12/09/2021
NEWS STORY
Scuderia Ferrari comes away from the Italian Grand Prix with a fourth and a sixth place courtesy of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz respectively. All things considered, the result matched expectations, given how the weekend panned out and the fact it took place at the Monza track with its long straights.
Always in the lead group. Charles and Carlos produced solid performances getting everything out of their package and both men were always in the group fighting at the front, even if their lack of speed on this type of track had a significant effect on the final result, especially when battling with other cars.
Fans and special guests. The Monza weekend was special as it marked the return of fans to the grandstands at the Autodromo Nazionale. Shining in the paddock were the gold medals worn by the Italian Olympic athletes and the cup won by the Italian national football team in the European Championship under the management of Roberto Mancini: all examples of Italy's winning ways, based on values shared with the Scuderia, who must see this as a spur to continue improving, as mentioned by President John Elkann when greeting the athlete guests today in Monza. In fact, the President invited all the Italian champions to a special day in Maranello.
Charles Leclerc: I put my whole heart into it today. In terms of my personal performance, I would rank this as one of my top drives since joining Formula 1, so I am really happy about my race. Every lap was like a qualifying lap and I took every opportunity I had to fight for positions and had fun driving.
We were quite vulnerable on the main straight which is what made the race more difficult for us. Of course we want more than a fourth place, but taking all things into consideration I think this is a result we can be pleased with today. Looking at where we were last year, we have made a big step forward. This is thanks to the work of every person on our team and I think we should be proud of this and acknowledge it.
Carlos Sainz: My first Italian GP with Ferrari was very special and I will always remember this weekend even if it wasn't the best in terms of results. We obviously wanted to stand on the podium in front of the tifosi but it wasn't possible. We were not quite there in the fight today and I've struggled with the car more than I wanted since yesterday morning. The rear sliding, combined with the lack of top speed, eventually made things very tricky during the race.
Taking everything into consideration, P6 is a decent result but that's not what we are here for. We will have to keep improving to make sure next year we can fight for the top spot. Congratulations to McLaren on the one-two finish. Today they deserve that result and I can't wait to race against them in Russia.
Mattia Binotto: A decent result, which reflects what we could have expected on a track that definitely did not suit the characteristics of our car. In fact, at this track we paid the price for a lack of speed, which made us particularly vulnerable at the restarts, as we saw again today. Nevertheless, the race pace was reasonably satisfactory, given what we expected going into the weekend.
Congratulations to McLaren who have won for the first time in nine years: they are back in third place but there is still a long way to go this season and we will do our utmost to fight for it right to the very end.