2024 F1 Round 16 – Italian Grand Prix race: Leclerc's one-stop strategy seals a comeback home win; Piastri second, Norris third, Yuki Tsunoda retires on lap 8

On the evening of September 1 (China Standard Time, UTC+8), the 53-lap race at the 2024 F1 Italian Grand Prix concluded at Monza. Starting fourth, Leclerc snatched victory from McLaren with an unexpected one-stop strategy, taking the chequered flag first in 1 hour 14 minutes 40.727 seconds and sparking a deafening roar at Ferrari’s home circuit. Piastri finished second, 2.664 seconds behind, with Norris third. Yuki Tsunoda’s race ended in disappointment on lap 8 as car damage forced him to retire.

The first twist after the start came in an intra-team battle at McLaren: Piastri muscled his way past pole-sitting team-mate Norris around the outside at Turn 4 to take the lead. Norris, who had taken a wider line, was then picked off by Leclerc at the first Lesmo and had dropped to third by the end of the opening lap—the fifth time he had lost positions on lap one after starting from pole. The race then became a strategic duel: McLaren planned two stops for both cars, while Ferrari opted to switch Leclerc to a one-stop after Norris pitted first on lap 14 and their response on the following lap failed to fend off his undercut.

This aggressive plan required Leclerc to make a set of hard tyres last 38 laps. Thanks to the SF-24’s tyre-friendly characteristics, he carefully managed the risk of graining while maintaining a steady pace. As the two McLarens completed their second stops one after the other, Ferrari reclaimed the top two positions on lap 40. Piastri and Norris went flat out after rejoining and each passed Sainz, whose tyres were spent, but they still fell just short—Leclerc won Ferrari’s home race by 2.664 seconds, while Sainz held on to fourth.

For Mercedes, Russell started third, ran wide at Turn 1 on the opening lap and ultimately finished seventh; Hamilton was fifth. Verstappen started seventh, his worst qualifying position since last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, and gained one place to finish sixth, with Red Bull’s title defence growing ever more difficult; Pérez was eighth. Albon finished ninth, while Magnussen held on to the final points-paying position despite a 10-second penalty for a collision with Gasly.

That 10th place came at a heavy price: Magnussen also received two penalty points, taking his rolling 12-month total to 12. The stewards imposed a one-race ban under Article 4.2 of the Sporting Regulations—the first time a driver had been suspended since the rule was introduced—and he will miss the next round, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Yuki Tsunoda’s weekend ended in the most disappointing fashion. He gained two places on the opening lap to move into 14th, but on lap 5 Hülkenberg, running behind him, struck his sidepod on the entry to Turn 1. The floor damage left his RB uncompetitive, and the team called him back to the garage to retire on lap 8. Hülkenberg received a 10-second penalty and two penalty points for the incident. He had also collided with Ricciardo at Ascari on the opening lap—Ricciardo was handed a five-second penalty for that collision, then another 10 seconds after a mechanic touched his car while he was serving the penalty during his pit stop, dropping him from 12th on the road to 13th in the final classification. Colapinto delivered a solid debut and finished 12th; Ocon, Gasly, Bottas, Hülkenberg, Zhou Guanyu and Stroll finished 14th to 19th respectively, all having been lapped.

The next round, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, will take place at the Baku street circuit in two weeks.