The beating red heart of Ferrari was the strongest of all at the Monza circuit, as Charles Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix for the second time, to secure his seventh career win in Formula 1. It was Ferrari’s 20th win in this event, its 246th in total.

Leclerc took the chequered flag ahead of the two McLaren drivers, beating Oscar Piastri by 2”664 and Lando Norris by 6”153. These three had the honour of wearing the special edition of the Podium Cap, in white with the Italian flag on its peak. They can be aquired at this link.

The three drivers and Ferrari’s Sporting Director, Diego Ioverno were all presented with a VROOOM trophy, designed by the artist Andrea Sala, through the now usual collaboration between Pirelli and Pirelli HangarBicocca at the Italian Grand Prix.

The race saw a repeat of the qualifying scenario in that the top four teams occupied the top eight places, with the last two points positions going to Alex Albon, ninth for Williams and Kevin Magnussen tenth for Haas.

THE DAY ON TRACK:
At the start, the majority (14) of the drivers went with the Medium. The Hards were chosen by the two Red Bulls, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) and Valtteri Bottas (Sauber). Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver not to make it to the chequered flag. Of the remaining 19, nine pitted once, ten did two or more (Stroll, three).

Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls) ran the longest stint of all, completing 42 laps on the Hard. Esteban Ocon led the way on the Medium, running a 21 lap second stint on the C4.

MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
"A really exciting race followed by an amazing show from the fans. The enthusiasm of the Monza crowd is incredible and contagious, and really gives one goosebumps. Congratulations to Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, as winning this Grand Prix must be an incredible feeling for them.

“On the technical front, this was a Grand Prix that had it all: battles on track between the drivers with some spectacular overtaking moves, such as Piastri’s on Norris and a strategic confrontation between those who had opted to stop twice and those on a one-stop.

“We said prior to the event that the one-stop would be the quickest and that proved to be correct. The fact that nearly all the teams had kept two sets of Hards for the race gave them the flexibility to go with different scenarios if necessary. One should keep in mind that no one had sufficient data to fully evaluate the C3 performance on the completely new track surface.

“Management of graining was key and it was probably affected by the track evolution. Initial analysis of the data and the visual checks of the tyres at the end of each stint showed that graining was very significant in the first part of the race, especially on the front left, but less so on the left rear, with both the Hard and Medium, while in the following stints the phenomenon was less present. A vital factor therefore was the drivers’ feeling during the race and their ability to manage the tyres, especially for those who stuck with the strategy they had opted for at the start, namely the one-stop."

FORMULA 2
Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) put on a great show, going from last on the grid to the top step of the podium in the Feature Race. The Brazilian made the most of a Safety Car period to make his pit stop and go into the lead, which he then kept to the flag. It was his second win of the season and he was joined on the podium by the Barbadian Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport) and Dutchman Richard Verschoor (Trident).

The majority of drivers started on the Supersoft, banking on the appearance of a Safety Car shortly after lap six, when the performance of the softest compound was theoretically still good enough. Ten cars pitted between the sixth and seventh laps but were then caught out as the Safety Car came out next time round and those, like Bortoleto, who had yet to pit enjoyed a huge advantage. The winner has now put himself right back in the fight for the title, especially as Isaak Hadjar (Campos Racing) failed to score in either race this weekend. They are now split by 10.5 points with three rounds remaining, in Baku, Lusail and Yas Marina.

FORMULA 3
The final race of the season turned out to be exciting and spectacular all the way to the chequered flag, not only in the fight for the win, but more importantly in terms of the four-way battle for the championship title, between the two Italians (Leonardo Fornaroli and Gabriele Minì) and two British drivers (Luke Browning and Arvid Lindblad). In the end, it came down to an Italian duel, with the outcome decided just a few hundred metres from the finish line. France’s Sami Meguetonif (Trident) actually won the Feature Race, while alongside him on the podium was Mini, second for Prema Racing and Fornaroli third for Trident. However, in terms of the title race, the positions were reversed with Fornaroli crowned champion, the gap between them just two points (150 to 148). The key move was the new champion’s last lap pass on Australia’s Christian Mansell going into the Parabolica.

Hours after the end of the race, a series of decisions from the Stewards changed the race result and, at least in terms of points, the state of the championship. Mini was disqualified for a technical infringement because of tyre pressures that were too low. The Italian thus lost second place in the race but not in the championship, where he now leads Browning by two points, 130 to 128. Thus Fornaroli was classified second in the Feature Race, with Mansell promoted to third.

When it came to the tyres, their behaviour was in line with what had been seen in the Sprint Race. Obviously, today’s race being five laps longer meant there was a more significant drop in performance in the closing stages. Those who had done the better job of managing the tyres in the first part then enjoyed an advantage over the final kilometres.

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES
Formula 1 action continues next week at the Monza circuit, with two days of development testing focussed on tyre compounds for next season. Three teams will be providing cars and drivers for this important work for 2025: on Tuesday 3 September, George Russell will be on track in the Mercedes and Liam Lawson will drive a Red Bull. On the Wednesday, the New Zealander will switch to driving a Racing Bulls car.