on the gravel and using the escape road.

Piastri then overtook Norris at the della Roggia chicane to take the lead. Norris then even lost one more position in favor of Charles Leclerc.

Max Verstappen complained that Lewis Hamilton didn’t leave him enough space, saying he "got a penalty for that" in the past. They were running in P5 and P6 early on, both ahead of Russell. Sergio Perez, behind Russell, mentioned that Russell had some "dangerous" damage.

By lap 10, Piastri was leading by seven-tenths ahead of Leclerc, with Norris in third, followed by Sainz, Hamilton, and Verstappen. Perez had passed Russell, and they, along with Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso, were in the final points positions.

McLaren then boxed Norris early, to make an undercut on Leclerc, which they managed easily. Piastri went with “ plan A” and stayed on the track a bit longer but still managed to come out in from of Norris, after his pitstop later on.

Meanwhile Haas got another penalty, but this time it was their another driver, Kevin Magnussen, who recieved 10 seconds for crashing into Pierre Gasly, who wasn’t able to find the pace for the rest of the race. 

Championship leader Max Verstappen struggled with the car during the whole race, which was pretty noticable mainly in his way of communication with his engineer over the radio. The RB20 had no grip and problems with understeer throughout the whole weekend.

Close to the end both McLaren drivers managed to overtake Carlos Sainz, thanks to fresher tyres but didn’t have enough to fight Charles Lerclerc, who amazingly secured the victory for Ferrari at their home track. Piastri then finished second, followed by Norris and Sainz.

Lewis Hamilton took fifth place for Mercedes, Verstappen sixth for Red Bull, followed by George Russel and Sergio Perez. Alex Albon managed to score 2 points for Williams after finishing ninth, with Kevin Magnussen completing the top ten, even after his 10 second penalty.

2024 Italian Grand Prix race results: