F1 Talk: How Austria Experience was Crucial to Leclerc’s Monza Win

Charles Leclerc’s victory in the 2019 Italian GP was Ferrari’s first win at Monza in nine years, since Fernando Alonso won the race for the team on home turf. The Monegasque won the race from pole position but was under intense pressure from both Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas throughout the entire Grand Prix. And despite one 50-50 incident at the midway point of the race, it was Leclerc’s toughness and his racing experience that meant he shone through to claim a historic race win in front of the adoring tifosi.

Prior to his first Formula 1 victory at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps last weekend, Charles Leclerc was on course for race victory at both Bahrain and Austria when victory was replaced by defeat on both occasions. The race in the Bahraini desert was no fault of his own as his Ferrari lost power with 10 laps to go which meant all he could do was stroke it home to third place by the chequered flag.

However in Austria, he got taught a brutal lesson from Max Verstappen as the Dutchman hunted him down and made a balsy move down the inside at turn three, nudging Leclerc off the track in the process. While the Monegasque was furious in the immediate aftermath, that race gave him perspective for where the new benchmark in wheel-to-wheel combat was in F1.

Ahead of the following weekend at the British GP at Silverstone, the Ferrari driver told GP fans:

“If we can race that way, I’m more than happy to race that way – it’s good for Formula 1. This is what us drivers want, but we just need to know what we can expect from the others. That’s why I’d like probably more consistency in the penalties.”

So in his race-long battle with Max Verstappen at Silverstone, he took liberties with the letter of the law and gave the Dutchman a taste of his own medicine with great defensive manoeuvres at Brooklands and Stowe. That was then followed by a brave overtaking attempt at the restart at Club corner. He later overtook Verstappen’s team-mate Pierre Gasly with a bold overtake at village to finish third in a great show of hard racing from the Monegasque following his Austrian GP defeat.

Fast-forward to the Italian GP at Monza: Leclerc was going to ensure he pushed the letter of the law to the absolute limit with Lewis Hamilton behind him from lap one of the race. The first and only serious overtaking attempt from Hamilton came on lap 23 at the Variante della Roggia after Hamilton got a double tow from both Nico Hulkenberg and Leclerc down the start-finish straight which allowed him to be close enough into the second chicane.

Lewis was on the outside and was not quite given a car’s width on the entry to the corner, so Charles was given a black and white flag for crowding another car off the track. But it shows that his racing brain is a lot more acute compared to in Austria and his desire to win was paramount above all else that he was not give up the position easily and certainly not on Hamilton’s first attempt to seize the position.

While in the heat of battle Hamilton called the move ‘dangerous’, but when asked about it in a post-race interview, the 34 year old described the incidents as having a “couple of close moments.”

Now after such a firm defence throughout the race at Monza, he has become the first Ferrari driver to win the Italian GP since Fernando Alonso, and like the Spaniard, on his first time of asking. And as such, he has written himself into Ferrari folk-law to defy the odds and halted Mercedes winning streak here at Monza as the silver arrows won the previous five races in Italy. In terms of success for Ferrari, all is left is winning the world championship for the 21-year old. No pressure then…