Verstappen Spoils Ferrari Homecoming Despite Leclerc’s Surge: Three Monza Takeaways

The Red Bull driver has now won five races in a row, and mathematically, he could clinch the world championship title at Singapore.

Yellow flag. 

Daniel Ricciardo reported an issue over his team radio on lap 47 after coming to a stop on the side of the track. McLaren later confirmed it was an oil leak, but the safety car was deployed, giving George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen—who made up three through first, respectively—a free pit stop for soft tires. It looked like it could have been a mad dash, but track marshals struggled to get Ricciardo’s McLaren off of the track, which had to be lifted by the crane. 

Instead of red-flagging the race, the Italian Grand Prix was finished behind the safety car even though, as Leclerc said over the radio, the track was clear. Boos echoed throughout Monza from the Tifosi fans. 

Verstappen spoiled yet another Ferrari homecoming, winning at Imola earlier this season and now at Monza. The Red Bull driver has now won five races in a row, and mathematically, he could clinch the world championship title at Singapore on Oct. 2. He’s ahead of Leclerc by 116 points.

Leclerc took second while Russell came in third, making the Italian Grand Prix an all 24-year-old podium. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz and Merecedes’s reserve driver Nyck de Vries arguably stole the show as the Ferrari driver charged through the field from a P18 start to a fourth place finish while the Dutchman made his F1 race debut and brought home with points. Something to note: Sainz navigated his way to P5 just 11 laps into the Italian Grand Prix. 

“The end was frustrating. I wish we could have ended up racing,” Leclerc said. “It’s a shame. I gave it all. I wish I could have won in front of the amazing Tifosi.”

Verstappen is on the verge of another world championship title.

IMAGO / HochZwei

Here’s three takeaways from the Italian Grand Prix, where a safety car put a halt to what could have been a mad dash to the finish.

Nyck de Vries makes his case for a future F1 seat.

The Dutchman had quite a weekend in Monza. 

Initially, de Vries was set to just drive in Friday’s first practice session for Aston Martin, but disaster struck for Williams the next day. The team shared in a press release Saturday that “after feeling unwell this morning and seeking medical advice from the FIA and local hospital, Alex Albon is now undergoing treatment for appendicitis.” 

It tabbed reserve driver, de Vries, to fill in for Albon. He hopped into the car for third practice before competing in qualifying, coming in 13th but starting Sunday’s race P8 after grid penalties were dealt. 

The 2020–21 Formula E champion said Sunday after his F1 race debut, per Autosport, “The whole of the last 24 hours have just been a dream. I didn’t really have much time to think because everything was so rushed. I had a very bad sleep, it went from excitement into nerves and I didn’t dare even look into my sleep tracking because basically I spent the whole night awake.”

Although Williams is last in the constructor standings, fans likely couldn’t tell with de Vries’s commanding debut. He had a slow start but kept his rhythm, only losing one spot and holding off Zhou Guanyu for a points finish. 

He did come close to being dealt a track limits penalty, something he chalked up to “high-speed balance,” which he wasn’t thrilled with. He also got summoned by the stewards for allegedly driving erratically, but de Vries was only given a reprimand. 

According to ESPN, his name is in the running for a possible F1 seat next season as Williams has yet to confirm its 2023 driver lineup. Albon signed an extension, but there’s uncertainty around teammate Nicholas Latifi, who finished 15th in a race that saw four other drivers record DNFs.

Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both sang high praises of de Vries. The Red Bull driver started alongside the former F2 champion, making it an all Dutch fourth row. Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen was seen talking with de Vries, who is “a great friend of” the reigning world champion. When asked what he said to the Williams driver, Verstappen said, “First of all, enjoy it. Don’t think about it too much, don’t stress about it too much.”

Verstappen also commented on watching de Vries battle for 10th at one point, saying, “For Nyck to jump in and deliver this performance, it’s not easy at all. I think he did a great job from the things I saw. In terms of defending, he just kept his cool, didn’t make mistakes, and I’m very happy for him to score the points. It’s impressive, of course, in your first race.”

Hamilton went to de Vries in the media pen and congratulated him, later telling the media, per ESPN: “Oh, incredibly happy for Nyck, and really proud of him. He’s such a good lad, a good human, he’s been a good part of our team working with us. 

“I hope Albon is OK, I know he’s gone through a hard weekend, but for Nyck to have jumped in and finish in the top 10 in his first race, that’s mega for your first race since ages.”

Even Russell did not hold back on his thoughts: “Throughout all of our karting career—the three of us race against him—knew him well, and he was always one of the very best and there’s no doubt he’s deserving of a place in Formula One.”

Time will tell if and when de Vries makes it back to the F1 starting grid, but if the trio’s comments on his performance are any indication, it seems the Dutchman made his case in Monza. 

Do the FIA regulations need to be changed? 

The final moments of the Italian Grand Prix gave a few a sense of déjà vu with flashbacks of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where the FIA regulations were incorrectly applied. 

As Sunday’s race came to a close under a safety car, many were wondering what exactly happened and if the rules needed to change. It starkly contrasted what had been a thrilling race with overtakes after the slew of grid penalties nine drivers faced. Prior to Ricciardo’s car coming to a half, Leclerc had been closing in on Verstappen, who led with a one-stop strategy compared to the Monégasque’s two-stop. 

The safety car was deployed, and drivers pitted with the anticipation of a restart. But there was a twist—the McLaren was stuck in gear. A crane had to lift Ricciardo’s vehicle, and the race finished behind the safety car, which a slew of people in the paddock did not agree with. 

“We don’t want to win a race under a safety car,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports after the race. “That’s something that we’ve talked about for many, many years—they should finish racing. There was enough time to get that race going. I think they picked up the wrong car. They picked up George Russell.

“We had the faster car. We would have liked to win the race on the track, not behind the safety car. We share the disappoint with all the fans because it took away a grandstand finish.”

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner said in the team’s post-race release, in part, “I don’t think I need to discuss the end of the race because what happened, happened and it wasn’t handled how it should’ve been.” Hamilton thinks maybe races should be extended to avoid finishing in a similar manner. 

“I mean, what’s the harm in extending it?” the seven-time world champion told RaceFans.

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports: “I think we could have finished the race differently. Finishing the race behind the safety car is never great.

“It’s not for us, but for F1 and the show and I think there was plenty of time for the FIA to act differently today.”

However, he does not “think it’s a matter of changing the rules,” which he said have been thoroughly discussed since Abu Dhabi. 

“We came to conclusions [that] the current format is probably the right one to keep,’ Binotto said in his post-race press conference. “But we’re not understanding why it took so long to release the cars between the safety car and the leader. And I don’t think the safety could be the right reason for it because when you’re released as a driver, you cannot go simply flat out around the track because there is a minimum lap time, which is set by regulations.   

“And this minimum lap time is there to make sure that whoever is running and driving, they’re doing it safely. So what we do not understand is on the current regulations that we believe are a right, why it took so long for them to decide. I think they simply need to do a better job because the F1 the show, and it’s not Ferrari and the Tifosi. …Generally speaking, I think we should try to end the safety car as soon as possible and give more track time, race time, to the drivers.”

Per the protocols, the race can restart a lap after lapped cars are released. The safety car was deployed on lap 48, emerging ahead of Russell who was in third. Russell and the other cars in front of Verstappen, who was leading the race, were not released until lap 51. 

Between the struggles with getting the McLaren off of the track as well as the safety car taking a few laps to reach Verstappen, time lap-wise ran out. An FIA spokesperson explained the situation, per motorsport.com. “While every effort was made to recover Car #3 quickly and resume racing, the situation developed and marshals were unable to put the car into neutral and push it into the escape road.

“As the safety of the recovery operation is our only priority, and the incident was not significant enough to require a red flag, the race ended under safety car following the procedures agreed between the FIA and all Competitors. The timing of the safety car period within a race has no bearing on this procedure.”

Could Leclerc or even Russell have managed to get past Verstappen on a restart? It’s hard to know despite the Dutchman’s dominating performance this season. The Tifosi were outraged by the move, booing during Verstappen’s interview and when he was on the podium, something Binotto said he thinks “that the booing from our Tifosi, it was more towards the FIA. But he also said that “booing a driver is never great, especially the driver being Max, which to me was the fastest driver on track and deserved the win.”

While some may not agree with how the race ended, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff made a fair point to Sky Sports F1: “The race direction is going to be under critics, but in this time, they followed the rules.”

Max Verstappen behind the safety car at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.

IMAGO / PanoramiC

McLaren gets edge over Alpine in constructors’ battle. 

McLaren famously went 1-2 during the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, and while this year’s edition ended with Ricciardo retiring (as some call it the Monza curse), Lando Norris’s P7 finish “confirms us as the fourth-fastest team this weekend,” team principal Andreas Seidl said in the team’s post-race recap. 

The Woking-based team has been battling Alpine for fourth place in the constructor standings this season, and it appeared Alpine had the upper hand in recent weeks. Norris even said Friday that he expected McLaren’s performance in Monza to be similar to Spa a few weeks ago. Both Norris and Ricciardo finished outside of the top 10 in that race. 

As Seidl pointed out after Monza: “Warm weather and a low-downforce configuration haven’t favored us in the past.”

But as the slew of penalties shook up the starting grid, McLaren found itself locking out the second row. Despite being thrilled, Norris pointed towards Fernando Alonso’s pace as a concern for race day. 

“We’ve definitely made some improvements from [Friday],” Norris said, per formula1.com. “The race pace of Fernando was very strong [Friday]. So, similar to Zandvoort and a lot of races this year, Saturday we are strong, we can perform, and we can do a good job, but Sunday is the one where we’ve not always been able to deliver and keep up our performance from Saturday.”

The papaya fanbase did have a brief scare when Norris was slow to start, rapidly falling as others, including his teammate, surged ahead. However, he soon found the pace, and Ricciardo held onto being near the top until he had to pit. The pace was evidently on their side, and by lap 32, Alonso had to retire due to a “suspected water pressure issue,” Alpine tweeted. That left a double points finish up for grabs for McLaren until disaster struck for their Australian driver. 

“I was just trying to set a rhythm in fourth, but we weren’t quick enough. I felt like I was doing a good job to hold off [Pierre] Gasly but didn’t have much more to show than that,” Ricciardo said in the post-race recap. “It was a busy race, trying to hold on, do what I could and then yeah, felt like we got a little bit of a rhythm on the Hards with 10-15 laps to go but then the engine just switched off out of Turn Six. I had to pull over straight away because it was stuck in gear and so I couldn’t roll to a safe place.”

Ultimately, it was a mixed bag of emotions for the papaya team. But between Norris finishing seventh and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon not scoring points, McLaren trails Alpine by just 18 points. 

One last note: Although the energy brought the party to Monza, a shadow blanketed the circuit and much of the world this weekend as Formula One, like many other leagues, continued to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II. The queen died Thursday, and throughout the Italian Grand Prix weekend, the sport honored her memory as teams and drivers posted on social media, the cars sported decals and two moments of silence were held. 

Hamilton said, in part, in his post: “How do you find the words to describe the loss of Her Majesty The Queen? She was truly an iconic leader, an inspiration and a reassuring presence for most, if not all, of our lives.” 

Sunday’s race also fell on Sept. 11, the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the United States. Haas F1, the lone American-owned team, took a moment to honor those affected by the tragedy after the race.  

Next up: With the cancellation of the Russian Grand Prix, the teams and drivers have an unusually long break. F1 will head to Singapore at the end of the month with the next Grand Prix on Oct. 2.