Charles Leclerc won his second Formula 1 race of the season during the Italian Grand Prix, which put the Tifosi in pandemonium.
With his latest victory, Leclerc has moved closer to leader Max Verstappen in the updated drivers’ standings, as the Monegasque is only 86 points adrift from the Dutchman and only trail by 24 points against the second-seeded Lando Norris.
The SBOTOP Formula 1 2024 odds had McLaren as the favourite to win in the build-up to Monza because Lando Norris was expected to win his second consecutive race. However, he ultimately finished third, while his teammate Oscar Piastri was in second place.
Given the latest Formula 1 2024 results, Max Verstappen and the rest of Red Bull are growing worried, while Haas’ Kevin Magnussen just received bad news ahead of Azerbaijan.
Major gamble pays off for Leclerc, Ferrari
Charles Leclerc is on a high since he followed up a maiden victory on home soil in Monaco with his second career win at Monza, much to the delight of Ferrari supporters.
It was the Monegasque’s seventh career Formula 1 win, as well as his third successive podium after back-to-back P3s in Spa and Zandvoort.
Lando Norris initially stayed in P1 before Oscar Piastri overtook his Papaya teammate to be out front for much of the race.
However, Ferrari’s bold decision to implement a risky one-stop strategy gave themselves the edge, as McLaren ultimately conceded the advantage when they had to make the second pit stop with 20 laps to go. 2.6 seconds was all Leclerc needed to win.
While it worked for Leclerc, it didn’t for his teammate Carlos Sainz, since he wasn’t able to hold his place, finishing P4 because of his worn-down tyres.
Ferrari have improved their chances in the constructors’ championship because they now only trail by 31 and 39 points against McLaren and Red Bull, respectively after Leclerc’s emotional victory.
The Prancing Horse will more to look forward to as the Formula 1 calendar shifts to Baku, since it’s a track where Charles Leclerc, in particular, has normally performed well.
Verstappen calls for drastic changes after difficult weekend
Max Verstappen is probably sensing that he is slowly losing grip of the Formula 1 title after a subpar P6 finish in Monza last Sunday. The Dutchman hasn’t won a race for the sixth straight time, although he had P2 finishes in Silverstone and in Zandvoort.
Verstappen’s forgettable weekend started with a lacklustre qualifying session that put him seventh on the grid, and he could only manage to improve one position, finishing a staggering 37.9 seconds behind race winner Charles Leclerc.
After the race, the reigning Formula 1 champion made the painful admission that surplus changes are needed to be made because he was battling an engine issue throughout the race in Monza.
“It doesn’t help that you can’t run full power for most of the race with the engine because we had an issue. So yeah, all in all a pretty bad race. (The engine issue) is really bad at the moment and, before Baku, we have a lot of work to do to basically change the whole car,” Verstappen said.
“if we don’t change anything on the car, it’s all going to be bad from now onwards to the end of the season, so we have a lot of work to do,” he added.
Sergio Perez finishing eighth in Monza didn’t help Red Bull either, as they are now in a precarious situation with eight races left in the calendar, with McLaren and Ferrari closing in on them in the standings.
Magnussen slapped with ban after costly collision
Kevin Magnussen will not be able to race in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after being penalised for clashing with Pierre Gasly during the Italian Grand Prix.
Magnussen was given two penalty points by stewards in Monza, putting him over the limit, despite the fact that both him and Gasly were able to continue without further incident. The 31-year-old finished P10 for his first points since the Austrian Grand Prix after a 10-second time penalty.
The last Formula 1 driver to receive such a ban (and a €50,000 fine) was Romain Grosjean, who caused a multi-car crash at the beginning of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix while driving for Lotus. Ollie Bearman will likely take Magnussen’s place in Baku. The 19-year-old will try to outdo himself the last time he raced in Formula 1, as he finished seventh in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix earlier this year when he replaced Carlos Sainz Jr. on short notice.
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