Italian GP: Charles Leclerc ‘confident’ Ferrari has the speed to hold off Max Verstappen at Monza
Charles Leclerc said he is confident his Ferrari has enough speed to hold off Max Verstappen and win at home from pole in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
Leclerc won pole position in Monza to Tifosi’s delight but faces a potentially bigger challenge than denying runaway world championship leader Verstappen in Sunday’s race.
The Dutchman qualified just behind Leclerc in second but will start from Saturday, as he is one of nine drivers to receive net penalties for joining the new divisions.
“Today is good but now we need to repeat it tomorrow”, Leclerc said Sky Sports F1. “Tomorrow is important, but today the feeling (about the car) is really good. We just have to put everything together and make no mistake.”
“Honestly, I’m pretty confident that we had a very good race tempo.
“They have a different configuration and higher download force but I’m pretty confident we can make it work.”
On the track that most resembles Monza, Belgium’s Spa, Verstappen was completely dominant as he easily won last month despite starting 14th on the grid for a penalty, but Leclerc is adamant that everyone Things will be different this time.
“I think Max and Red Bull were on another planet in Spa and we really, really struggled with the feel of the car,” Leclerc added.
“Since FP1 is a completely different weekend here, we’ve been working a lot since Spa to figure out exactly what we did wrong, and I think we’ve come up with quite a few answers. different words we have applied here and hopefully for us we are in a much better position.
“I’m sure Max will be back very quickly to fight us for first place, but it would be a very bad surprise if he overtakes us like he did at Spa and pulls away.”
Verstappen optimistic about Red Bull race setup
Verstappen agrees with Leclerc that a repeat of his Spa advantage is unlikely, but suggests a more race-oriented Red Bull setup than qualifying could support him on Sunday.
“You can see the whole weekend they (Ferrari) were very competitive and Spa might have a bit of luck, especially for the other teams,” said Verstappen, who is holding the world championship lead. 109 points with seven races left, said.
“I think our car was in good shape again, we chose to run a little steeper than the other teams.
“Maybe more than one lap that’s not the right strategy but I’ve always felt really comfortable on long rides so I hope tomorrow when it’s warmer and the tire deterioration shows up it will be.” is a good solution for us.”
Verstappen, who had to wait almost four hours after qualifying ended to receive confirmation that he would start Saturday amid confusion over the imposition of a grid penalty, will have to pass five cars – including including George Russell of Mercedes and McLarens – to Leclerc.
“They (McLaren and Mercedes) are pretty far in qualifying so I don’t really expect them to be a big threat but I hope it won’t turn out to be a DRS train because then I’m really hard.” difficult to overcome them,” added Verstappen.
“Let’s see tomorrow, I hope of course nothing happens in lap one and then if we have a good race pace, anything is possible.”
Russell expects Verstappen to dominate
One of the main penalty winners was Russell, who jumped from sixth in qualifying to second on the net, but was not optimistic about his chances of competing for victory.
“I think we need to focus on ourselves to be honest,” said the Mercedes driver. “I think we saw last week and in Budapest that if we focus on cars that end up being faster than us, we’re going to hurt our overall results.”
Unlike Leclerc and Verstappen, Russell is adamant that Red Bull will be significantly faster than Ferrari, although it should be noted that his comment came as many predicted that the Dutchman would finish in second place. private.
“I’d like to think we could fight Charles and fight Max, I think there’s no chance, they’re a lot faster than us,” Russell said.
“A podium has to be the bare minimum for us, so I hope we can have a clean start and be ready to fight.
“We’re not really too focused on him (Max) or what they do because in the end he’ll finish ahead of us. He’ll probably lead in 15 laps.
“I don’t think overtaking here is as easy as at Spa but at their pace they will make it through.”
Hamilton wary of DRS . train
Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton qualified for third, fourth and fifth respectively, but were among the nine drivers who were netted for Sunday’s race.
While the various penalties created great confusion after qualifying, there was never a doubt that Hamilton and Sainz, whose penalties limited them to the back of the grid, would start in 18th place. and 19.
Perez started in 13th place after taking a 10-place penalty, which could not be fully applied as all cars behind him on the net were also penalized.
While Sainz will likely have the speed to get across the pitch, Mercedes’ lack of straight-line speed has Hamilton concerned that he could have a nasty afternoon.
“It’s going to be very difficult tomorrow because DRS doesn’t make a big difference,” Hamilton said.
“It’s quite small and there can be a lot of people in a DRS train, so it can be a pretty frustrating day.
“However, I will try to actively go into it.”
The sport continues to pay homage to Queen Elizabeth II, with some cars bearing tribute images. All the teams on the track observed silence for a minute before Friday’s first practice session, and more pre-race dedications are expected on Sunday.
Provisional Italian GP starting grid:
1) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2) George Russell (Mercedes)
3) Lando Norris (McLaren)
4) Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
5) Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
6) Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
7) Max Verstappen (Red Bull) *
8) Nyck de Vries (Williams)
9) Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
10) Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
11) Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
12) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
13) Sergio Perez (Red Bull) *
14) Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
15) Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) *
16) Kevin Magnussen (Haas) *
17) Mick Schumacher (Haas) *
18) Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) *
19) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) *
20) Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) *
* Apply grid penalty
Watch the Italian Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 at 2pm on Sunday, airing from 1pm.