F1 Talk: Ferrari set for Monza from hell as we say Addio to the Williams family

One year on from Charles Leclerc’s historic win around the Autodromo Nationale di Monza, Ferrari head to their 999th Grand Prix for another historic weekend but this time for all the wrong reasons after Ferrari came home in 13th and 14th at last weekend’s Belgian GP.

The last time both Ferrari’s failed to finish inside the points at Monza was in 2005 with Michael Schumacher coming home in tenth and Ruben Barrichello in twelfth, but as the low-downforce Spa Francorchamps drew their worst performance of the year, it is expected Monza could be even worse for the home outfit.

But this opens things up for another dominant weekend from Mercedes as the Silver Arrows shoot for a sixth win in seven years around this famous venue.

Lewis Hamilton racked up another win At Spa Francorchamps to claim his fifth victory of the season and pull 47 points clear of Max Verstappen who continues to head the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, albeit by a reduced margin of three points as the Formula 1 circus heads to Monza.

Hamilton has been on a phenomenal run with five poles and five wins and will be hoping to add a sixth win around Monza to his CV to surpass Michael Schumacher’s victory tally with the pair tied on five wins a piece around the temple of speed.

For his team-mate Bottas, the Finn desperately needs to show some fighting spirit this weekend as the fight for the title starts to disappear for the second Mercedes man. After winning the first race in Austria, Bottas has been unable to match Hamilton on a Sunday afternoon, and with every passing race, the ability to catch his champion team-mate disappears. But can Monza be any different?

Red Bull have not scored a podium at Monza since Sebastian Vettel won for the Austrian team in 2013 and with Verstappen finishing on the podium in each of the last six races, could a maiden Monza podium be in the offing?

McLaren will also be hoping for success at the temple of speed after the impressive 2020 showing from the Woking-based team. McLaren head to Italy two points ahead of Racing Point in the battle for third in the championship. But with Renault likely to be the strongest midfield challenger, it will be a weekend of damage limitation.

Despite Racing Point (previously Force India) having had success on low-downforce tracks in previous years, the fact that the design philosophy of the RP20 is alike to the Mercedes has seen this year’s car not perform quite so well on these type of tracks this year.

Racing Point’s P9 and P10 at Spa Francorchamps was quite underwhelming and they will be looking to see if they can beat McLaren in the fight for third this time.

After a successful Spa Francorchamps, Renault will be dreaming of a maiden Grand Prix podium since their return in 2016. Daniel Ricciardo claimed his second fourth place finish of the season with team-mate Esteban Ocon in P5.

The low-downforce package of the RS 20 is continuing to work well and if they can continue that form around Monza, could a podium and even a tattoo be on the cards?

Despite being Italy’s second F1 team, Alpha Tauri should be the top Italian team this weekend. Pierre Gasly’s performance around Spa Francorchamps despite the testing circumstances is a true testament to his character to drive as well as he did and Alpha Tauri will be hoping to claim some more points this weekend.

Alfa Romeo had a better time of things at Spa because while Antonio Giovinazzi’s weekend ended up in the wall, Kimi Raikkonen put in a rather understated but tenacious drive to finish twelfth despite the Ferrari power unit and beat both works Ferrari cars in the process. Another repeat performance would be good work from Alfa.

Haas are likewise struggling with the Ferrari power unit. The American outfit have a better overall feel to their latest challenger but their power-train means that they are a serial back-marker this season. More pain is expected at Monza.

For Williams Racing and Formula 1 this weekend will mark the end of an era as both Claire and Frank Williams will step away from the racing team after this weekend, Claire resigning as team principal and Frank rescinding his position on the board.

This comes after Dorilton Capital bought Williams Racing following the Grove-based team’s ‘strategic review’. It will allow complete independence for the new owners without interference from the Williams family, but it does mark the end of the last garagista owner of an F1 teams.

Williams have had a much better 2020 and with a Mercedes power unit, this could be one of the best chances they have to even score a point and certainly to get both cars into Q2 for the first time this year.

Formula 1 heads to Italy for the seventieth anniversary of the sport, but a weekend at Monza without crowds will make it like no other. But after a year dominated by one driver and one car, it is unlikely that the high-speed nature of Monza will provide a different story. But with Renault proving to be so fast on low-downforce tracks, can the French manufacturer claim their first podium on their return to F1?