New track, new colors, new confidence for Ferrari heading into home race at Italian GP

MONZA, Italy (AP) — There's a new track, new colors and renewed confidence for Ferrari as the Formula 1 team heads into its home race at Monza.

Ferrari did better than expected at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, where Charles Leclerc earned a second straight podium finish and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. finished fifth after starting 10th.

It was a pleasant showing at a race meant to mitigate damages ahead of planned car upgrades at this week's Italian Grand Prix.

The morale boost comes for a Ferrari team that started 2024 fighting for wins but gradually dropped out of contention. Leclerc was quick to temper expectations following the decent showing in Zandvoort.

“I don’t let the last two races change our expectations,” he said. “We are in a difficult moment for the team. We are struggling a little bit with pace at the moment. It was a good race. In Spa it was good as well.

"Here, it should be a bit more in the direction of Spa, so hopefully we’ll be a bit more in the fight for the podium. However, for the win, I don’t think we quite have that yet.”

Ferrari won only one of the past 13 Italian GPs; Leclerc delighted the passionate red-clad fans in 2019.

Since then, the Italian Scuderia has managed only a second for Leclerc in 2022 and a third by Sainz last year.

“I wouldn’t say the feeling is that we must do better,” Leclerc said. “However, there’s definitely a huge motivation because it’s not only a normal weekend that starts from the Thursday to the Sunday, but it starts already from Monday in Maranello where we have so many tifosi (fans), and that motivates everybody.

“It seems, and it looks like, we’ve had a pretty strong car with a very low-downforce package even in the last few years where performance was not as good. That’s positive, because it’s our home race and as much as it’s giving exactly the same amount of points as other races, emotionally speaking, and for the whole team, it’s definitely a special one.”

Monza is one of the most historic circuits in F1 and the so-called ‘Temple of Speed’ has undergone considerable changes this year.

In modernisation works costing more than 20 million euros ($22 million), the track was completely resurfaced for the first time since 1922 and so will have a much darker appearance. Moreover, some of the iconic kerbs have been modified, much to the dismay of several drivers.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo inspected the track by bicycle on Thursday and said, “I can’t say I’m that impressed because some elements have lost some of the character of the circuit.

“Maybe it’s just as a driver, because we drive it and experience it, but kerbs and things like this make a circuit unique. … Part of Monza is that it was old school, and now that’s gone. The resurfacing looks great, the asphalt looks really nice, but the kerbs, I’m a bit disappointed in.”

The fans will turn Monza's stands into a sea of red, and the Ferrari cars will be their usual red, but the drivers will wear black racing suits. The new look comes after Ferrari decided “to celebrate what represents the state of the art in racing car construction: Carbon fiber, a material … which has allowed exceptional advances in safety.”

Verstappen finds himself in an unusual position.

The three-time defending champion is without a victory in five straight races — his longest winless run since 2020 — and has seen his lead trimmed to 70 points by McLaren's Lando Norris, with nine races remaining.

Compare that to the Italian GP last year when Verstappen secured a record 10th straight win in a season he simply mastered.

“I am enjoying it, yeah," he said of this season. "Would I like to win more? Yes, of course. But I also knew that, you know, a season like we had last year is very unrealistic.

“Did I expect it to be like this? Not really, with, of course, how we ended and how we started. It’s up to us to just try and make it better. I know everyone is working flat out to make it better.”

Lewis Hamilton led the way in the second practice on Friday in his last race at Monza in a Mercedes before he makes the switch to Ferrari next year.

Hamilton was just 0.003 seconds ahead of Norris and 0.103 faster than Sainz.

Verstappen — who topped the first hourlong practice session, ahead of Leclerc and Norris — was only 14th fastest in the second after his flying lap was halted by red flags, which came out after Kevin Magnussen crashed into the barriers.

The first practice also had to be halted for nearly 15 minutes after teenager Kimi Antonelli crashed in a Mercedes just 10 minutes into his first outing in an F1 car at a race weekend.

Franco Colapinto is in his first proper weekend as a Williams race driver, after replacing the axed Logan Sargeant. The Argentine — who drove a practice session for Williams at the British GP last month — was 17th fastest in both sessions at Monza.

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