![]() ![]() After Verstappen was quickest on Saturday at Spa and then Zandvoort last week, that trend changed. All season Ferrari have had the edge over one lap before fading in the race. The issue is how exactly today's race pans out. It is encouraging, in some ways, that Leclerc finished on pole as, with Verstappen's penalty, it gives him a half-decent chance of fighting for the race victory. ![]() In the end it was Charles Leclerc who nailed his final qualifying lap around Monza to finish quicker than Max Verstappen by about a tenth-and-a-half, but before the end of Q2, it looked very much like the Dutchman had the upper hand yet again. Yesterday's qualifying session was certainly an intriguing one given the form book for the races since the summer break, but perhaps one not entirely out of sync with how the season has played out throughout the year. Welcome to our coverage for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix from Monza. But Verstappen was in a class of his own. Unfortunately, it never left.Įlsewhere, Mercedes battled well, with George Russell finishing third and Lewis Hamilton going from 19th to finish fifth, just behind the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. When the Ferrari driver emerged from his stop, he was 18 seconds behind Verstappen with 19 laps left to run and praying for a safety car. That was what Verstappen did, making his tyres last until lap 26, and coming out 10 seconds or so behind Leclerc who could only last another seven laps before stopping for a second time. Only Leclerc was left ahead of him but fans were denied the chance to see any wheel-to-wheel action when, on lap 11, Sebastian Vettel swung over to the side of the track with smoke billowing out of his Aston Martin, and a virtual safety car was deployed.įerrari took the decision to switch Leclerc to a two-stopper, Leclerc diving into the pits for fresh rubber, when conventional wisdom states that Monza works best as a one-stopper. That finale created a fair bit of controversy, with differing views on how the race director should have handled it and even questions as to whether it might have got going again but for an error from the safety car, picking up Mercedes’ George Russell in third rather than Verstappen in first. A thoroughly anti-climactic day was completed when the race controversially finished behind a safety car, which came out on lap 47 of 53 after Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren broke down on track and could not be removed in time. Whatever it was, the mood fell decidedly flat as Leclerc’s tyre strategy - trying for a two-stop when most drivers went for a one-stop - backfired. Maybe it was Ferrari’s yellow livery, part of the Scuderia’s ongoing celebrations to commemorate 75 years since the company's foundation. Perhaps the fact that speakers did not work for the Italian national anthem was an omen. The packed grandstands at Monza were bouncing, albeit the minute’s silence, observed in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, was impeccably observed. The atmosphere pre-race was great, with Leclerc on pole thanks to a brilliant qualifying session on Saturday, and Verstappen back in seventh thanks to his five-place grid penalty for taking a new engine. Sunday’s deflating Italian Grand Prix was a case in point. The air has long since seeped out of this championship. He will likely have to wait until the following race in Japan. Verstappen would need not only to win but for Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez and George Russell all to finish well down the field. He could feasibly do it as early as the next race in Singapore. Sure enough, Red Bull’s runaway championship leader Max Verstappen came stomping through the field to claim his fifth win on the bounce, his 11th of the season, and thus take another giant leap towards the world title. Formula One must rethink its rules to clarify baffling grid penaltiesįrom the moment the speakers failed during Andrea Bocelli’s rendition of the Italian national anthem on the Monza grid, leaving the Tifosi unable to hear a thing, the omens for a Ferrari win on home soil were not good.George Russell third for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton fifth. ![]()
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