Leclerc delights home F1 fans with Italian GP win as Ferrari's bold strategy pays off

MONZA, Italy (AP) — Charles Leclerc secured Ferrari a rare win at the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, much to the home fans’ delight, as the team's bold one-stop strategy paid off on Sunday.

Ferrari, which had brought nine upgrades to its home race, was one of the teams to choose to only pit once.

And that proved the right decision for Leclerc, who despite heavily degrading tires, managed to hold off Oscar Piastri and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

As it became obvious what was on the cards, the passionate, red-clad tifosi got on their feet, stamping and roaring Leclerc’s every lap, and they went wild when he crossed the line 2.664 seconds ahead of Piastri.

Polesitter Norris finished 6.153 behind Leclerc to trim the gap to 62 points to championship leader Max Verstappen, who was sixth in his Red Bull.

Leclerc had also won in 2019, making this Ferrari’s second win on its home track in the past 14 races.

“It’s an incredible feeing, actually I thought that the first time would feel like this and the second time wouldn’t feel as special. But my God the emotions in the last few laps," Leclerc said immediately afterward.

“The tifosi were incredible, mamma mia!”

Before Sunday's triumph, the Italian Scuderia had managed only a second for Leclerc in 2022 and a third by Sainz last year since that 2019 victory.

It was Leclerc's second win of the season. His first was equally as special as it came at his home track in Monaco.

“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,” he said.

Leclerc started fourth at Monza, with the McLaren duo locking out the front of the grid.

With Norris chasing the title, there were questions over whether team orders would come into play.

That was swiftly answered. Both McLarens got a good start — unusually for them — but Piastri managed to get a slipstream and overtake his teammate into the second chicane, with Norris slipping into third as Leclerc also managed to get past.

Norris managed to undercut Leclerc and, with him sitting just behind Piastri after the first set of pit stops, the duo were told on team radio that they were free to race.

But the expected battle between them for the victory never emerged because of Ferrari’s audacious move.

As more and more drivers came in for their second set of pit stops, and the laps continued to tick down, it became clear that the Ferrari pair were going to try to nurse their hard tires all the way to the end.

And so it proved, with Leclerc managing to hold off Piastri despite being on tires that were nearly 40 laps old.

“I wasn’t surprised you stayed out, I was surprised you survived,” Piastri told Leclerc in the cooldown room.

“It hurts. It hurts a lot. I did a lot of things right today," Piastri said. “There was a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race. Doing a one-stop looked like a very risky call — and in the end it was right.

“Today we unfortunately got it a bit wrong, we had everything to lose from being in the lead. Charles could try something different as he’d finish third either way. Painful.”

There was some consolation for McLaren as it closed the gap to just eight points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

“At the moment both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen said. "Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever. And we basically turned it into a monster. So we have to turn it around.”

There are just eight races remaining and Norris was asked whether he felt team orders should come into play.

“I’m not here just to beg for someone to let me pass, that’s not what I’m here for,” Norris said. “I’m here to race, he (Piastri) drove a better race than me so I finished third and that’s where I deserved to finish."

But when pressed, Norris admitted he would prefer the team to make his title push the priority.

“I mean I would love it but it’s not up to me,” he said. “It’s a tough one, obviously I wouldn’t say we’re running out of time but time is going away slowly and I still believe we can do it. The pace is obviously great. I still believe we probably have close to if not the best car again today.

“I don’t know, it’s not for me to decide, it’s for the team … when you’re fighting for a championship you want every little thing and I’m doing everything I can. The best way simply is just to win the race and I didn’t do that today because of some silly things.”

Birthday boy Carlos Sainz Jr. was fourth on Sunday, the 30-year-old just ahead of Lewis Hamilton who will replace him at Ferrari next year.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell finished seventh after a dreadful start. He was sandwiched between the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Sergio Perez with Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10.

Williams debutant Franco Colapinto finished his first F1 race in 12th. That was better than Logan Sargeant — who he replaced — managed in all but one of his races this year.

Magnussen will miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in two weeks’ time after being handed a two-point penalty for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly.

That saw Magnussen reach 12 penalty points over a 12-month period, invoking a one-match ban. The Haas driver is the first to be suspended since Romain Grosjean in 2012.

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