Taken from Caffé#103 by Pino Allievi – FormulaPassion YouTube Channel
Verstappen hasn’t won in five Grands Prixbut is there anyone who can really threaten him in the race for the fourth world title in a row? I don’t think so, because the competition is fragmented and there is no real anti-Maxconsidering that, since Red Bull is no longer the car to beat, four different drivers have triumphed.
In Holland, Norris nibbled away 8 points from Verstappen but remains 70 lengths away in the standings: a lot, with 9 games left to go.
Verstappen at the moment he is capitalising on the advantage he accumulated in the first part of the season and now play defenseas seen in Zandvoort. But since he is a true champion, he wanted to leave his mark, giving the cheering crowd in Zandvoort a great start that allowed him to stay ahead of Norris for 17 laps. Then he surrendered to the evidence and only took care of covering his back. And if it is true that Max had given Norris a few dustings, when Red Bull was clearly superior, this time the roles were reversed and Lando took his revenge with a perfect overtaking of his rivaldespite a hesitant start, in its unfortunate tradition.
Norris then repeated his success in Miami, but this time with a frenetic pace that highlighted, with the fastest lap on the last pass, how his McLaren had preserved its tyres. Because in the end it was all a question of tyres, which no one actually highlighted.
And here, precisely, I come to the FerrariThat with Leclerc he had an exceptional race arriving almost in Verstappen’s wake, only 2”6 the margin, nothing. Not to mention Sainz, who from tenth on the grid finished fifth, with the second fastest lap just 3 tenths from Norris’s record. But It wasn’t a miracle, the credit goes entirely to the temperature of the asphalt which this time married well with the Ferrari tyres and the set-up that had been chosenSometimes the donuts come out with a hole, other times not, but many compliments to the technicians of the Prancing Horse, who put the drivers in the conditions to give their best, even if the final gap from the top was heavy, close to half a minute, as Fred Vasseur himself underlined.
Ferrari, therefore, finally enjoyed a joy while the Mercedeswinner of 3 of the last 5 races, she mysteriously disappeared from the scene. Hamilton however, although out of the spotlight, recovered 6 positions, being faster than Russell on a single lap. The old lion never gives up.
In this context of ups and downs, Can the modified Ferrari announced with great fanfare for next Sunday’s Monza challenge for victory? I hope so, but I would go slowly, because the others are also constantly churning out new things. However Maranello’s hopes, from what we can see, are very high and the fans are thrilled. And we are with them, happy also because Monza will finally bring an Italian back to Formula 1, Andrea Antonelli which many prefer to call Kimithanks to Mercedes that has cradled him for 7 years. Antonelli will only do the Friday morning tests, waiting to race in 2025. And being an announced and proven talent, all that remains is to welcome him, offering him the first of many well-wishing coffees.
#Ferrari #miracle #Updates #SF24 #Monza #hopes #sky #high
