When Max Verstappen got on the Monza podium for the first time, moreover on the top step, there was a loud booing from the tifosi after he took victory ahead of Charles Leclerc at Ferrari’s home race. Yet the Dutchman is doing nothing to make himself unpleasant, at least in the eyes of the Ferrari fans: he wins, dominates, frustrates the Maranello team’s ambitions, but up to now it has been a very healthy sporting rivalry.
The booing on the podium, then, should be seen as directed to something else: to an FIA that is always late in making decisions, to a race direction that followed the rules at the end of the Italian Grand Prix, but also lost precious time by starting the Safety Car in front of the wrong driver and staying in front of him for two laps. Thus, the race ended with an avoidable procession that displeased everyone, perhaps even Max Verstappen, who might have wanted to triumph “on the track” (and most likely would have succeeded given the fact that he had new soft tyres, while Charles was running on used softs).
Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto gave his opinion on the deafening boos that accompanied the world champion on the Monza podium, interpreting them as not aimed primarily at the Dutchman: “Booing a driver is never nice. Max was the fastest driver on the track and he deserved the win, so the boos were not positive. But I think they were aimed at the FIA” – the Ferrari boss explained, at the end of the Italian Grand Prix.
“The fans believe that the Safety Car could have left the track earlier, so that the drivers could still have a couple of laps left for the show and the battles on the track.” From this point of view, the boss of the Ferrari pit wall found the support from his Mercedes and Red Bull colleagues, respectively Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, even though were favored by the decision of the race management to finish the Grand Prix under Safety Car (George Russell saved his podium finish, while Max Verstappen protected himself from any surprise).
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While Toto Wolff pointed out that the rules must be respected even if they go against the show, Christian Horner would have preferred to win in another way: “It was disappointing to win like this, because it goes against everything we have talked about in recent years,” Christian Horner Horner said to the journalists.
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