Monza is still Monza – the cathedral of speed in a beautiful leafy setting. And Ferrari is still Ferrari to its fans, which is why Leclerc classily waved to every grandstand he passed on the way back to the pits after FP1 and did so again in the sessions that mattered along with teammate Carlos Sainz.
The Ferrari SF21 was not expected to excel at Monza, owing to its specialism on the lower-speed circuits on the F1 calendar, but the brace of red cars still managed to grasp a good haul of points to minimise the damage to McLaren in the constructors’ standings.
However, the strong race pace shown by Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc during the first stint of the 2021 Italian Grand Prix led the Maranello tehnicians to believe that a great result could have been achieved at the Monza circuit. Instead nothing. The SF21 is still vulnerable on the straights, an effect amplified by the DRS train. At the restart from the Saftey Car on lap 31, Charles Leclerc was second but he the Monegasque driver did not have sufficient weapons to successfully defend against the much faster cars of Lando Norris and Sergio Perez. However, the Mexican driver received a five-second time penalty for having cut at the Variante della Roggia.
This penalty would later allow Charles Leclerc to finish ahead of the Red Bull driver in fourth position, which is proof that the pace to stay behind the McLarens was there too. Such a pity. Once off the DRS train, Charles also manages to have a nice duel against Valtteri Bottas, with some great wheel to wheel racing. The Mercedes, however, is clearly superior and for Charles Leclerc it is impossible to resist.
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A somewhat anonymous race for Carlos Sainz who by his own admission at the end of the race revealed that he did not want to take great risks after the crash he had at Ascari on Saturday. The Spanish driver lacked the confidence to push at Monza. If the first stint on the Medium was not particularly brilliant, the pace on the Hard was almost at the level of his teammate.
Being able to maintain the position against Sergio Perez, penalized by 5 ‘, seemed possible until the final few laps. In the end, however, the problems in managing the tires re-emerged for the Spanish driver: a lot of degradation in particular at the rear and the gap towards the Mexican widened, forcing Carlos to finish the 2021 Italian Grand Prix in sixth place at 1’8 behind the Red Bull driver.
source: funoanalisitecnica.com
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