Ferrari stun with Leclerc win in Italian GP as Norris fails to capitalise

There was exctiment at the end of the race as McLaren attacked Ferrari. The two teams were on contrasting strategies, with the Italians rolling the dice with a one stop race. Piastri used his fresher rubber to close an 11 second gap with less than 10 laps remaining. The gap reduced but Leclerc had enough grip to hold on. 

With such a delta between Norris and Verstappen's starting position, it gave the Brit a crucial chance to cut Verstappen's lead in the World Championship. Norris did take a eight pont dent but it could've been so much bigger. Norris lost the lead in the opening lap and left the door open for Leclerc to move through. Norris took home 16 points and Verstappen finished sixth. The Brit took the fastest lap point from the Dutchman on the last lap. McLaren did however take another gain on Red Bull in the Constructors Championship with Perez down in P8.

Lewis Hamilton finished ahead of his teammate George Russell and took home a good amount of points in P5. Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon crossed the line in 9th and 10th. Yuki Tsunoda continued his disappointment in Monza with an early retirement. On debut, Franco Colapinto did well and used a strong Williams to his advantage.

How the 2024 Italian Grand Prix happened

Norris started the race from pole position, with his rival Verstappen all the way back in P7. Norris had his teammate Piastri alongside him at the start, with Russell leading the pack of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull cars down to the first corner. The front six drivers started with new medium tyres, but Red Bull opted for new hard tyres and had three full rows of drivers on new mediums behind them.

The McLaren got off the line well and Norris kept the lead at the first corner. However, his teammate made the move at the second chicane and forced his way through. Norris had to slow down, which opened the door for Charles Leclerc. Russell missed the opening chicane and lost places. He returned to the track behind Hamilton and Verstappen.

Piastri didn't create a large gap to Leclerc as the Ferrari driver stayed within DRS range for the opening 10 laps. Russell picked up damage from his first corner incident and it started to cost him again on lap 11. Perez made a move down the start/finish straight for seventh place. Mercedes pulled him into the pits after that. McLaren called Norris in for an undercut attempt on Leclerc on lap 15. The Brit had to lock up his tyres to slow down in time for the pit entry speed limit. The undercut was successful.

McLaren pitted Piastri two laps later and stayed ahead. This allowed McLaren to regain (alebit virtually at the time) first and second in the race. Leclerc wasn't happy with Ferrari, who questioned their decision to pit after he had already been undercut. McLaren hinted at papaya rules, which allowed Norris and Piastri to race against each other. 

On lap 31, Norris warned his tyre looked pretty bad. He had a three second gap to Piastri at this point and Leclerc was galvinsied by this. Norris made a mistake at turn four, which opened his gap to nearly five seconds and put Leclerc on his tail. Norris then pitted again on lap 33. The race turned into a two stop for the majority as tyre degradation was high. Piastri confirmed he needed a second stop and came in on lap 39.

Championship battle on track?

The pit stop situation put Norris and Verstappen on track next to each other. On lap 40, Norris tried to overtake his rival but couldn't make it happen at first corner. Second time around, Norris made the move work and went in pursuit of Piastri. Meanwhile, Ferrari were trying to go to the end with a one stop and crucially had track position with both Leclerc and Sainz. Piastri got passed Sainz on lap 45 of 53 and had 11 seconds to close on leader Leclerc. Sainz dropped off further and lost P3 to norris on lap 47. Piastri couldn't close the gap to Leclerc.