Leclerc was able to fend off the attacks of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas into the first chicane on the start and instantly set about building a lead.
Charles Leclerc recorded his second consecutive win Sunday scoring Ferrari’s first F1 victory on Italian soil since Fernando Alonso won in Italy in 2010. Leclerc fended off attacks from both Mercedes drivers all race long and crossed under the checkered flag for his second career F1 win in a week sending the Ferrari tifosi into a wild frenzy.
As a Ferrari driver in Formula 1 there is one thing you can do to make yourself a legend in the eyes of supporters – win the Italian Grand Prix. That is exactly what Leclerc managed to do on his very first attempt.
Leclerc was able to fend off the attacks of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas into the first chicane on the start and instantly set about building a lead. For the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, however, it was a poor start the German losing a place to the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg. Vettel was able to recover the position at the end of the lap, but he was several seconds behind the lead trio.
Also suffering on lap one was Max Verstappen. Starting at the back due to an engine change, the Red Bull driver was involved in another turn one accident, damaging his front wing and forced to pit.
In a similar way the Belgium Grand Prix began a week prior, Leclerc had the pace over Mercedes in the first tire stint of the race.
With how well Leclerc has been performing in recent races the pressure has been piling on Vettel to produce a result. This pressure again seemed to affect the four-time champion as he spun at the Ascari Chicane. Dropping a couple of places would have been bad enough, but when he attempted to rejoin the track, Lance Stroll was on his way through the corner and contact was made sending the Racing Point car into a spin and damaging Vettel’s front wing.
Stroll, in a mirror image of Vettel’s reentry, then forced Pierre Gasly off the road, although Gasly was able to keep moving without spinning. Both Vettel and Stroll were instantly under investigation and Vettel was handed the most severe penalty the race stewards have in their arsenal, a ten-second stop-go penalty. Taking the penalty at the first opportunity, he dropped a lap down on Leclerc, Hamilton and Bottas.
The stewards were equally hard on Stroll, although factored into the equation that his spin had been caused by Vettel’s misdemeanor – a drive-through penalty being dished out, working out at a 20-second time loss compared to the 30-seconds of Vettel.
With Leclerc now lacking a rear gunner, Mercedes began to play games with their pit crew – bringing the mechanics into the lane in a bid to trick Ferrari into stopping the leader early.
The pit-window was expected to last between laps 19 and 29 for a standard one-stop race. A lap into this window Mercedes boxed Hamilton. Changing onto the medium tire Hamilton was flying on his out lap and it came as no surprise to see Ferrari pit Leclerc one lap later. The difference between the two stops was that Ferrari fitted the hard tires to their car. In the short term, Hamilton would have an advantage but, in the longer term, Leclerc should gain a benefit. From there, the battle was on.
Renault had not yet pitted Nico Hulkenberg and as a result he briefly became a part of the battle between Leclerc and Hamilton. Hamilton was using the DRS, slipstream and all of the weapons at his disposal to pass and twice he nearly found a way through.
On the second occasion, Hamilton was attempting a move on the outside of Leclerc at the Della Roggia chicane. The two drivers headed into the braking zone side-by-side, Leclerc edged Hamilton to the edge of the track. The move was on the line of what is deemed to be acceptable and the stewards showed Leclerc the black and white driving standards flag warning him not to repeat the maneuver.
Two brief virtual safety car periods followed in quick succession as Carlos Sainz left the pits with a wheel not properly bolted to his McLaren and then Daniil Kvyat was forced into retirement with an oil leak.
By lap 36 of 53, the gap between the leaders was under half a second. Hamilton was constantly on the radio asking for more power from his Mercedes power unit, but he nearly didn’t need it as Leclerc locked his right front into the first chicane, cutting the corner and putting Hamilton right onto his gearbox.
Bottas, who pitted right at the end of the predicted pit window, was now coming back into play. Closing to within three-seconds of the dueling lead pair, Bottas was on medium tires ten-laps fresher than Hamilton’s and was lapping a lot quicker. In the same moment, Hamilton was reporting that his tires were almost gone. The gap behind Bottas would gift Hamilton a free pitstop if the Finn could get past, but this would guarantee third place rather than enable a fresh tire assault on the top spot.
Hamilton silenced Mercedes concerns about whether he would willingly allow Bottas through quickly, locking up similarly to how Leclerc previously did at the opening chicane but, unlike Leclerc, the error cost him a position. Hamilton could not keep up with his teammate and dropped to five seconds back rapidly.
Bottas was told by his race engineer that the race was his for the taking but what could be seen on track did not back this up. Having been gifted second place by Hamilton’s mistake, Bottas was unable to make and further meaningful gains on the Belgium Grand Prix winner.
A small mistake from Bottas in the closing laps gifted Leclerc a small amount of breathing room and while not able to completely enjoy the latter stages the Monegasque no matter crossed the line to thunderous applause, rapturous cheering and his own emotional outpouring.
“What a race,” said Leclerc, able to enjoy this win properly after the subdued Belgium victory due to the passing of his friend, Anthoine Hubert. “I’ve never been so tired.
“I did a few mistakes, but at the end, I finished first. Very happy with this. I need to be careful with them but obviously, none of them made me lose a position today.”
Speaking more in the media pen afterwards, Leclerc added, “If you have to win one Grand Prix with Ferrari, it’s the Italian Grand Prix. From the beginning of the week it has been absolutely crazy. I came here with my first win and, to win straight away the second one in front of all the fans that have welcomed me extremely well after the first victory is just unbelievable.”
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto has overseen a disappointing season for the team after looking like the ones to beat in pre-season testing. In the immediate aftermath of the race Sunday the Italian looked as though his team had just won the world championship itself.
“For us, it has been a great week,” said Binotto. “After Spa, difficult circumstances, this, two wins in a row, is special, and certainly here in Monza for our fans, very happy.
“He feels the pressure as a boost and certainly, he’s driving very well. After the summer break, he is driving fantastically, and we can see this from today, very little mistakes.”
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Sights from the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sunday September 8, 2019
Pos.
Driver
Constructor
Race Time
Points
1
Charles Leclerc
Scuderia Ferrari
1:15:26.665
25
2
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport
+0.835
18
3
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport
+35.199
15 (+1)
4
Daniel Ricciardo
Renault F1 Team
+45.515
12
5
Nico Hulkenberg
Renault F1 Team
+58.165
10
6
Alexander Albon
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
+59.315
8
7
Sergio Perez
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
+1:13.802
6
8
Max Verstappen
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
+1:14.492
4
9
Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo Racing
+1 Lap
2
10
Lando Norris
McLaren F1 Team
+1 Lap
1
11
Pierre Gasly
Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda
+1 Lap
12
Lance Stroll
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
+1 Lap
13
Sebastian Vettel
Scuderia Ferrari
+1 Lap
14
George Russell
ROKiT Williams Racing
+1 Lap
15
Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo Racing
+1 Lap
16
Romain Grosjean
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
+1 Lap
17
Robert Kubica
ROKiT Williams Racing
+2 Laps
Kevin Magnussen
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
Daniil Kvyat
Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda
Carlos Sainz
McLaren F1 Team
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