Charles Leclerc goes through how they took the one stop option and hung on to win F1 Italian GP, as Frederic Vasseur adds his views on strategy.
The one stop strategy was thought about by Ferrari in F1 Italian GP at Monza but looking at the data from Red Bull who were running the hard compound at the start of the race, Leclerc thought otherwise if they will be able to stretch the tyres.
They even pitted early and got undercut by McLaren. They were on like-for-like strategy then but once the Woking-based team went for a second stop, Ferrari switched to trying one stop where they had somewhat nothing to lose in the long run.
Leclerc was leading from Carlos Sainz and the end result would have been third and fourth if not anything else. But things changed as the Monegasque managed to stretch his tyres unlike his teammate, who despite pitting later dropped behind the McLaren pair.
By the end of it, Lando Norris was out of picture but Oscar Piastri was still catching Leclerc. However, he ran out of laps which aided the Monegasque to win at Ferrari’s home event. It was his first at the venue since the 2019 season to make it a memorable one.
Sweet win –
Leclerc: “Just as sweet as the 2019 one. I thought the first one was always going to be more special if there was a second one ever happening, but actually it’s not the case. The second one just feels as special. Today I did not expect it going to the race. I thought that we would struggle a bit more compared to the McLaren, but also compared to the Mercedes. that seemed to have a really good pace on Friday. However, after a few laps, I saw and I felt the car was in a good place. Oscar maybe was a little bit quicker. It was difficult to see Lando’s pace as he was behind. Then once we got undercut, I was like, OK, maybe we are losing the win there. But then once both pitted, I actually picked up quite a lot of front grip, having the free air in front.
“And I was, as they said, being the last car, I didn’t have much to lose by trying the one-stop. But we did a really, really good job with that front left, which has been very, very tricky for everybody. We had a lot of front graining, but managed to take that front grip again. And that helped us to win today. To stand up on that podium in front of all the tifosi after such a week, because it’s a very tiring one… It’s an incredible feeling to be racing for Ferrari in Monza, but it’s also very tiring. And to be able to win here is extremely special.”
Vasseur: “I’m trying on the pit wall to avoid thinking if it’s possible or not, that we are managing the gap, we are giving target lap time to the drivers and not to think too much if it’s possible or not. But it’s true that the race was quite strange because we started for one stop and then McLaren pushed a bit more than expected on the first stint. Norris struggled before us that he had to pit, we wanted to cover him and to stay in the same race as them because we had the feeling that we had an advantage on the tyres. But the advantage was so good that after 10 laps with the hard it was clear for us that we could go until the end. Then you never know because you can have a cliff at one stage, but it was not the case. It was pretty well managed by the two guys and at the end of the day they were able to achieve the target lap time each lap and very consistently.”
Strategy confidence –
Leclerc: “Before the race, if you would have asked me, the one-stop was definitely the thing I wanted to do. After 10 laps, I think we saw that Red Bull started to struggle with the front left on the Hard. And there we started to doubt the one-stop. We thought that it would be a lot more difficult because we thought that the Hard would be a more difficult tyre to bring to the end. However, as soon as I put it, I still thought that this was a possibility. And especially, I think, when Oscar pitted two or three laps after that. I felt like I had more grip not having a car in front, especially on the front tyres, and that’s where I really thought that the one-stop, we could make it work.”
Vasseur: “This thing was clear to them from this morning on the strategy that one stop was probably the best option but we needed to do a long stint, not to push on the first couple of laps, that’s why also after 2-3 laps, the pace is quite high then we will have to pit, so losing the position, not fighting, you can do probably a better prediction in the circumstance with the hard. We were lenient to control for the first couple of laps as well. With the hard tyre, it was the tricky side of this kind of race that when you don’t have so much data on the tarmac and so you don’t long stint at all the hard before the rest.
“I think only Tsunoda did a long stint with the hard on Friday morning, but it was not representative and it was too early into the weekend. Then we had to take the decision to save two Hard for the race. It means that we arrived on Sunday afternoon and you have no data, no clue about the wear, the potential and the degradation. And it’s more where the drivers have to play an important role on the first lap of the stint to give their feedback also to the pitwall and this went pretty well for us.”
Last few laps, concentration –
Leclerc: “Just like in 2019, the last 3, 4, 5 laps it was quite difficult to keep the eyes on the track and I was obviously looking a little bit in the grandstand, I could see everybody was standing up and that was really nice to see. In 2019 I remember there was my mum also in the grandstand because I didn’t manage to have a paddock pass for her. This year, she actually had a paddock pass, so it’s good. She could watch and experience both things, once in the grandstand and once in the paddock. But yeah, it’s a very special feeling. I could also see some red smoke at one point. So I knew everybody was super excited, but I also knew that I had to finish the job and that I had to stay on it because Oscar had a really good pace. But yeah, in the last five, six laps, I felt like we had it.
“The tyres felt good and I could see that Oscar was not that fast to catch me before the end of the race if I was not doing any mistakes. The only thing I was focusing on really was my front left. I could see there was a little bit of graining, and I really didn’t want it to get worse. Otherwise, I knew that this was what will make me lose this race. So that was my only focus for the last… Actually, from when I put the Hard on the car. Yeah, that was my only focus. I knew that it was critical to not open this graining too much. And we did a really good job. Again, as soon as I had free air, I could change a little bit the balance of the car and put more stress on the rear tyres, which was exactly what I wanted to do. And as soon as that balance changed, I felt like the pace was coming back.”
Vasseur: “We are doing the calculation on what we could give up to Piastri each lap and to fix some target to Charles. Just in the last lap I said, ‘OK now we are safe’, because for the last lap we had something like four seconds and then you start to think about reliability. But now we are starting to try to stay focused, it’s not always easy but it’s the most important and not to think too much about the podium and so that this is a mistake.”
Rear wing for Monza –
Leclerc: “Well, I mean, we had really good top speed and that definitely helps on a track like this. So I guess that’s how it helped us. I honestly haven’t checked on everybody’s rear wing, whether everybody has brought something special for here. But yeah, it definitely helped us to win today as the characteristics were good and the balance of the car was also pretty good with that wing. All in all, from FP1, we didn’t change much the car. The car felt good. In qualifying, we struggled a little bit with the tires, but in the race, we were in a really good place. So, yeah, the whole package was strong this weekend.”
If McLaren were on one stop too –
Leclerc: “Good question. To be honest, I think we’ll have waited maybe one or two laps more just to see. I felt like maybe in the last two, three laps before Oscar pitted we were coming back a tiny bit, but I’ve got to check that again. But it was difficult for me to get closer than where I was, mostly because of the front left and the understeer that being behind Oscar… I had quite a bit too much understeer. So maybe we’ll have gone for a second stop and be a bit more aggressive to try and come back towards the end. But yeah, I don’t know. We didn’t do that anyway.”
Leclerc’s drive –
Vasseur: “I think it is much more difficult to win in this situation than to win in Monaco, for example, when you do pole position, you lead the race on Lap 1. In Monza, he had to fight, he had to manage the tyres which was a difficult one. He had to push. I think it more in this situation when you are not sure you are the fastest in the weekend, so when you win in this position, it is much more…I don’t know the right word in French, I am trying to find the right word in French, but I think it is a much better reward for the driver when you are doing first position in this way.”
Here’s the race win: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-italian-grand-prix-charles-leclerc-crosses-the-line-as-ferrari-win-in-monza.1809004991161921172
Here’s the radio message: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-italian-grand-prix-charles-leclercs-emotional-italian-radio.1809011564106086941
Here’s how F1 Italian GP panned out
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact