Charles Leclerc takes emotional victory at Monza to please Tifosi on Ferrari’s home turf

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Although McLaren racer Oscar Piastri looked the quickest in the opening part of the Italian Grand Prix, but a clever strategy from Ferrari and a brilliant drive saw Charles Leclerc take an emotional home victory for the Scuderia. F1Technical’s lead journalist Balazs Szabo reports from the Monza track.

Having started from pole position, Lando Norris lost the lead to his team-mate Oscar Piastri at the start only to fall behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc when the pair approached the first Lesmo corner.

Although Piastri was eager to break away from Leclerc, the Monegasque stayed within DRS range in the hope of forcing the Australian into a mistake.

On Lap 8, Gianpiero Lambiase urged Max Verstappen to play the long game as the world champion stayed in sixth place.

Three laps later, his team-mate Sergio Perez sent it down the inside of Russell to move up into seventh place.

The Briton pitted on the next lap for a set of fresh hards, and Mercedes also needed to perform a front wing change as Russell picked up quite a significant damage at the start, losing one of the endplates of his wing. As a result of the long stop, the two-time F1 race winner dropped down to P16.

On Lap 16, Lando Norris was called in for his first tyre change. With Norris having been eager to overtake Leclerc with an undercut strategy, he came into the pits very hot, locking up and making contact with a marker board.

Although Leclerc pitted just a lap later, he lost second place to Norris, while Hamilton also made his first stop. To cover off Norris and Leclerc, race leader Piastri pitted a lap later, and he managed to stayed ahead of his two closest rivals.

After the first three drivers pitted, Sainz found himself in the lead, with reigning champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez following suit. The Dutchman was not enjoying the balance of his car, having gone wide at the exit of the second Lesmo corner.

The championship leader pitted on Lap 23, taking on another set of hard tyres. Red Bull made a mistake during his stop though, with the tyre change taking 6.2 seconds.

After Sainz, Verstappen and Perez completed their first stop, Piastri found himself back in the lead. The Melbourne-born driver was informed that he and Norris were allowed to race, with McLaren claiming: “You're allowed to race Oscar. Papaya rules.

On Lap 32, Norris made a mistake at the Roggia chicane, going wide. His mistake allowed Leclerc to close in on the British driver. With his tyres seemingly not in great shape, Norris pitted on the next lap to take another set of hards.

On Lap 38, Russell got by Perez to move up into P6 as he was adamant to make up for the lost time with his long pit stop.

The next lap saw McLaren make an interesting move as they called Piastri in for a second stop, although the Australian’s tyres looked in good shape. The Woking-based outfit probably feared from an undercut move from Ferrari.

Piastri fell behind Leclerc and Sainz, with Ferrari having informed the Monegasque to look after his tyres.

On Lap 45, Piastri made the critical move on Sainz to move up into second. The Australian started his march towards race leader Leclerc, but with the Monegasque maintaining an encouraging performance, he was unable to close in a way he had hoped for.

Although Piastri was steadily closing in on Leclerc, the Monegasque did not lose his focus and took an emotional victory ahead of Ferrari’s passionate Tifosi.

Piastri finished second, with Norris completing the podium. Sainz finished fourth for Ferrari, with Hamilton bringing his Mercedes home in P5.

Verstappen had a lonely race, and finished a long way behind race winner Leclerc in P6, just beating Russell and Perez.

Alexander Albon maintained his starting position to finish ninth for Williams, with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen completing the top ten to secure a vital championship point for the American team.