Scuderia Ferrari perhaps got the best they could have asked for at the Italian Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc finishing fourth and Carlos Sainz Jr finishing sixth in front of the Tifosi at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.
Considering how mixed Ferrari’s weekend had been leading up to the race, fourth and sixth was actually a strong result for the Scuderia. Leclerc fought hard all race and even found himself in second after Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen crashed out. In the end though the Ferrari’s poor straight line speed made Leclerc a sitting duck, Lando Norris, Sergio Pérez (albeit illegally) and Valtteri Bottas all quickly found their way past the Monegasque driver.
Leclerc who actually crossed the line in fifth, was elevated to fourth after Pérez was awarded a five-second penalty for gaining an unfair advantage on Leclerc. The Mexican overtook Leclerc by running off the circuit at turn five.
For Sainz it was a mainly uneventful race in what was his first for Ferrari in front of the Tifosi. The most dramatic moment of Sainz’s race came on the opening lap, the Spaniard sent Antonio Giovinazzi into a half-spin after the Italian rejoined the circuit in an unsafe manner. Sainz was not at fault for the collision and thankfully received no damage to his car.
Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto believes that fourth and sixth was a good result for the team considering their lack of straight line speed, he also made sure to congratulate the Mclaren F1 Team on their first win in nine years.
“A decent result, which reflects what we could have expected on a track that definitely did not suit the characteristics of our car. In fact, at this track we paid the price for a lack of speed, which made us particularly vulnerable at the restarts, as we saw again today. Nevertheless, the race pace was reasonably satisfactory, given what we expected going into the weekend.
“Congratulations to McLaren who have won for the first time in nine years: they are back in third place but there is still a long way to go this season and we will do our utmost to fight for it right to the very end.”
