Charles Leclerc wins Italian GP; ‘Checo’ finished in eighth place

Monza. Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari a stunning victory at their home Formula One Italian Grand Prix and sent the crowd into a frenzy after saving his tyres with a bold one-stop strategy to deny frontrunners McLaren a one-two finish.

Australian Oscar Piastri, who had taken the lead from his McLaren teammate Lando Norris on the first lap, finished second, with the Briton, who is fighting for the title, third.

Both McLarens made two stops but the strategy fell apart when Leclerc used his set of hard tyres for 38 laps around the super-fast Monza circuit as the crowd cheered him on.

The result left Norris 62 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished only sixth, with eight races remaining.

“Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia,” Leclerc shouted over the car radio as he passed the chequered flag waved by former Italian footballer Alessandro Del Piero.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Leclerc before the podium celebrations. “I want to win Monza and Monaco every year and I’ve done it. It’s very, very special.”

Leclerc had an 11-second lead with seven laps remaining and an 8.3-second lead with five to go, as the numerous “tifosi” encouraged him to continue.

He crossed the finish line with a lead of 2.664.

“We considered a one-stop strategy for the whole race but it wasn’t possible with the amount of graining I had,” said Norris, who had started the day 70 points behind Verstappen and was hoping to gain much more.

“We are disappointed, but Ferrari drove a better race,” he added.

McLaren could also have taken the lead in the constructors’ championship, but ended the day still eight points behind Red Bull, although well down from 30 previously.

Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari and future Italian team driver Lewis Hamilton fifth for Mercedes.

George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez eighth and Alex Albon scored valuable points for Williams in ninth. Kevin Magnussen was 10th for Haas despite a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.