Ferrari's Leclerc wins Italian Grand Prix as Verstappen falters again
1st September 2024
Leclerc took the chequered flag for his second win over the season, after his own home Monaco GP.
- Monegasque Leclerc claimed victory at Monza for the second time after winning in 2019, holding off McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
- Verstappen finished nearly 38 seconds off the pace in sixth.
- Verstappen has now failed to win any of the last six GPs after claiming the honours in seven of the first 10, and his and Red Bull's dominance of F1 looks increasingly in question.
Charles Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday to
delight Ferrari's massed ranks of fans as Lando Norris again chipped away at
struggling champion Max Verstappen's lead in the Formula One drivers'
standings.
Monegasque Leclerc claimed victory at Monza for the second
time after winning in 2019, holding off McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Norris
in a thrilling race in which Verstappen finished nearly 38 seconds off the pace
in sixth.
Huge roars engulfed the stands as Leclerc took the chequered
flag for his second win over the season, after his own home Monaco GP, after
holding out on a set of hard tyres he had changed during his one and only pit
stop on the 16th lap.
"I thought that the first time would feel like this and
the second time wouldn't feel as special," said Leclerc as he basked in
the cheers of fans who made the track a joyous, noisy sea of red after the
race.
"But my god the emotions in the last few laps; Monaco
and Monza are the two races I want to win every year and I've managed to win
them this year. It is so, so special."
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All of Leclerc's major rivals, apart from teammate Carlos
Sainz who ended up finishing fourth ahead of his Ferrari replacement Lewis
Hamilton, pitted twice and McLaren were hoping that the Ferrari pair would do
the same.
Instead, Leclerc managed to keep his tyres in good enough
condition to stay ahead and in the end finish the race comfortably in front of
Piastri, who had taken the race lead early on after an overtake manoeuvre on
Norris which was as daring as it was tactically questionable.
"Not going to lie it hurts a lot. I did a lot of things
right today," said Australian Piastri.
"Happy with the race, the pace I achieved but when you finish second it hurts."
Briton Norris -- who clocked the fastest lap right at the
end -- will be disappointed by his finish after starting on pole but he managed
to chop Verstappen's championship lead to 62 points with eight races remaining
as his Dutch rival's barren run continued.
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"We considered (pitting once) the whole race but it was
impossible with our graining. Just disappointed. Ferrari did a better job, so
hats off to them," said Norris.
Verstappen has now failed to win any of the last six GPs
after claiming the honours in seven of the first 10, and his and Red Bull's
dominance of F1 looks increasingly in question.
A fourth straight world title looked a near certainty when
Verstappen won in Spain back in June, but since then he has only finished on
the podium twice.
And his teammate Sergio Perez finishing in eighth meant that
McLaren are now only eight points behind Red Bull in the constructor's
standings and look favourites to win it for the first time since 1998.
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Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto, who replaced axed Logan
Sargeant for Williams following his disastrous showing at the Dutch Grand
Prix last weekend, finish in 12th in his F1 debut.
Earlier Leonardo Fornaroli became the first Italian to win
the F3 title, the 19-year-old doing so without winning a single race in this
year's championship.
Trident driver Fornaroli overtook Australian Christian
Mansell on the final corner of the 10-race season to grab third place and
snatch the title from Gabriele Mini by two points.
Gabriel Bortoleto won the F2 race in dramatic fashion after starting last on the grid, cutting Isack Hadjar's lead at the top of the stands to just 10.5 points with three races remaining in the season.
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