Red triumph in Monza
For the first time since Charles Leclerc’s success in his home GP in Monte Carlo, Ferrari returned to celebrate on the top step of the podium doing so again with Leclerc in ‘Temple of Speed’ of Monza which represents, in this case, the home race of the Maranello team. And yet, on the eve, the team that seemed most favored for the victory seemed to be the McLarenwhich nevertheless arrived with both its drivers on the podium.
Rule at McLaren
2nd Oscar Piastri and 3rd Lando Norristhe latter starting from pole position but surprised by the attack of his teammate at the Variante della Roggia. A maneuver that, together with the evolution of the GP, did not allow the British driver to recover further precious points in the Drivers’ standings on Verstappen, but at McLaren the rule remains clear: drivers free to battle, without a leader. At least for now. The confirmation came directly from the CEO of Woking, Zak Brown: “Lando got a good start, he was leading after Turn 1 and then Oscar made a pretty aggressive overtaking move in Turn 3. – he commented after the race to Sky Sports F1 – they are always free to run if they don’t touch each other. Hats off to Ferrari because they took a gamble that they can afford and it went well for them, you can never be too angry when Ferrari wins at Monza. The rules are those of play cleanly and as teammates as they are. Both are drivers who want to win and have smelled the victory, but we reminded them that they must run fighting cleanly. We are just over the halfway point of the championship; both drivers want to win and for now we let them run. You have to understand every situation before the race to see if Oscar can help Lando. He can do it in different ways that not everyone can see, but for now we will let them run”.
The strategy
Victory therefore slipped away, with Ferrari having the upper hand by relying on the one-stop strategy. An idea that had actually also been evaluated by McLaren, as admitted by Brown himself: “We all thought we would win this race, but we have to be happy with 2nd and 3rd place. – he added – we brought many points to the farmwe did the fastest lap and we were the fastest car. Many times you think you can win and you don’t, but they are accidents along the way and that’s okay. The plan was for two stops, but then we thought about making a stop and asked the drivers, who didn’t think it would work. Ferrari took this gamble: if it works you win, if it doesn’t you drop to 3rd or you have to stop again. They took the risk and it turned out to be the right choice, so congratulations to Vasseur and the team.”
The Contenders for the Constructors’ Title
With this result, McLaren is now eight points behind Red Bull in the Constructors’ standings, but Brown cannot rule out other opponents: “We are getting closer to Red Bull, but Ferrari is not far away either, so I think that the battle of the builders is three-way. We continue to do what we are doing, it is working. We are at 12 consecutive podiums and we hope to make 13 podiums in a row in the next race”.
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