The Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza will always be iconic, the sea of red in the grandstands, the high-speed nature of the straights, famous corner names, the famous Tifosi, and of course the infamous Italian National Anthem bellowing out.
Let’s talk about standout moments that have occurred on the track, Sebastian Vettel achieving a childhood dream of becoming a Grand Prix winner in 2008, Toro Rosso (Now Alpha Tauri) winning their first race as a constructor, Charles Leclerc getting his first Italian Grand Prix win with Ferrari at the first time of asking, Pierre Gasly becoming a Grand Prix winner in 2020 just to name a few. For me, the most incredible moment at the Italian Grand Prix from when I first started watching F1 was the race in 2020 when Pierre Gasly won from Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll.
Favourite moment from the Italian Grand Prix:
This was because you saw a rare mistake from Mercedes for pitting when the pit lane was closed and got slapped with a stop/go penalty after Kevin Magnussen’s Haas broke down, and Ferrari was having a stinker season and Red Bull did not have a car that could compete on the straights with the Honda engine but what made it special was that you had the top 4 all going for their first win. You had 2 teams that had not won a race for years and one that had never won a race before, so to be in a scenario where you would see something like that happen was amazing.
For everything that Gasly had gone through the previous year with being dropped by Red Bull after a poor first half of the season and losing his close friend Anthoine Hubert. To go through all that is something only he will know how he did it but one thing is for sure it changed Gasly. Being dropped from Red Bull would have been gut-wrenching for the young Frenchman, it looked from the outside that he went into Red Bull earlier than he probably should have been and to be dropped after half a season isn’t a good look for him either but since that happened Gasly turned into a more consistent driver back at his Alpha Tauri home. He was consistently scoring points for the team while his teammate Daniil Kvyat struggled to match his pace then on one Sunday afternoon, the opportunity of a lifetime came for the Gas-man.
Gasly starting 10th on the grid would start on the soft tyre and would go to lap 20 and make his 1 and only stop for the hard tyre when the safety car was deployed for the stranded Haas. When the pitlane was opened Gasly found himself in P3 at the restart with Hamilton having to serve his stop/go penalty and Stroll having to do his mandatory stop which never happened as a red flag was thrown after a big crash mid-corner of the Parabolica involving Charles Leclerc, which allowed Stroll to change tyres under that red flag.
A poor restart from the Canadian though allowed Gasly to overtake him for 2nd place and a net lead once Hamilton stopped which he served on lap 28. Monza is a tricky place to overtake which you would never guess given the high-speed nature plus the tow and DRS. Then at the end of lap 53, the words that send shivers down your spine were said by David Croft “Pierre Gasly is in front for the Alpha Tauri team that won here as Toro Rosso and they’re going to win in 2020 as Alpha Tauri, Pierre Gasly wins the Italian Grand Prix oh my oh my is that just wonderful”.
There’s just something about Gasly and Alpha Tauri, the Frenchman claimed his maiden podium with them in 2019 at the Brazilian Grand Prix and also claimed his first win with the team so it’s safe to say that they are a match made in heaven. It also felt like the weight of the world was lifted and proved people wrong after his demotion from Red Bull.
Italian Passion:
If you want to look for passion within the current/previous eras and generations look no further than the legendary Tifosi who turn out in force no matter how the team in red (Ferrari) is performing now obviously every country will say they have the most passionate fans, last time out in Holland with Max Verstappen, British Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton, Mexico for Sergio Perez but when it comes to supporting a team nothing will beat Ferrari and Italy but with that brings added pressure to perform.
The Tifosi always expect results not only in the form of championships but also at the Italian Grand Prix, the last time they witnessed a Ferrari driver win was in 2019 with Charles Leclerc but before then it was Fernando Alonso in 2010. In a season of what-ifs for Ferrari, the least the fans deserve is to see them get a win on home soil even though this being Ferrari it won’t happen in fact they’ll probably find a way to throw it away and not get a podium with 1 car.
This year has been a case of mismanagement and it has reflected in race results, going back to Silverstone when team orders were needed and they got it wrong. Race strategy has been shocking, there are too many instances where the strategy has been floored and they’ve just handed out free wins to their rivals Red Bull and that won’t sit down well at all with the guys and girls in red and if things don’t improve then could we see the end of Matia Binotto’s time as team principal going into the 2023 season?
There have been serious questions asked about the team and whether there should be personnel changes. If you ask me, changes need to be made not only with the strategy department but also with the pit-crew department. It was evident at the Dutch Grand Prix last time out that changes were needed with Carlos Sainz’s first pitstop. Should these mistakes keep happening you know that it will be a matter of time before the Tifosi start venting their frustration toward the team.
If there was any talk of Monza being dropped from the calendar then it just simply can not happen. With the passion of the fans and the history of the circuit, it would be inexcusable to think of an F1 season without the Italian Grand Prix being at Monza.
Comments