During a season littered with team and driver mistakes, reduced to farcical levels when they managed to bring just three tires to the pitstop on the final lap, Elkann had issued a stark warning as Ferrari entered the Monza cauldron. “We have to keep making progress and that goes for the mechanics, the engineers, the drivers and obviously, the whole management team, including the team boss,” he said. “We have seen that there are still too many mistakes in terms of reliability, driving and strategy.” His words ringing in their ears, Ferrari duly delivered. Perhaps a similar warning will be given before Sunday’s race, given that it seemed to work in qualifying. With Red Bull expected to be strong at Monza, Ferrari took all the stages and Leclerc performed brilliantly in his car optimized for the autodromo straight. Leclerc, who saw his early-season title-challenging optimism disappear, echoed Elkann afterwards but insisted the team needed to do better everywhere, not just at Monza. “We have to become a team that doesn’t make mistakes wherever we go,” he said. “It’s a special weekend for us, but the goal doesn’t change. We have to have a clean fight and a good fight.” However, it certainly matters more at Monza, if nothing else for the tifosi and Leclerc gave them reason to cheer, rightfully taking pole on merit with a fine lap and pipping Red Bull’s Max Verstappen into second place by over a tenth of a second. George Russell during qualifying at Monza. The British driver will start second on the grid for the Italian Grand Prix. Photo: David Davies/PA However, behind him the excruciating and cumbersome penalty system of F1 once again left the entire session anticlimactic and confusing. The session was marked by teams receiving a number of penalties for receiving new power unit and gearbox components. Verstappen will drop five places to seventh, which will be little obstacle for the man who won from 10th in Hungary and 14th at Spa and expected to come through to battle Leclerc soon on Sunday. Penalties dropped British drivers George Russell and Lando Norris to second and third for Mercedes and McLaren respectively, but both were 1.4 seconds off the pace and Verstappen would undoubtedly overtake them. The musical chairs continued throughout the series with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who was third, relegated to 18th and Lewis Hamilton, who was fifth, dropped to 19th, both with back-of-the-grid penalties for unit changes power. Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez was fourth and with his 10-place penalty he will start from 13th. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was eighth but was promoted to fourth. Pierre Gasly was ninth for AlphaTauri and will start fifth and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso 10th but moved up to sixth. Williams’ Alex Albon was diagnosed with appendicitis on Saturday morning and was replaced by reserve driver Nyck de Vries who finished 13th but moved up to eighth. Esteban Ocon was 11th for Alpine but has a five-place penalty and will start from 14th. Valtteri Bottas was 12th for Alfa Romeo and has a 15-place penalty and will be 15th. His teammate Guanyu Zhou was 14th and will start in ninth. Yuki Tsunoda was 15th for AlphaTauri but has a penalty behind the grid and will start 20th. Nicholas Latifi finished 16th for Williams and will start 10th, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll were 17th and 18th for Aston Martin but will start 11th and 12th. Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, who both have 15-place penalties, were 19th and 20th, but will be 16th and 17th on the grid. For Ferrari, the real test remains on Sunday. Holding off Verstappen will be a huge task, but even if they fail, at least error-free execution is the minimum they and their boss, watching with a pitiful eye, will expect. It’s now a matter of pride as Verstappen remains in complete control of the title race, with a 109-point lead over Leclerc and Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez. To make the event even more special, the winner will receive a unique work of art in the form of a trophy commissioned by tire manufacturer Pirelli. The company is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year and as part of Pirelli’s commitment to supporting the contemporary arts, Italian artist Patrick Tuttofuoco sculpted the trophy, reflecting what he described as themes of time, dynamism and speed, and is titled ‘Eon “.
