Monza is one of the special races of the year, even if it doesn't always produce the most exciting races. This year we had some great moments. Red Bull brought a rear wing off the shelf, perhaps a new upper flap, but were ran in their lowest downforce trim. They didn't quite have the top speed, but they had the downforce and the fastest car. Max did what he had to do and once past Sainz he was on his own. Perez had to work his way up and did a good job to maximize the package. He did a better job in a car that didn't have as much of an advantage as we have seen at other tracks. So thumbs up to Perez. Ferrari a huge double podium. Ferrari brought a Monza specific rear wing and it paid off. Sainz was on the defense all race along, very difficult for sure. Leclerc perhaps had more race pace than Sainz, but track position matters. The battle between teammates was some of the best racing we have seen all season. It was brilliant! Mercedes also didn't seem to have a true Monza specific package and their straight line speed suffered. At best they were the 3rd fastest car. Russell was the Mercedes driver of the weekend, but he had his moments. Coming out of the pits he completely drove Ocon off the track and instead of giving the position back, he continues up the road and the Stewards take their sweet time to even look at it. By the time they decide a penalty is warranted, he was 8 seconds up the road. A 5 sec penalty meant nothing. Lewis Hamilton had his endless complaints about tires but the Medium tires proved to be great for him as he was flying in the final laps. However he crashed his way into Piastri and Lewis the always lucky guy has a car that wasn't really affected. Meanwhile Piastri's race is ruined. 5 second penalty is a joke and was nothing more than a slap on the wrist. A 10 second penalty minimum should have been applied. Hell we need to start seeing drive through penalties again because the Mercedes drivers only proved that you are better off to ruin other's races and just carry on and take a meaningless 5 second penalty. Williams brought a Monza specific package and they were rightfully quick. The top speed was impressive and critical to helping Albon hold on to 7th. We need to remember that the Williams does not have nearly the same levels of downforce as any of the top 4 or 5 teams, so it was extremely impressive what Albon was able to do. Logan drove decently to a 13th, but lets not ignore he was 33 seconds behind his teammate. McLaren didn't have the pace today. Lando was certainly faster than Albon, but just didn't have the top speed to do anything about it. We never saw the McLaren's in clean air to know their outrace pace in comparison to Mercedes. Piastri as we know got screwed by Hamilton, so he has every right to be frustrated. Aston Martin is another team that didn't have any sort of pace. Alonso was lucky just to qualify 10th. It seems the TV director missed a lot between Hamilton and Alonso, as they were right together at the start, then a gap, then back together, then a gap. Alonso ahead, then behind. What on earth happened all these times? Stroll looked like he was making up from his lousy qualifying, but ended up 16th. Their sad performance has now dropped them to 4th in the WCC. Alfa Romeo brought a Monza specific package. Their rear wing with the DRS opened looked like two straight lines. Very very slim. I guess it worked since Bottas finished in the points! One of his better drives of the season, beating his teammate quite well in the process. Yet we didn't see much of it, which is a shame because it would have been nice to see more of that beautiful livery. AlphaTauri's day started terrible with Yuki having an engine failure and a DNS. Liam Lawson continues to impress with another fantastic drive. Honestly Ricciardo's seat may be in jeopardy in the Red Bull B team is well. Haas were absolutely nowhere. They have suffered from poor race pace all year. Still questioning if the Ferrari PU has to be turned down significantly in the races as all Ferrari teams seem to do better in quali. Both drivers finishing 1 lap down and dead last. Rough day. Driver of the Day: Carlos Sainz. He had to defend ALL day. It was hopeless, but a valiant effort against Max. Pretty much the same against Perez. Then had to fight off his teammate. Sure he went over the limit a few times, but credit his determination to hold onto the podium.
I very much enjoyed this analysis. Many folks here want to rip on Sainz for not being able to win or not hold off Perez. The biggest question I had was why LeClerc was willing to risk the whole positive outcome for the team with his late race racing strategy against his team mate. Powered by Honda has a great car, Max is tough to beat period and Checo had a fine day at the wheel in a great car and the Red Bull team provided strong support.
Totally agree with you with everything you said, and also with your nomination for driver of the day. Sainz defended superbly against both Red Bulls and the closing laps where AMAZING. Also with your assessment of Perez. This was easily his 2nd best race of the season (Baku clearly his best). What a show that was
Actually aside from Max this was a pretty interesting race. I'm glad Ferrari let their two drivers drive.
Well yes. Now that the title is out of reach, they may as well have a few scraps for the rest of the season for Vasseur to decide who is really the Number One in that team. Leclerc is convinced it's him, but Sainz is ahead in points.
The two red cars. No words. That was racing. I bet Enzo was smiling. They may have been a little passionate, but as Enzo said. " You cannot describe passion, you can only feel it". Sounds better in Italian.....
