- Max Verstappen's advantage over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the Formula 1 Drivers' Championship has swelled from a comfortable 38 points to an insurmountable 109.
- This week, Ferrari has turned up at its home event with a tweaked livery as it continues to commemorate 75 years since its foundation as a company.
- “This one is different because for once I’m not red!,” joked Charles Leclerc on being a Ferrari driver at Monza.
Where Zandvoort was orange, Monza will be red, albeit this year with a tinge of yellow.
Formula 1 has headed straight from Red Bull's Max Verstappen’s home arena and base for his fans known as the "Orange Army" and onto Ferrari’s turf for the final stretch of the European season.
Ferrari arrives under pressure after its strong start to the 2022 campaign fell away amid reliability struggles, strategic setbacks and a couple of driver blunders.
Meanwhile, reigning champion Verstappen is on a supreme run. He has won the last four races, including two of those from 10th or lower on the grid, to bring his season tally to double digits. During that spell his title advantage over Charles Leclerc has swelled from a comfortable 38 points to an insurmountable 109.
Ferrari has turned up at its home event with a tweaked livery as it continues to commemorate 75 years since its foundation as a company. Ferrari has added segments of yellow to its car while drivers Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will sport yellow helmets and race overalls. Yellow is regarded as Ferrari’s second color, behind red, and features on its emblem as a nod to Modena, Italy, where it was founded.
Ferrari showed off its Monza livery this week ahead of the F1 Italian Grand Prix.
“This one is different because for once I’m not red!,” joked Charles Leclerc on being a Ferrari driver at Monza. “We are in yellow, it’s a special color for this weekend, and it’s nice. I like it, but wearing yellow feels a bit strange!
“You can feel everyone (at Monza) is behind Ferrari and has high expectations – but it is a motivation more than an added pressure. Even to get out of the hotel it’s pretty difficult to come to the track!”
Verstappen delivered for his home spectators at Zandvoort but Ferrari is wary that it faces a stern challenge if it is to similarly delight its devoted fans, with 125,000 expected through the turnstiles come Sunday.
Leclerc was triumphant at Monza in 2019—Ferrari’s last win on home soil—but that was with a car that had a rapid power unit. This year the Red Bull RB18 has been supreme in a straight-line, and on low-downforce tracks, particularly in the hands of the relentless Verstappen.
“I think it’s going to be a bit of a difficult weekend—on paper at least it’s going to be a difficult weekend,” said Leclerc.
“We expect Red Bull to be stronger, the track characteristics don’t exactly fit our car. But we have had some good and bad surprises this year, so hopefully this is a good one and we over-perform to what we expect.”
Leclerc went on to explain that Red Bull’s “main strength this year is the straight-line speed” and “we are a bit quicker in the corners but at circuits like this it’s not enough to gain back the advantage that they have on the straights.
“Compared to Red Bull I think this will be the case this weekend.”
Leclerc is likely to be the only Ferrari driver at the sharp end of the grid, with teammate Sainz expected to take on a fresh power unit, which will incur a penalty.
He is not going to be alone in this regard, with Monza historically a venue at which drivers taken on fresh power units. That is because teams are often hitting reliability setbacks at this stage of the season, while the abundance of straights means passing is plentiful, particularly compared to the next race venues of Singapore and Japan.
Mercedes has already confirmed Lewis Hamilton will fit fresh components, dropping towards the back, while Haas outlined Mick Schumacher will take a new gearbox, incurring a five-place demotion on the starting grid.
As for the reigning World Champion Verstappen, he has an atypically subdued record at Monza, famously retiring last year after a clash with then title rival Hamilton.
Verstappen has yet to even finish on Monza’s famous podium, which hangs over the pit straight, but that is more down to characteristics of prior machinery than his own ability.
“We’ve always been slow on the straights,” said Verstappen of past seasons. “So you always know when you get here that it’s never going to be a good weekend. Besides that, we had a few technical issues here, and we always had to take engine penalties around here as well, so naturally, it’s never going to be amazing.
“But now with the straight-line speed, it can be a completely different weekend for us.”
