Charles Leclerc crossed the line P4 at the end of a disappointing F1 Italian GP. As a home race for the Scuderia Ferrari, all eyes were on Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to give a great result this weekend. The two Ferraris met these expectations on Friday, securing 1-2 in the first free practice session. However, the Ferrari and Leclerc could not recover from a tricky qualifying session where they could not compete with Verstappen or the McLarens.
Leclerc on how much potential he had at the F1 Italian GP
The Monza circuit is especially hard to pass at due to its long straights where everyone is running low downforce. Although a deft one-stop strategy call won Charles Leclerc the Grand Prix from qualifying P4 last year, Ferrari could not count on history repeating itself with Leclerc starting from P4 once again. Two-thirds of the grid fitted medium compound tyres to start the race, indicating a commitment to a one-stop strategy.
Max Verstappen’s blisteringly fast pole position lap and McLaren’s rise to the top in the second and third practice sessions were bad omens for the Ferraris on Sunday. Their prospects for the weekend turned from fighting for the top spot on the podium, to fighting for a podium in general.
Leclerc commented on how they were in close competition with the Mercedes during the race, as opposed to the leaders in the print media pen.
“We were a bit faster than the Mercedes, not so much. I thought they were doing better than what we expected, especially with the hot weather that there was. Normally they struggle more, so they were quite close to us, but we were as fast as we could.
“We were not fast enough for the guys in front.”
The Monegasque commented on the Ferrari’s speed on Friday was not exactly them showing race pace, but more of a low-fuel quali simulation. The Ferrari was very fast in the straights this weekend. They looked to be invested in getting a better qualifying result then what they ended up with on Saturday.
“We were very fast on Friday, but we knew that we were maybe a little bit closer to our quali configuration compared to the others. Then Saturday was back to reality, and then on Sunday there wasn’t much more we could have done.”
Leclerc on where the Ferraris stood in contention with Verstappen and the McLarens
Straight off of the start of the race, Leclerc made a position on Oscar Piastri. He took advantage of the three way squabble between Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri, and climbed to P3. He maintained his P3 position for several laps with excellent speed on the straights before Piastri eventually took the position back.
Leclerc commented on this eventful start to the race, citing issues with tyre temperature and grip through the early stages.
“Yes, the first laps were very tricky for me to put the tyres in temperature.
“Not having the tyres ready and sliding so much, I went to overheating very quickly. It was all about trying to manage this overheating, which took quite a bit of time. We lost a lot of lap time there.”
By running very low downforce so as to have more speed on the straights, Leclerc in his Ferrari was at a disadvantage in braking zones. With minimum downforce, less load goes to the tyres which leads to less internal heat generation, which causes low grip for Leclerc.
Piastri and Leclerc’s later battle further demonstrated this low grip issue. Piastri in his McLaren had more confidence in Lesmo 1 and made a move around the outside on Leclerc, making it stick to get back to P3 once again.
The Ferrari driver commented on this well-fought battle in his interview.
“Yes, he did a good job outside of Lesmo 1. For the rest, it was just a normal fight. At one point I went wide, I tried to slow down, not to gain an advantage.
“There wasn’t much more I could do. They were too quick, especially at the beginning of the race. It’s a bit of a shame, because after that I thought we were quite okay, but definitely not as fast as them.
“If I would have managed to keep him a bit longer behind, then maybe the end could have been different, but I don’t know.”
As for where the Ferrari stacked up against the McLarens and Red Bull at the Italian GP, Leclerc believes that they were able to find that extra bit of low-downforce performance that they did not.
“I think we maximised the weekend. I just think Red Bull this year brought a package for low downforce tracks, so we have to have worked very well for them.
“McLaren I know didn’t really have such an extreme set-up, and maybe they struggled a little bit more, but they were still a lot faster than us, so we were a little bit in the middle of nowhere.”
Ultimately, the Ferrari driver did not make any mistakes or missteps in the Italian GP but it still was not enough. When asked if there was anything else he could extract from the car today, Leclerc stated, “I don’t think so.”
“I gave my best and today was not possible. It’s not like we did big mistakes, so I don’t think so.
“We did our best. I mean, I don’t think that we left anything on the table on that. It’s just that for now we don’t have quite the car.”
