The Italian Grand Prix may have been one of the most exciting grands prix of the season, with a lot of action at the front of the pack and a season-best performance from Carlos Sainz. Another weekend brought another win for Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, and Ferrari returned to form after a disappointing previous weekend in Zandvoort.
McLaren’s dominance faltered while Alex Albon scored more valuable points for Williams Racing. After a great weekend at the Temple of Speed, the teams look ahead to the Singapore Grand Prix this upcoming weekend.
Unsurprisingly, the Red Bull drivers finished one-two in the race last Sunday with Verstappen starting from P2, and climbing up to P1 by the 14th lap of the race.
Mexican driver Sergio Perez qualified in P5, and quickly fought through the Ferrari cars to reach P2 by lap 32. With the incredible aerodynamic advantage of the Red Bulls this year, the result was essentially inevitable with the high speed nature of Monza. Not only did Verstappen increase his astronomical lead in the World Driver’s Championship standings, he earned his 10th consecutive race win, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s record from 2013. If Verstappen continues his winning ways, he has a chance to clinch the WDC title by the time the Japanese Grand Prix rolls around later this month. Perez, on the other hand, looks to replicate his win at last year’s Singapore GP with this year’s new track layout this coming weekend.
At their home race, Ferrari executed a nearly perfect weekend at Monza. Sainz showed exceptional pace through every practice and qualifying, and was able to hold off Verstappen for 14 laps during the race. He earned his first pole position of the year in a down-to-the-wire qualifying round, finishing the session 13 hundredths of a second ahead of Verstappen. Charles Leclerc bounced back from poor practice performance and held provisional pole ahead of Verstappen for a short time, eventually falling to P3 on Saturday. With the first and third grid slots on Sunday, Ferrari were able to finish P3 and P4, the best possible result behind the two dominant Red Bulls. Sainz earned his first podium of the year, but it wasn’t without contention from Leclerc. In the final few laps of the race, Leclerc made a series of risky moves at turn one to try and overtake Sainz even after a warning from his team. He was unsuccessful and risked crashing after locking up on the final lap in an attempt to pass. All was well between the two teammates after the race, but it was an unnecessary risk after the near perfect execution of the weekend.
After a difficult first half of the season, Alex Albon continues to put up good results for the seventh-place Williams team. He finished P7 at Monza which is equal to his best result of the season, where he put up a valiant defensive performance in Montreal.
Since the halfway point of the season, Albon has four points finishes and is single-handedly carrying Williams above AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo. His teammate Logan Sargeant finished P13 after crashing out of the previous race. Around the rest of the paddock, Mercedes scored valuable points, Haas had another difficult weekend, AlphaTauri put up mixed results and one of the Alfa Romeos finished in the points.
Both of Mercedes’ drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished P6 and P5 respectively, scoring enough points to fend off Ferrari for second in the constructor standings. Meanwhile, Haas’ troubles continued after both cars found themselves lapped by the top four race leaders. AlphaTauri also experienced some issues after Yuki Tsunoda’s engine failed during the formation lap. Liam Lawson gave fans some hope with a P11 finish, and he continues to show his talent after replacing Daniel Ricciardo (broken wrist) in the AlphaTauri car. Finally, Alfa Romeo showed some promise in their home race with Valtteri Bottas’ P10 finish, inching them closer to Haas in the constructor standings.
The teams now look ahead to Singapore, which displays a new track layout this year. Turns 16-19 have been replaced with a straight for this season’s Grand Prix, which will give an advantage to teams like Red Bull and Williams whose straight-line speed tops the rest of the grid.
After a double podium last year, Ferrari will attempt to repeat their success at Marina Bay while Perez looks to replicate his win from last year and earn his first since Baku back in April.
