In Italy, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his third consecutive victory in the triple-header that marked the resumption of Formula 1 after the summer break. The Dutchman has put together an impressive series of successes which gives him the opportunity to be crowned world champion as early as the next race in Singapore (30 September – 2 October): he will win the world championship if he manages to take 14 points more than Charles Leclerc.
Scuderia Ferrari tried to stop him in Monza. The Maranello team even tried a different path to increase its chances, but unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. This time, putting the blame on the pit wall is useless. There are other problems that led to Charles Leclerc’s defeat in the Italian Grand Prix, and will will analyze them here. But first, as usual, let’s take a look at the evaluation made by the tire manufacturer who celebrated his 150th anniversary in Monza over the weekend.
Pirelli analysis
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull needed just 12 laps to go from seventh to first position. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, in a Ferrari, started from pole and decided to stop in the pits on the occasion of a Virtual Safety Car. The first two at the end of the Italian Grand Prix were among the five drivers to start on the Soft, while the other 15 opted for the Medium. Max Verstappen made his only stop on lap 25, underlining the low degradation of the soft, and returned to the track in second position with the mediums and took the lead again when Charles Leclerc made his second stop. The Safety Car in the final part triggered another series of stops, which however did not change the general standings. The race ended behind the Safety Car.
The executive vice president of Pirelli was interviewed at the end of the celebrations for the company’s 150th anniversary: ”We are proud of the important role in the celebration of Italian automotive technology and competence that we had in our home grand prix, on the occasion of the centenary of Monza and the 150th anniversary of Pirelli. We produce technologically advanced tires for motorsport, with specifications used in nearly 250 sports championships”.
“In addition to this, however, we also support culture and promote art, in particular through the activities of Pirelli HangarBicocca,” said Marco Tronchetti Provera. “Pirelli therefore wanted to celebrate this special occasion with an exclusive trophy, capable of guaranteeing a significant link with the highest level of world motorsport. I thank Patrick Tuttofuoco and Pirelli HangarBicocca for making this possible ”.
All race strategies
The Italian race would most likely have ended through a one-stop strategy if only the Safety Car had not intervened in the final to reshuffle the cards. In the Monza GP we saw nine different types of tactics for a total of 28 pit stops.
The most used strategy was the one that involved all three types of compounds: Medium-Hard-Soft with Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen were the ones who used this strategy. Medium-Soft follows, adopted by Lewis Hamilton, Mick Schumacher and Valtteri Bottas; the Medium-Soft-Soft was chosen by Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris; finally the Medium-Hard was chosen by Zhou and Gasly.
Max Verstappen won the race aiming for a Soft-Medium-Soft tactic using the Safety Car for a further stop in the final; Soft-Medium-Soft-Soft for Charles Leclerc; Soft-Medium for Nyck De Vries (who finished in points on his debut with Williams); Soft-Hard for Esteban Ocon; and George Russell’s Soft-Hard-Soft.
Open hunting in Maranello
Italian hunters will know that September marks the opening of the hunting season. Although the date is set for Sunday 19 September (a day that varies depending on the location), in Maranello, at least for the fans, the hunt for responsibility has already begun. Max Verstappen’s victory in Monza seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Charles Leclerc finished second despite the fact that he managed to take a brilliant pole position on Saturday. The fans are looking for the culprit, but this time the pit wall could not have done much more. The strategy did not affect the final result of the race, at least yesterday. Let’s find out why.
Ferrari also loses in Monza: the pit wall not at fault
When things go well they are all good, while on the contrary, when they go bad, an ugly and sometimes even unhealthy mechanism is triggered which must then inevitably lead to finding a culprit. Yesterday, all the fans would have liked to see Charles Leclerc win, but a few laps were enough to understand that it would not have been possible: after just five laps, Max Verstappen, who started 7th, was already second behind Charles.
The degradation of the Soft compounds, chosen by both drivers for the start, begins to be more pronounced on the Ferrari #16, so when the Virtual Safety Car takes over on lap 12, Ferrari is quite clear on what to do. It was right to stop and try something different than Red Bull, who had received the order from the team to do the exact opposite of Charles Leclerc (an order that leaves no room for interpretation: Red bull’s superiority was so big that any road Ferrari had chosen, Max would have won anyway).
In fact, when Charles Leclerc returned to the track, despite the new medium tires, the performance gap between him and the Red Bull opponent was just of a few tenths (in rare cases, half a second was gained by the Monegasque). A step that allowed Max Verstappen to make his own run and extend the stint on the Soft until the 26th lap (the longest stint). Many complain to Ferrari for having made a mistake in deciding for the stop during the Virtual period, but for Charles it would have been impossible anyway to resist Max’s attacks. If he had continued, with the tires already gone, he would have been forced to return to the pit anyway after just a few laps.
Max Verstappen, intending to do exactly the opposite of Charles Leclerc, at that point would have already made the stop on lap 12 and, thanks to the pace he would have had with new tires, he would have brilliantly overtaken Ferrari with a powerful undercut. The only thing that Ferrari can complain about is the fact that it has not been able to use the VSC to reduce the stop time (the green flag was displayed just as Charles was making the pit stop). Halving the lost time would not have been a guarantee of success, but at least it would have put Red Bull under a little more pressure, forced to make up a more substantial gap on track.
For this reason we can consider that this time the Ferrari pit wall is not at fault. Not even in the decision to change the compounds behind the Safety Car in the final stage. No one could have known that the race would not resume and, after seeing Hamilton’s experience in the Netherlands, it was right to go back for Soft tires like Max did and play it on equal terms.
Unfortunately the race did not continue and this prevented the fans from enjoying what surely would have been some really exciting last laps, but in this case the regulation (as stated by the FIA) has been respected to the letter and rightly so. Was it a mistake not to display the red flag? Is it a mistake not to give the drivers the opportunity to compete for the positions in the final laps? Yes, but not as bad as the ones we have witnessed in the past. Eveyrone wants to see a great show, but if the conditions are not there, you don’t have to try and recreate them.
Ferrari responsibilities: tire management is a big problem
Having said that, we certainly can’t overlook the issues Ferrari faced at Monza. Although the pit wall made the correct decisions with Carlos Sainz (who impressed with a great comeback from 18th position which allowed him to finish in 4th place) and was also good at taking the initiative with Charles Leclerc, it is clear that Max Verstappen has a advantage over Ferrari. Whatever strategic path the Maranello team had chosen, Max would have won anyway. The real problem lies in the tires, in their understanding. Nothing new for Ferrari, but it re-emerged loud and clear at Monza. The deficit suffered against Red Bull was evident.
Charles pitted on lap 12 because the Softs were showing more degradation than Verstappen’s set. Max, on the other hand, by staying out, not only showed that he could respond to Charles Leclerc’s times with used compounds, but also that he could manage them up to the 26th lap, showing how string the package of his F1-75 car was.
The truth is that Ferrari has not yet fully understood how to best manage the tires and this is one of its biggest weaknesses. Being able to keep the compounds in the right temperature window and manage their wear makes a big difference with the new Pirelli specifications and as long as Ferrari has these problems it will be difficult to once again challenge Red Bull for victory. Max Verstappen, on the other hand, is fast in all conditions. Cold, hot, dry or wet, the RB18 has always been competitive.
Ferrari can and must improve. The fans are starting to get tired of the situation. That the Maranello team has taken a step back from the beginning of the year is a fact.
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