Leclerc fights off Hamilton, Bottas to break Ferrari Monza drought
Leclerc fights off Hamilton, Bottas to break Ferrari Monza drought
Charles Leclerc delivered an astonishingly composed drive to hold off both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas and win the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari's first win at Monza since 2010.
Leclerc led the majority of the race from pole as he did a week ago in Belgium, although this was an even more fraught affair than Spa.
Whereby Hamilton had only just run out of laps in Belgium, he was stuck to Leclerc's gearbox for the most part here until a lock-up into Turn 1 11 laps from the end finished his challenge.
When Bottas took over the fight, he caught Leclerc with three laps to go, but an error at the same spot as his team-mate freed the Ferrari to take victory.
Leclerc is the first home winner since Fernando Alonso and crucially has moved above Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' standings for the first time all year as the German endured a wretched race.
Vettel spun off the track when running fourth, then almost wiped out the Racing Point of Lance Stroll when rejoining the circuit, for which he was deservedly punished. Vettel finished 13th and his "priority" over Leclerc is surely now consigned to history.
Leclerc might have four wins to his name by now if not for heart-breakers in Bahrain and Austria, and it was clear that the lessons from Spielberg had been learnt.
At the Red Bull Ring, Leclerc offered up little fight to Max Verstappen, instead waiting for the stewards to help him out.
Here, though, Hamilton was muscled out at the second chicane on one of his many assaults as Leclerc showed he won't be pushed around in the years to come, when title challenges will surely follow.
Leclerc just kept his nose ahead after running wide at the first chicane, and there was no repeat of the Canadian GP, where Vettel was penalised for a seemingly similar incident.
Hamilton pitted late for the fastest lap with third place secure, meaning Bottas has only cut his championship lead to 63 points.
Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg converted strong grid spots into fourth and fifth for Renault, boosting their bid for constructors' championship positions.
Alexander Albon could not catch them after an early dice off-track and settled for sixth ahead of Sergio Perez in seventh and Max Verstappen in eighth, who both pulled off fine drives from the back of the grid, while Antonio GIovinazzi and Lando Norris rounded out the points.
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
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