Charles Leclerc drove the wheels off of his SF-24 to win the Italian GP before a cheering Tifosi for Ferrari. His win at Monza came exactly five years after his first triumph in Italy during the 2019 season. With this win, the Scuderia have also clinched a historic F1 record.
The Maranello-based team are one of the most iconic outfits in F1. They have the record for the most number of Grand Prix wins (246) and with Leclerc’s seventh career win, the team becomes the first constructor in the sport’s history to win 20 races at the same venue.
Ferrari‘s first Monza win came during the 1951 season at the hands of the legendary Alberto Ascari. They have since gone on to win the race 19 times — 1952, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1975, 1979, 1988, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2019 and 2024.
How about this? Ferrari first constructor to win 20 times! at a single venue in the history of F1. I guess it had to be Ferrari at Monza #f1 #Ferrari #Monza #Italy
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) September 1, 2024
Leclerc came into the Grand Prix off the back of a disappointing qualifying. Starting from P4, the strategists on the Ferrari pit wall devised a masterful one-stop strategy to hand the Monegasque the lead.
From there on, Leclerc maintained his composure and ensured that his 38-lap stint on the hard tires was the winning one. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri tried the two-stop strategy but could not pass the #16 driver before the chequered flag was waived. The tire delta wasn’t enough and the Australian finished 2.664 seconds off Leclerc in second.
Ferrari’s win comes as a promising start to the second half of the season. During the Dutch GP last weekend, Leclerc was on the podium. For the Italian GP, the team brought two circuit-specific upgrades and seven performance-related upgrades on the SF-24. This was to iron out the effects of their failed upgrade package from the Spanish GP which had relegated them to the fourth-best team on the grid.
Going into the Azerbaijan GP weekend, the Scuderia will be taking a lot of positives from this weekend as it seems they have finally managed to turn their season around after a rough patch.
