Scuderia Ferrari HP won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with a masterful job from the team and an exceptional performance from Charles Leclerc who managed to make his Hard tires last longer than anyone else, fending off the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris all the way to the checkered flag. The team picked up 37 points, thanks also to a fourth place for Carlos Sainz, which puts it 39 points behind the leader. It is Ferrari’s 246th win, the third this season, the seventh for Leclerc, his second in Monza after his memorable 2019 victory. He is now third in the Drivers’ classification, while Carlos is fifth.

The race. After the start, the Ferrari duo made the most of a mistake from George Russell at the first chicane to move up to third with Charles and fourth with Carlos. Leclerc also immediately got the better of Lando Norris to go second, after Oscar Piastri had attacked his team-mate aggressively at the Roggia chicane. The Medium tyres showed signs of degradation very early on, on all the cars and Charles’ pace dropped a bit and he was undercut by Norris to be back in third place. Charles switched to the Hard on lap 15 and from then on, his race took an altogether different turn. He did a brilliant job of managing his tires so that he could go all the way to the flag, unlike the two McLarens that made a second stop. Back in the lead, Leclerc held a consistent pace which put him out of reach of Piastri and Norris allowing him to take a well-deserved win, following on from that unforgettable Monaco victory back in May. Sainz also had a very strong race, switching to Hards on lap 19 before he too went all the way to the flag with no further stops. However, he was passed in the closing stages by both McLarens, having helped Charles by fending off Piastri for a long two laps, when the McLaren couldn’t run at its true pace.

A sea of red. As always with a Ferrari win, the crowd, a veritable sea of red - wasted no time in invading the track on the main straight to start the party under the podium cheering for the team, the drivers and the team principal, singing at the top of their voices. The Championship resumes on September 13th with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit, another of Charles’ favorite tracks.