Charles Leclerc claimed a shock victory in Monza after Ferrari stunned McLaren with a one-stop strategy at the Italian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc stunned McLaren to win the Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari, triggering an eruption of roars in Monza.
Leclerc started from fourth and overtook George Russell and Lando Norris on the opening lap, promoting the Monegasque into second. He was later undercut by Norris following the first round of pit stops, which occurred earlier than expected due to poor tyre graining. In front of its home fans, Ferrari opted for a bold decision, and went gung-ho with a one-stop strategy.
It caught a rapid McLaren by surprise, with McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes having all completed two stops. Leclerc inherited the lead after Oscar Piastri and Norris pitted for a second time, with the Ferrari driver having masterfully nursed his tyres to a famous victory. Piastri and Norris completed the podium, whilst Max Verstappen settled for sixth.
Result Race – Italian
| # | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |   Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | LAP 53 |
| 2 |   Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +2.664 |
| 3 |   Lando Norris | McLaren | +6.153 |
Opening phase
After several recent poor starts, Norris finally aced his launch from pole position and led into the opening corner, ahead of Piastri. Piastri braking for the first corner caught Russell by surprise in third, causing the Mercedes driver to take to the escape road. The Briton tumbled from third to seventh.
The action at the front contined into Turns 4 and 5, as Piastri swept around the outside of Norris for the lead of the race. Norris was caught by surprise at his team-mate’s move, and was overtaken by Leclerc on the exit of the Variante della Roggia. Behind the squabbling McLarens, Russell’s opening lap worsened after unfortunate contact with Verstappen on the exit of Turn 5, resulting in significant damage to the British driver’s front wing endplate.
Elsewhere on the first lap, Daniel Ricciardo forced Nico Hulkenberg off the circuit on the entry to Turn 7, and received a five-second time penalty for the incident. Hulkenberg also received a 10-second time penalty for going into the side of Yuki Tsunoda. The latter became the race’s first retiree on lap 9. The race quickly settled.
On lap 11, Russell’s afternoon worsened, as Sergio Perez overtook him for seventh on the entry to the first corner. Moments after the overtake, Russell was called in for his first pit-stop, going from medium to hard tyres, whilst a new front wing was also fitted. A this point, Piastri had extended his advantage over Leclerc to 1.8s, with Norris a further second adrift in third. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton completed the top five. Russell’s front wing change hurt the Mercedes driver, as he was overcut by Fernando Alonso on lap 13.
At the same time, Leclerc’s pace worsened, allowing Norris to get within DRS range of the Ferrari driver. Instead of lose time behind Leclerc, McLaren opted to put Norris at the end of lap 14, in an attempt to undercut the Ferrari.
It was a successful call by McLaren, as Leclerc pitted a lap later – as did Hamilton from fifth – and rejoined behind Norris. The power of Norris’ undercut also triggered McLaren to pit race leader Piastri at the end of lap 16, who successfully remained in the net-lead of the race.
‘Papaya rules’
With the exception of the Red Bulls, the rest of the top 10 started the race on the medium compound and switched to the hard tyre during their first pit-stop.
Verstappen and Perez started on the hard compound and gained the lead of the race, once the McLarens and Ferraris pitted. Further down the field, Russell overtook Valtteri Bottas for ninth on lap 21, as he continued his recovery from a front wing change.
The following lap, and Verstappen pitted for a second set of hard tyres, giving a clear indication that the expected one-stop race would, in fact, be a two-stopper. It was a poor stop by Red Bull which lasted 6.2s, due to difficulties removing his right rear tyre.
As a result, Verstappen rejoined narrowly ahead of Russell in P7, whilst Perez slotted between the two a lap later when he also brought his first hard tyre run to an end.
Seventh quickly became sixth for Verstappen, as Esteban Ocon was overtaken with ease on lap 25. Perez and Russell also made a place on the Alpine driver. At the front, and Norris was informed that “papaya rules were in place.
The Briton was told on the radio: “You are allowed to race Oscar, papaya rules.” This triggered an immediate pace improvement by Piastri and Norris, who returned to first and second following the Red Bull pit stops.
Further down the field, Haas’ afternoon went from bad to really bad, as Kevin Magnussen received a 10-place grid penalty for forcing Pierre Gasly off the circuit at Turn 4. As for rookie Franco Colapinto, he performed an excellent overtake on Gasly for P15, on lap 31.
At the front, and Piastri started to extend his advantage over Norris, which suddenly grew to almost five seconds on lap 32, following a mistake at Turn 4 by Norris on the previous lap. This saw Leclerc move within DRS range of the 24-year-old.
Norris complained of his hard tyres starting to grain, triggering a second pit-stop a lap later for a new set of hard tyres. He rejoined behind Verstappen in fifth, although the Dutchman still had a pit-stop to make having not run a second different compound.
Ferrari stun McLaren
Slow pit stops were a theme of the Italian GP, as Piastri’s second stop on lap 38 was not the sharpest. Regardless, the Australian exited the pit lane ahead of Verstappen and, crucially, Norris.
Any chance of Norris taking the fight to Piastri relied on how quickly he could overtake Verstappen, who was defending well. Verstappen was finally overtaken by Norris at the first corner on lap 41, but Piastri was already four seconds down the road.
However, alarm bells suddenly started to ring at McLaren, as it became clear that Ferrari were going all out on a one-stop strategy. With 10 laps remaining, Leclerc led from Sainz, with both drivers on extremely old and rapidly degrading hard tyres.
Piastri in third suddenly started to race like a driver possessed, and quickly caught and overtook Sainz on lap 43, promoting the Australian into second.
It left Piastri with a 12-second deficit to make up on Leclerc in the space of eight laps. Leclerc’s tyres were in a horrific state. Sainz soon fell to fourth behind Norris, with the Spaniard’s tyres having fallen off a cliff.
At the front, though, and Leclerc was continuing to plug in decent lap times to keep Piastri at a comfortable distance. The Tifosi started to roar when it was understood what Leclerc was attempting, with his lead having still been five seconds with two laps remaining.
It was simply too big a deficit for Piastri to make up, as Leclerc sent the Tifosi into pandemonium as he crossed the finish line to win the Italian GP.
Norris secured third and set the fastest lap on the final lap, reducing Verstappen’s title lead to 62 points.
